The funeral went smoothly, with no beasts coming to disturb or try to get a piece of the fallen. Once it was done, they returned to the valley, as there was still some unfinished business left behind.
Kael stood over the corpses of the Fanged Lions and Steve, thinking silently, 'I can't use [Soul Forge] too often, and the materials will either rot or attract more beasts.'
One of the Fanged Lion corpses had already been dragged off by an ape, which made him briefly consider whether he should hunt it down and kill it.
'I don't have any inventory, do I?'
[No.]
He sighed and turned his gaze to the charred body of the Flameclaw Lion. 'I can probably make a few weapons from him.'
Since he could only use [Soul Forge] once per day, he had to prioritize what was most important and powerful. He thought for a moment and realized he didn't urgently need weapons or armor, unless they were made from truly exceptional materials.
He was already at E-Rank now, which had surprisingly boosted his physical stats. His claws were already stronger than most forged weapons, and his body offered natural protection far superior to basic armor.
That was one of the biggest advantages beasts had, they didn't need equipment, at least not at the lower ranks. Their bodies made up for it.
And besides, most beasts didn't even use weapons in the early stages of power. Their claws, fangs, and instincts were often more reliable.
'Not like these giant-ass lions can wield swords anyway,' he shook his head and had another thought. 'In the long term… this skill might lose its usefulness, huh?'
He'd learned that the deeper the bond between him and his tamed beasts, the more skills they could share, though it leaned heavily in favor of the master.
If his subordinates trusted, respected and have faith in him enough, the bond would automatically deepen over time, even without his active effort.
And that meant that one day, all of his tamed beasts could potentially access any skill he possessed—so long as he allowed it.
And if that happened, then [Soul Forge], which could only create artifacts using his own skills, might eventually become obsolete.
'But I can sell them. That'd keep the economy running,' he thought with a chuckle. 'Here I go again… thinking nonsense.'
He quickly pushed the thought aside. Even if his subordinates gained access to the skills themselves, artifacts still had many other uses—especially for things like equipment, tools, or aiding non-bonded allies.
He turned to Kiona and asked, "Do you have any skill you want?"
Kiona didn't even pause to consider. "Something that helps sense incoming attacks… something to detect hidden ambushes."
'Looks like she didn't enjoy being at a disadvantage against Stephen,' Kael thought, smiling faintly. [Beast Sense] instantly came to mind as it was the most suitable skill for awareness.
He turned to the twins. "What about you two?"
"It would be good if we could sense our enemies," Seth said, his voice low and steady.
Jon nodded his big lion head. "Yes, yes. We have power, but we can still fall for traps and ambushes."
'That suits my plan just fine,' Kael thought.
He had four skills in mind that he could give them: [Draconic Regeneration], [Beast Sense], [Lightning Mantle], and [Predator's Instinct].
All of them were excellent, but since he could only create one artifact per day, he had to choose carefully.
'The main problem lies in the materials,' he frowned.
This was a recurring challenge with [Soul Forge] and a common rule across the Artefacts Refiners. The material used needed to resonate with the skill being carved. Otherwise, the artifact would either fail or destroy itself.
For example, carving a [Fireball] skill onto a leather armor made from an ice-based beast would just result in the armor tearing itself apart from internal conflict.
Even when he had carved [Draconic Regeneration] onto leather, it had worked because he'd used a snake's body and snakes, in some classification, belonged to the Dragon's evolutionary tree.
So now, as he prepared to do it again, he had to make sure the material fit the nature of the skill. Otherwise, he'd just be wasting both mana and valuable resources.
'[Beast Sense] should be fine,' he decided. 'it is a Beast's body, after all, and it's also of higher rank, it should handle the strain.'
Besides [Beast Sense] and [Predator's Instinct], the other two didn't really fit the situation or available materials.
With his mind made up, Kael walked toward the Flameclaw Lion's body and stretched out his hand. Under the shocked eyes of his subordinates, a thick purple mist surged from his palm, wrapping around the corpse before swallowing it whole.
Then, both the mist and the body disappeared entirely.
He could've harvested only select parts to preserve the rest, but he had other plans in mind. A little wastage didn't matter this time.
Sitting down cross-legged, Kael closed his eyes and focused inward, feeling the blazing fire of his soul. It still felt a little odd to him, considering he had Storm Affinity, not Fire.
The process went smoothly.
Before long, he opened his eyes and placed three small artifacts beside him—each one shaped like a red whistle, made from bone and other refined materials. A silver chain was attached to each, and strange rune patterns ran across the smooth surface of the whistles.
Kael narrowed his eyes, inspecting them closely. Then he let out a soft sigh. 'I almost forgot about the duration again…'
Indeed, most artifacts had a limited lifespan. Over time, they would lose effectiveness and eventually be destroyed, likely due to prolonged exposure to mana, which technically wasn't native to the physical world.
'There are probably Regeneration Runes that can counter that,' Kael thought, then asked, 'But what about Kiona's tunic?'
[It's using Draconic Regeneration, so it probably heals itself over time as well.]
'Lucky girl,' Kael chuckled softly at that and turned toward his subordinates. "Here. A little gift."
He handed out the whistles and explained their function. Once blown, the whistle would grant access to [Beast Sense] for one full minute. Each whistle could be used ten times in total.
"And don't worry about the time limit too much," he added casually.
The lion had been massive, after all. That meant he had enough material to make quite a few whistles… and now, a slight headache from the intense mana drain was creeping in.
Still, it was worth it.
Because now, Kael had the means to push forward with his plans.
He had made a lot of the red whistles.