Capítulo 17: Second Catch
"Red Eyed Crow?"
Sif never heard of such creature. The fact that the treasure identified it a level three danger was quite interesting.
The same object considered Luna as a level one danger and she was a peak bronze creature. So how much strength was a level three? Gold ranked? No, that would be a level two. So it was more, but how much more?
Also, why would a creature that strong be sealed in a simple silver coin? Wouldn't that be a complete waste?
It had to be known that the currency used by cultivators, as the beast coins in the Coast of Republics, were mostly created by Array Masters. This was also why some people thought that the Art of Arrays was better than the Art of Alchemy or the Art of Smithing. Array Masters could literally create money!
Sif couldn't understand how an Array Master could ever choose to seal what seemed to be a peak gold beast in a silver coin: that would be like throwing away mountains of money!
He looked more closely at the coin: it had a symbol of a smiling face on one side and that of an angry face on the other side. Other than that, there was nothing that could tell him from where it came. It was old though. Very old.
He gave a long sigh. So old and poorly maintained that it was completely ruined. Such a shame. It was in that moment that the mass of metal hovering around him talked again inside his head.
[Beast Soul still viable - 3%]
Sif raised his brows in curiosity. Still viable? This broken silver coin was still viable? He sent again his Willpower to check to coin and couldn't sense any radiation coming from it. If there was something in there, it was so weak that it emanated less radiation than a common mortal.
" that I have much to lose… I was going to throw it out regardless"
Sif sat on one of the large couches, put his hands on top of the little coin an sent all his available willpower inside the small silver disc.
His invisible wave of power found a barrier that blocked it from entering the disc. This was the primary function of the disc, a barrier that trapped inside it the beast of a magic beast.
This peculiar barrier though, was riddled with many holes and fissure. Sif had only to direct his Willpower towards those to enter inside a large space.
The large void space had a striking resemblance to his own dantian. That was because cultivator's cores and currencies were made using similar techniques as they had similar purposes: they were containers of power.
The only difference between his own dantian and the silver coin he was examining, was that the latter was specialized into containing and suppressing magic beast's souls.
Sif looked towards the middle of the void space: there were some traces of soul power, but it was just a bunch of strands of light. It looked like the soul had already dispersed itself.
'Oh well, it is way gone… at least I tried'
Sif retracted his willpower, sending an irritate look to the flying piece of metal to his left. There had to be something wrong with the probing capabilities of his Menagerie.
'Check the probing mechanism for errors'
[Inspection 0%]
…
[Inspection 15%]
…
[Inspection 60%]
…
[Inspection 100%]
[Results: No Error Found, Probing Mechanisms Fully Operational]
Sif's eyes narrowed. No error found? Impossible, he had checked himself! There was only a mass of remnant soul energy, nothing more.
'Check again the magic beast inside the coin…'
An invisible ripple came out from the little flying machine and plunged into the silver coin. This time Sif conjured a small amount of Willpower and attached it to the probing energy of his machine, following the wave of energy inside the coin.
'Uh?'
He was surprised when the latter didn't move towards the center of the space inside the coin, but instead proceeded towards a very peculiar corner.
[Soul viable - 3%] repeated a robotic voice in his head, as the probing energy stopped before a small creature attacking with fury the silver walls of that encircled the space.
Sif gave a good look to the beast that he was sensing with his willpower. It was a dark colored bird: it looked exactly like a common crow, except for the two dark eyes and two small horns coming out from the side of its head.
'Damn, it is still viable!'
The thing wasn't only viable, it was still conscious! At the moment it was trying to break the containing structure that kept it trapped inside the coin, attacking relentlessly a fissure on walls of its prison.
Sif could see that the outlines of the creature were fading slowly and he could barely feel any aura coming out from it. Even so, there was a dangerous light coming out from those dark red eyes.
It was an indomitable will that Sif had seen before only in highly intelligent magic beasts, those that had already reached a level comparable to human intelligence.
He retracted his will, opening his eyes. A trace of happiness could be seen in them.
"It seems I found something to do with that curse energy after all…"
He moved back towards the cultivation chamber and waved his hand at the mass of black flames that were burning on the floor. Immediately the Curse Energy gathered into a small sphere and darted towards him.
[Curse Energy in Critical Status! Imminent Danger!]
Sif didn't panic at all. He knew that the Curse Energy was in a very dangerous state, but he also knew how to handle it.
With a simple movement, he pointed towards a particular fissure on the back of the silver coin. The Curse Energy transformed into a stream of dark waters and poured inside the fissure, entering the dark inner space of the silver coin.
The moment the curse energy entered, it came in contact with the Red Eyed Crow that was furiously attacking that very fissure, probably in the hope of enlarging it enough to be able to use it to flee the silver prison.
The bird's dark crimson eyes widened in surprise. It tried to dodge the blow, but the torrent of energy coming his way was too fast.
The crow squeaked in pain as it was crushed by the dark stream of Curse Power. The pain wasn't the worst thing, however: soon the creature realized that its body was starting to be consumed by that strange torrent of black power.
The bird's red eyes were filled with pain and unwillingness. It threw his head back howling with madness.
It wanted to resist, but the current of the black energy stream was too strong and after all the time spent inside the silver prison it had a very small amount of power remaining.
"Oh, so you are truly an intelligent life form… how interesting…" A gentle and calm voice echoed in the dark void around the magic beast. The crow moved around his red eyes, but found nothing!
The black bird roared in rage, spitting a dark-colored fire all around. After that, however, its struggles were even less effective, as it had spent the last bit of energy it had in the failed attack.
A light laugh resounded in the void and suddenly a portion of the torrent that was surrounding the crow gathered to form the shape of a young human.
The eyes of the crow shined with deep fury. It opened its beak again, but this time what came out were just a couple of feeble tongues of fire.
The human shape laughed, slapping its hand on its leg in amusement as the torrents around the crow began to consume the magic beast even faster.
The crow's eyes shined with desperation. It began to scream painfully, giving signs of submission towards the human figure.
The latter just stood there with a slight smile on its face, seemingly unmoved. It even brought a hand towards his mouth, pretending to yawn.
The magic beast was flooded by a profound sense of despair. It knew that it had no chance to beat the human figure. Coming so close to freedom only to be killed by a mad human!
If the arrays of the horrible silver cage where it had been sealed didn't forbid the crow to self-detonate, the magic beast would have done so already.
Slowly, the crow started losing his consciousness.
…
In the world outside the silver coin, Sif was still sitting on a large couch with a pleased smile on his lips. After a couple of minutes from the moment the crow lost its senses an echoey voice resounded in his mind.
[Soul Viable - 0.5 %]
"It seems enough…"
Sif stopped only when he was sure that the Red Eyed Crow was surely going to be deleted from existence if he continued to consume it. He didn't want to take risks: an intelligent magic beast that was twice as dangerous as Luna? Better took every possible precaution.
He sent his Willpower towards the beast, using it to bind it to himself like he first did with Luna. However this time he wasn't in any hurry. He took his time and directly bound it to the Third Level.
Thankfully, the crow had most of his soul damaged. If it had been in its prime, probably he wouldn't even be able to bind it without first upgrading his Curse Soul Roots.
"Done!"
Sif took a couple of hours after he finally bound the crow to open up the silver coin and let the black bird fly out, sending it directly inside the spatial pocket of his Menagerie.
[Red Eyed Crow is dangerously weak, Expiring in 10 Days ]
Sif rolled his eyes. This was the reason why he never used soul beast familiar in the past: they couldn't recuperate without external help if they weren't in a pace of extreme Yin.
They didn't have a body, so they couldn't naturally recuperate soul power or energy outside of a place incredibly rich of Yin energy without appropriate cultivation methods or some specific rare resources.
A heavily injured familiar could simply be put into a Menagerie for a couple of weeks and its powerful body would work to heal up all its injuries. It was way handier and easy to manage.
If he didn't want his new beast to simply dissipate into nothing, he had to find an appropriate Cultivation Method for a soul beast, or a place with extreme Yin… in ten days.
Thankfully, he already knew someone that surely had the first one.
He moved to the master room and lay down on the bed, waiting for Blue to come back from wherever she was.
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
Lord_Zheus
Lord_Zheus For those who don't remember: when he first encountered Blue, he noticed a spirit beast inside of her cultivation base. If she has one, probably she also has a cultivation method to maintain it.
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