Wing-Type Affinity

"Why has the Crown Prince been leaving the palace so often these past few days?"

Fourth Prince Xue Beng looked at the guard beside him in confusion. He knew Xue Ye had told Xue Qinghe to rest, but what was this about constantly leaving the palace?

The weary guard thought for a moment before answering, "Your Highness, it seems His Majesty told the Crown Prince to choose a Soul Beast from the Royal Soul Beast Forest as a pet to help him recuperate. His constant trips back and forth are probably because of that."

"Oh?" Xue Beng perked up at this. How had he never thought of something like that?

He'd tried just about everything—drinking, gambling, and womanizing—and there was nothing left to do. Now Xue Qinghe's situation had given him an idea.

"Come on. Let's go to the Royal Soul Beast Forest too and pick out a Soul Beast to play with," Xue Beng ordered at once. Something this novel was definitely worth trying.

"But..." The guard hesitated, then said helplessly, "Your Highness, entry to the Royal Soul Beast Forest is forbidden without His Majesty's permission."

Xue Beng frowned. That was a problem, but he quickly stopped worrying about it. "It's fine. If we can't go to the Royal Soul Beast Forest, we'll go to another Soul Beast Forest."

"Yes!" The guard had no objections now and immediately sent someone to prepare a carriage.

Xue Qinghe, I might not measure up to you in other ways, but when it comes to having fun, you're leagues behind me.

Once he found the Soul Beast he wanted, he'd see just how impressive Xue Qinghe's Soul Beast really was.

The next day

Xiao Yu, busy completing his task for the day, had no idea that an unexpected disaster was about to befall him.

After finishing today's task, he received a Cocoa Fruit as usual.

[Current Level: Lv. 19 (40/190)]

With the task done, Xiao Yu had some free time. There was no rush to complete the monthly task, and he'd already finished the weekly and daily tasks. Besides eating, he really had nothing to do.

"Maybe I should renovate the place?" Xiao Yu glanced at the sun. It was still early, around eight or nine in the morning. With no other forms of entertainment, he supposed he'd have to find something to do.

"Then let's get to it." As soon as the idea came to him, Xiao Yu took flight and headed up into the treetop to think about how to improve things. As the Wing-Type Elf King, his home had to be at the highest point. Otherwise, how could it live up to his status?

"Good thing I studied a little architectural design in my previous life. Otherwise, I'd have no idea where to start." Once he had a rough plan, Xiao Yu turned to gather materials.

"Thud!" A crossbeam crashed to the ground with a heavy thump.

"No, no, no. Why'd it fall again? This is such a pain." Xiao Yu lay sprawled across the beam, looking utterly defeated.

The crossbeam was a piece of material he'd found. It was three meters long and half a meter wide. Lifting it was no problem, but the moment he took flight, a gust of wind would throw off his balance.

This wasn't the first time the beam had fallen. If he kept going like this, it'd take forever to finish building the house.

"What do I do?" Xiao Yu looked around, searching for something that might help.

Then his gaze fell on the wooden vines hanging from a nearby branch.

"Got it!"

After a bit of work, he quickly tied the crossbeam up with a long wooden vine.

"Let's try it." Xiao Yu grabbed the other end of the vine and beat his wings. The crossbeam below soon rose, pulled upward by the vine.

"Looks good." Just as Xiao Yu finished speaking, a faint cracking sound suddenly came from beside his ear.

He hurriedly looked down and saw a split appear in the middle of the wooden vine.

"Damn!"

With a sharp snap, the vine broke in two, and the crossbeam fell again.

"Thud!"

"One vine isn't strong enough. Looks like I'll need several." Xiao Yu returned to the crossbeam and immediately saw what had gone wrong.

He went and found a few more wooden vines.

"This time it shouldn't break, right?" Xiao Yu looked at the beam wrapped in five or six vines, still feeling a little uneasy.

After all, having only one point to bear the weight made it hard to keep steady. But he was alone, so this was the only method he could use.

"Wait!" Xiao Yu suddenly thought of something and froze in place. "Am I not the Wing-Type Elf King? Can't I get those Soul Beasts to help me?"

With that thought, Xiao Yu immediately asked in his mind, "System, as the Wing-Type Elf King, even though I'm not in the same world, I should still be able to command flying Soul Beasts, right?"

This time, the system didn't ignore Xiao Yu. It responded:

[This ability requires the host to become a "Spirit Feather Champion" and activate the "Wing-Type Affinity" in his bloodline.]

Spirit Feather Champion was Leo's next stage.

"So I have to wait until I reach level twenty, huh?" Xiao Yu was speechless. He'd thought he could do it already, but apparently he still had to wait until he evolved.

[Host's level is insufficient.]

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Xiao Yu waved a hand. It was only two days away, after all. He could wait.

With so many wooden vines holding it up, the crossbeam finally stopped falling as he carried it along.

"Hm?" As Xiao Yu carried the beam through the air near the giant tree, he spotted Xue Qinghe and the others in the clearing below.

Just like yesterday, they'd brought a lot of fruit. How convenient. He was just getting tired from hauling things around.

"Your Highness, look! That Soul Beast is back, and it seems to have brought a piece of wood with it." The soldier stared at Xiao Yu in astonishment. There was no comparison between Xiao Yu's size and the crossbeam's. The sight was quite striking.

"Heh, this Soul Beast really is clever. It even knows how to tie the wood up with vines to carry it," another soldier remarked in amazement. It was the first time he'd seen a Soul Beast use tools.

Xue Qinghe was curious about why Xiao Yu had suddenly brought back a piece of wood.

"Thud!"

After setting down the crossbeam, Xiao Yu let go of the vines and ignored Xue Qinghe and the others, heading straight for the fruit on the ground.

Xue Qinghe crouched beside Xiao Yu and asked softly, "Why did you bring back a piece of wood?"

Xiao Yu rolled his eyes at Xue Qinghe and opened his mouth as if to speak, but all that came out was a sound like "Liao~ Liao."

Do I look like I can talk? Why even ask?

Seeing this, Xue Qinghe felt a little awkward. He'd forgotten that this was a Soul Beast, after all. It couldn't talk. If it could, it wouldn't be a little beast but a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

"Then... is there anything we can help you with?" Xue Qinghe asked, trying a different approach.

At that, Xiao Yu was tempted. Maybe he really could ask them to help break down the materials. Doing it alone was rather troublesome.

But after thinking it over, Xiao Yu shook his head. They were strangers, so what right did he have to ask them for help?

Ahem, the fruit didn't count. He'd earned that by trading with his own body.