Whilst Hui was busy with Yin, Edrick was on a little trip in the woods, aiming to finally finish a quest that had been gathering dust despite being nearly completed… Other quests, as well as his own plans, had gotten in the way of completing this one.

As a sasquatch, ravish fifteen people and leave them alive to tell the tale

There was a slight problem here, but one that he could easily solve- Since the completion of the quest required his victims to be left alive after he was done with them, it posed an issue considering that Edrick had already paraded his slaying of the murderous sasquatch. Such events could shake the foundation of that lie. Thankfully, with the combination of his bloodline and physique, he could take on the appearance of several types of sasquatches.

So, after spotting some easy prey who would be incapable of putting up any sort of a fight, he transformed. He had trained a lot with his new physique and bloodline since acquiring them. Truly, the melding of both was extraordinary.

It took more out of him than usual, but he was able to meld the skunk sasquatch transformation with the body structure of the late sasquatch lord, creating something that looked like both and neither of them at the same time. To top it off, he made his fur light brown like that of a pygmy sasquatch, also controlling it to the point that it was incredibly thin, barely visible, allowing one to see the bestial musculature in detail.

He made his eyebrows especially bushy to cover up his eyes. Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried, his deep, dark purple eyes would always be visible in the transformed state. That would be fine for most, as it wasn’t like his eyes looked like those of a human at all once transformed into an ape, but the colour of his eyes was very rare, if not outright unique, which could easily link the creature to him.

Now that the transformation was done, although the initial shapeshifting was quite tiring, he could maintain it for an extended period of time. It was switching between human and sasquatch that took a lot out of him. However, once it was done, it was like this body had always been his…

Moving like a gorilla, he descended upon the unsuspecting herb gatherers. As of right now, Anoteros looked nothing like the sasquatches people were familiar with. Some may know of other species, but even if one knew all of the variants inhabiting the woods, they would be left scratching their heads after seeing Edrick.

And that was the whole point. No one in their right mind would link the murderous sasquatch to this creature. They were simply far too different in nearly all aspects. Really, the only thing people would be able to cite as an odd coincidence was that the creatures seemed to also have a taste for human women.

Edrick did not care at all. Once he finished this quest, which had only required three more victims, the new transformation was not going to appear again. The brutal mating, as well as killing and devouring some of the men present at the time, would be classified as an isolated accident, and eventually, this new creature would be forgotten.

You have completed the mission!

The system announced. As one might expect, the rewards weren’t exceptional, only the usual stuff, most of which was piling up, waiting for Edrick to one day decide to take them out. But keeping things stored within the system was simply too convenient not to abuse.

Though there was surprisingly a great memory wisp amidst the list of rewards.

He headed for the small cave he had kept Muxing in, undid the transformation, dressed himself back up, and then sat upon the boulder like he was in meditation. There, he consumed the great memory wisp and basked in the information that soon flooded into his mind.

The previous times, he had witnessed the usage of the sword artefact belonging to Xiao against an abominable being, and had later borne witness to what looked like an event for the far future where Xiao faced an elder of the Zhenniao clan.

This time, things were calmer. It showed Xiao--Or at least the version from the story the current one had read--Being told by Elder Gang that a realm which only opened up every fifty years was going to become accessible soon, and that the Myriad-Arm Sect would be allowed to send a couple of disciples into it to gather resources.

And just like that, the memory ended nearly as soon as it began.

‘Oh… Is that the next plot point? I guess I should stick around the sect, then’ Anoteros rubbed his chin in thought. It seemed like there were plenty of benefits to following the main character around... Since Xiao was likely to follow all the plot points, he would naturally keep running into rare things, have fortuitous encounters, and always seem to be in the right place at the right time.

From an outsider’s perspective, it would seem like the world itself was bending around him to lend a hand and aid in his growth. The truth was not too far off, but also different, as the world did not bend to help him. It had already been arranged to follow a predetermined course.

A straightforward path that Edrick had already thoroughly derailed.

It was likely that his intervention when Xiao arrived at the impoverished town had led to all of the deviations in the plot. Even those that seemed unrelated to him.

Surely, Xiao would have behaved differently had he been allowed to add Fanqia to his harem back then. He might have never even taken an interest in Ai at all.

In any case, Edrick would have to pay attention and be on the lookout for that event in the future. He couldn’t quite tell when the memory he just witnessed was going to take place, but Gang and Xiao looked exactly the same as they do now, including Xiao's disciple robes, so it probably wouldn’t be too long until then.

For now, however, the day was far from over, and he was eyeing one of the quests in particular.

Force someone to commit an act of lascivious assault. The more severe, the greater the reward

He already had someone in mind who could be used to complete this mission without the slightest problem…

‘Now, where is he right now? I could also use him to complete several other of my quests whilst I am at it’ exiting the woods, he went on to fetch his trusty rat- Truly, Shu was proving to be quite the useful henchman.