Jason was carefully walking through the small plain area around the rift, with Artemis and Scorpio next to him.

There weren't many beasts around but it was obvious that they were strong according to the mana core rank and distinct transmuted mana most of them had.

From the looks of it, there were only a few large groups of beasts around the rift, through which he and the others entered, and not a single, stronger magical ranked beast.

Furthermore, Jason couldn't find another cursed being, even less a blessed one which was however not something that bothered him.

In the end, he wouldn't bind a blessed beast or sentient plant either way.

As such, Jason could ignore them to prevent anyone from annoying him, if one were to find him looking at a blessed beast that others would want to contract as their soulbond.

Rather than that, it was Jason's plan to get his hands on a suitable cursed beast!

He was not even really interested in finding treasures inside the Mythic Garden.

There was only one other thing Jason wanted to figure out, which he could only do inside the Mythic Garden.

'What ingredients are the slave merchants searching for in order to produce the addictive cultivation drug?'

If his employee had heard correctly, the slave merchants and most likely also the Jual clan had to acquire something within the Mythic Garden to produce the addictive cultivation drug which increased one's mana absorption for a short period.

Maybe it could also enhance other traits that helped in absorbing and annexing more mana but Jason wouldn't know because he could only use the information he had.

As such, Jason gave himself several tasks which he wanted to accomplish within the Mythic Garden.

The first task he wanted to solve was to find a suitable cursed beast and it was evidently Jason's highest priority.

Meanwhile, the second task was not really something he could control because he wanted the black origin flame to evolve within the Mythic Garden.

This would not only give him the opportunity to undergo a second baptism, enhancing him physically and enlarging his mana core size, but it would also allow Jason to enhance the black flame affinity to the magical rank.

Through a baptism, his vessel would be enlarged and strengthened, which was a first step towards being able to allow Artemis and Scorpio to compress their mana into liquid, creating drops of mana.

However, on the other side, the baptism he would undergo would inevitably enlarge his mana core's size making it more difficult to break through another level or even rank.

It was a blessing and at the same time a curse because he wanted to enter the Lique-state liquefying his mana before entering the Prismar state by creating solidified prismarine-crystals in his mana core.

Unfortunately, Jason felt like that might take a little bit longer than he expected as long as his soulbonds continued to become stronger.

At the same time, he wanted to bind more beasts to his soul to become even stronger with multiple affinities which he wanted to utilize.

Jason had yet to find a perfect balance between increasing his mana core rank and allowing his soulbonds to become stronger, which was not an easy feat to accomplish.

He could only give his best for now!

As for the third and last task he had given himself, Jason wanted to figure out what ingredients the Jual Clan and slave merchants used to create the addictive cultivation drug.

The last task was the lowest in his priorities but at the same time, it might be extremely important to know for the future.

In the end, the second task was not something he had to solve, but the black origin flame, while the first task relied on his luck and efficiency to search through all kinds of cursed beings Jason could find.

Thus, Jason was able to try solving task three while he being occupied with finding a suitable cursed soulbond.

Leaving the small plain area, Jason, Artemis, and Scorpio entered a large forest with a large variety of trees around.

The space between each gigantic tree he saw was vast, allowing his soulbonds to fly and walk freely without any obstructions.

Every tree released distinct mana currents and there were even a few unique trees releasing a faint black or light gray color.

Jason's mana eyes perceived every little detail in his surroundings but he couldn't find any beasts he was interested in.

In the next few hours, Jason entered the gigantic forest's deeper proximity and he encountered two more cursed beasts and one blessed beast.

However, they fled almost immediately after seeing him and his soulbond which was not surprising because the cursed and blessed beats he encountered were at the low/mid Unblemished rank.

When the cursed beasts fled from him, Jason pondered for a moment if he should pursue them or not.

In the end, he didn't pursue them because they, fortunately, cursed him for a short period which allowed him to determine that these beasts didn't harbor the curse he was looking for.

Nevertheless, the curses he saw until now were not that bad to have as a soulbond, either!

The cursed Panther that was his first opponent with a curse had an area of effect curse which might be extremely powerful as long as the curse wouldn't affect certain individuals.

Jason was interested in finding out more about other curses and blessings but he didn't have the necessary knowledge to start his own detailed research and neither did he have enough time.

During the last few hours, Jason could also see a few small groups of young prodigies venturing through the forest but their behavior was somewhat weird because they seemed to have a determined destination.

However, at the same time, it looked like they had no goal!

He didn't know what was going on but it was definitely something weird.

Without a set destination he could go wherever he wanted to as long as there weren't too many dangers nearby.

Jason avoided the areas with magical ranked beasts with the help of his mana eyes for the time being because he was not confident in defeating multiple magical ranked beasts with his, Artemis, and Scorpio's current combat prowess.

He was relatively sure that defeating a single low- magical ranked beast would be possible but that was already it!

The difference between a peak-Unblemished beast and a newly advanced Magical ranked beast was already entered enough to show Jason that he shouldn't act too rashly.

Nevertheless, his curiosity was picked when he saw that multiple groups with varying sizes rushed towards the same direction which was the center of the forest.

Following that, there were a lot larger groups of beasts approaching the forest's center and Jason couldn't help but feel like a huge, chaotic battlefield would start soon.

This was sooner than Jason initially expected and he followed the last group of beasts he saw after ordering Artemis and Scorpio to enter his soul world.

Exerting the weightless steps technique and concealing his mana core, Jason was able to follow the group of shadow lynxes he saw without any issues.

After three hours, the shadow lynxes began to slow down which told Jason that they finally reached their goal when his mana eyes were overwhelmed from the sheer mass of colors enveloping a certain area inside the gigantic forest's core.