Cassias fell silent when he saw the two foxes, he was even pacing back and forth, looking nervous. Zerra didn’t get what was wrong with him.

She also became nervous. "Is there something wrong with my parents?"

He took a deep breath, stared at her. His mouth opened, yet no words came out. He looked rather speechless and unsettled about something. After he closed his mouth, he opened them again, but spoke nothing.

Zerra narrowed her eyes.

Seeing her getting impatient, Cassias swallowed, and he forced out, "Your parents became foxes?"

She nodded happily. "Yes, of course. I am a fox, so are my parents!"

Cassias didn’t immediately respond. He was in a momentary turmoil. As soon as he regained his consciousness, he scanned the people nearby with his mental power.

Some of them had animal traits, like tails, fluffy ears... but none of them had turned into complete animal transformations like Zerra’s parents. They should be in the early stage of the transformation.

An unsettling premonition made its way to his mind. Could it be...?

"I saw that people around only have animal traits, but your parents..." he trailed off, waiting for her to continue her words.

Zerra’s face was a little tangled. "Oh, right. They are my real parents from the Celestial Realm. I am not sure how they got here and where the bodies’ original souls are."

She thought of her own state. From the start of their lives, could it be that they were her parents’ souls? Only her parents could confirm this.

Turning to Cassias, she asked him. "How about you? How did your soul get here from the Celestial Realm?"

She remembered the little grumpy yet caring boy. "Your form is a dragon...?"

In the Celestial Realm, dragons were the strongest celestial beasts. She wasn’t aware what exactly happened, but she heard that something big had happened in their clan. She couldn’t recall the details about it.

"Yes." He nodded in confirmation. Then, he found himself getting tossed into the air again. Thankfully, this time he remembered to use his wings to fly.

Seeing her gleeful face, he had the illusion their roles were reserved now. She now treated him as a cute pet just like he once did to her.

Unfortunately, with this small dragon form, he had no way to resist...

"Are they really your parents?" He asked again as he landed on the ground, a little unsure. After he found out about Zerra’s state, he hadn’t even met her real parents once.

Even though they were not conscious now, he couldn’t help but still feeling nervous; he didn’t know how he should place his hands and feet. Unexpectedly, Zerra’s parents joined this world...

He swallowed when he saw Zerra nodding. "Their consciousness might have gotten hurt like mine. After all, I had forcefully brought them inside my inner space."

Zerra pressed her lips together when she saw the guilt on Cassias’ face. She grabbed his claws, pinching the soft texture of the scales. She said seriously. "It’s not your fault. Instead, I want to thank you. My parents would have been hurt severely if not because of you."

He pulled his claws from her warm and soft hands, a little bit shy at being treated like this by her. So, this was the advantage of having a cute form...

"But don’t do that again." She suddenly flicked his forehead a little roughly. "Or I will be angry at you and ignore you forever!"

She didn’t know what had come over her. Suddenly, she had the urge of throwing a tantrum, sending harsh glare at the little dragon; even so, her gaze would soften again when her eyes landed on him.

"Alright..." he curved the corners of his lips. "You can’t ignore me."

Zerra keenly noticed the atmosphere was a little ambiguous. She snorted and focused on her parents again, channeling more spiritual energy and wood power into them.

"I don’t need to try to enter their sea of consciousness, right?" She asked him. He had lived a bit longer, having more knowledge than her.

"No." He shook his head. When he remembered that Zerra’s parents were also there, he immediately behaved himself. "Don’t do that."

"My parents also woke up some time ago, but just briefly. Less than a minute." She explained.

"They just need time to recover." Cassias assured her. "If you need anything, just tell me. I have a lot of herbs."

She blinked. Not bothering to act polite? She began to list all the nourishing spiritual herbs that might aid her parents’ recovery. "Then, do you have Dragon Snow Lotus, Ginseng..."

After she was done, Cassias took all the items she mentioned from his space.

"Zizi, remember. You can do anything you want to do. If you want to leave this place, do it..." his voice was getting smaller and smaller, echoing in her mind.

Zerra noticed his breathing had become weaker once he did so. Abruptly, she turned around.

"Kaz, what happened to you?" She panicked when she saw blood on the little dragon’s wings.

Cassias’ consciousness had faded away. The man said he could hold on for an hour now, so why...?

His current state reminded her when he took her parents out of his inner space. Was there some kind of restriction on his inner space and he had to sacrifice something to bring things out?

These herbs with rich spiritual power weren’t something that existed in this mortal realm, so he had to bear some kind of punishment for taking them out, right?

She instantly regretted it. Her trembling hands reached for his little figure, who now had his eyes closed. The blood on his wings was still flowing.

A flow of wood power instantly showered the little dragon. He released a sigh of comfort, as if he had been released from the pain. She took out a few tissues, wiping the blood from his wings. Thankfully, now they had stopped bleeding.

"You scoundrel," she complained. "You scared me so much."

Fortunately, when she checked his body state, there weren’t any severe injuries or further weakened consciousness.

She wiped him with the spring water. After she was done, she wrapped him in a towel like a burrito. Once again, she made sure he was alright before putting him inside her inner space again.

Now, her heart became heavy when she saw the medicinal herbs. She hesitated for a bit, gritting her teeth before she decided to use them.

Because of her wood power, she could tell which properties were harmful and which ones weren’t. With her enhanced mental power, she slowly separated them, focusing on potion making.

"A concoction to repair someone’s sea of consciousness," she murmured.

She had only heard of such a thing in the Celestial Realm, but she didn’t know how to make it. Would she be able to succeed with her instinct alone?

The wood ability had indeed given her unexpected power she didn’t have in the Celestial Realm. She gritted her teeth and decided to give it a try.

However, the more she separated the herb properties, the more puzzled she became. Why did she feel it wasn’t so difficult anymore...?

She separated the properties canceling each other’s effect and picked the more potent one, enhancing the efficacy of the medicine. Her mind also flashed with some kind of prescription; if she added certain herbs, they would have this or that effect.

Three hours later, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, utterly exhausted.

In her hands, there was a bowl of medicine. The water was clear, translucent green. It wouldn’t be poisonous, right?

She still doubted her alchemy skills, so she took a spoonful of the potion and put it inside her mouth. The bitter taste still stuck to her tongue even after she ate twenty candies. However, she could feel her body becoming more refreshed.

The potion looked like melon juice, but the taste was as bitter as poison. She didn’t immediately give the bowl to her parents. Let’s wait for the side effects first. If there was any, she wouldn’t give the potion to them.

Zerra got up and showered. Since Cassias had such a tone to his voice, she didn’t hesitate anymore to go to the Tribe Leader.

The old man welcomed her with a smile this time. "I know you would come."

She wanted to roll her eyes. Of course, it was because she had no choice. She needed the damn map badly or she wouldn’t be able to come back to the Capital.

"Can you tell me why I need to bring one of your inner members along with me?" She asked with a confused face. After experiencing a tiring day; Cassias bleeding and potion making, her temper became more cranky.

"Don’t give me a reason like you want to preserve your tribe outside or something. I won’t buy it. Your tribe member should be safer here with your own people rather than living a lonely, hard life outside." Zerra pursed her lips.

The Tribe Leader stared at her and sighed. He called his wife, who came with a box in her hand. She handed the box to Zerra.

Zerra could sense there was a map inside without opening it.

"My wife will explain it."