"Alright, Kentucky it is, then."
Roan didn't expect Rean to accept that name, but he refrained from commenting either. It's just like he said before, whatever name was okay. Even 'chick' wouldn't be a problem for Roan.
Hulian, on the other hand, was puzzled.
"Is there any meaning behind this name?"
Rean couldn't help but laugh after hearing that.
"Don't worry, it's basically a joke about a certain food company that we know."
Hulian didn't know what to say. Still, it wasn't his place to decide what the chick would be called.
"Alright. Kentucky... seems to be sleeping. It probably is because it's absorbing the energy from the Demon Cores. That being said, there is no point in staying here anymore, so let's go back to the Sect."
Rean and Roan nodded. Soon after, Hulian used his Spiritual Energy and brought them flying back to the teleport formation.
After Rean and Ron left, Hulian decided to at least report it to Mia. After all, Kentucky could also use Light and Dark Elements. As mentioned in the past, Rean and Roan were the only ones they had ever heard of using those Elements. So it made sense that Kentucky caught Hulian's attention.
Mia received the report but didn't think much about it. After all, Reliance had said all those things to her, so she already knew that Kentucky was something extraordinary. The fact that it could use the Dark and Light Element was most likely due to the mutation Reliance told her about.
After some time, Rean came to know that Demon Cores were indeed much better for Kentucky. From what he knew, Kentucky would need to eat around 300 of his Spirit Stones before falling asleep to absorb the energy. However, it only required 3 to 5 demon cores to get the same effect. Of course, everyone knew that demon cores had a lot more Spiritual Energy than Spirit Stones, so that made a lot of sense. It's just that the energy was not good for cultivators to use directly. Usually, the demon cores would be used for alchemy and other things instead.
In the end, Hulian passed a token that allowed Rean to enter their Private Demon Beast forest. Every time Kentucky got hungry, Rean would teleport there and let it feast on Demon Cores. Besides, it was also good for Kentucky to learn how to defend itself. Except for a few herbivore demon beasts, most of the ones who had demon cores attacked Kentucky. With time, it began to learn how to dodge and attack.
Another thing was that Rean could clearly see Kentucky's size becoming bigger. That was a common thing between demon beasts that increased their cultivations. Still, Kentucky was a little too fast compared to the other demon beasts Rean dealt with before.
And just like that, another three months went by.
Droman had already returned after confirming that the Lightning Sect could really modify the Lightning Beads for their use. Thanks to that, Droman and Rean's Router Formation finally got rid of the main problem: saving the signals and wiping them out straight away when not necessary anymore.
As one could expect, the Lightning Sect immediately accepted the Dalamu Sect's Copyright contract. They called the Zafa Bank that was already part of the Lightning Bead's business before and drafted a new agreement that made all three parties happy. The Lightning Sect was more than happy enough in knowing that it could start the construction of their own communication system in their territory. Being able to do it before any of the other powers in their country was a great deal for them.
In the end, the Dalamu Sect got the rights to sell the Lightning Beads while the Lightning Sect would develop and produce them. The Lightning Sect would then gain 40% of the profits, Dalamu another 40%. At the same time, Zafa Bank, as the intermediary that will prevent the contract from being broken, got 20%. 20% was a substantial amount, considering that Zafa Bank would have almost no work to be done. Their part was basically to prevent other powers from producing the Lightning Beads in their Sasamil Empire. This kind of deal was something that Zafa Bank was already very used to working with.
Rean and Roan had also been diligently cultivating until now. They were very close to the Top of the Late Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Alongside their cultivation, Roan's alchemy skills kept increasing by leaps and bounds. At the moment, he could already make quite a few different Light or Dark Element Pills for the twins to use. Well, Old Worm was always helping him, so that was to be expected.
Rean was also regularly practicing his Formations with Droman. Of course, after Droman came back, he would leave every few days to check how the cable work was going in their Dalamu Sect Territory. Fortunately, the other people responsible for the project got a lot of experience during it, so they didn't really need Droman that much. It's just that they didn't know why Droman would always ask to not connect every city's cable to the main ones. Well, that was obvious. After all, there would need to be a Router Formation in those places in the future. Connecting them now would not make any sense.
---
Today, Rean and Droman were discussing a few other points of the Router Formation when all of a sudden, a guest arrived.
"Oh! Elder Reliance! You are finally here."
Reliance had finished collecting the Decaying Roots, which he already delivered to Mia. As promised, she wouldn't intervene in his attempt to take Rean and Kentucky with him. That being said, he came straight to the Formations' Hall where Rean and Droman were working in the formations.
"I heard you passed by the Sect last time, but you didn't even spare some of it to come to pay your old pal a visit. Is that how you treat your friends?"
Reliance smiled as he shook his head.
"Of course not. It's just that I wasn't supposed to be here during that time. I only came by because Mia had sent me a message saying that she needed my help. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come. Anyway, I finished what that Mia brat asked me to do, so I could finally come here."
Droman nodded, not finding it surprising at all.
"So, where are the Formation Flags? For you to come to see me here, it is obvious that you want me to repair them again."
Reliance didn't deny it.
"That's true. However, I have another reason to come here to talk to you."
Reliance then looked at Rean... and then Kentucky, who was sleeping in a corner. Rean didn't keep Kentucky all the time inside the Dimensional Realm. After all, it would make others suspicious if Kentucky kept appearing and disappearing. That being said, he tried to keep it out as long as possible.
"Droman, I want to take this kid as my disciple. Would you mind giving him to me?"
Droman's relaxed expression immediately changed after hearing that.
"Are you crazy? This kid has the most extraordinary Formations Master talent I've ever seen. Even if you kill me, I won't give him up."
Rean was also surprised to hear that.
"What is happening here, Elder Reliance? I don't remember us having any kind of interactions before."
Reliance didn't mind their answers.
"Kid, to be honest, what I'm interested in is that guy behind you."
Rean and Droman looked in Elder Reliance's direction and saw Kentucky sleeping. After three months of eating Demon Cores and sleeping, Kentucky got even bigger. He was almost the same size as Rean and Roan. Besides, his round shape finally began to disappear. Well, he was still quite round nonetheless. On top of that, Kentucky's Yellow Plumage finally began to fall. In its place, feathers finally started to come out.
"Are you talking about Kentucky?"
"What? Who's Kentucky?"
"That chick's name. You talking about my Kentucky, right?"
Elder Reliance didn't know what to say about that name.
"Well... people often say that my naming sense isn't that good either."
Droman rolled his eyes at Reliance after hearing that.
"Your naming sense is even worse. How are Lanlan, Zunzun, and Jinjin doing?"
Rean couldn't help but look at Reliance with a weird expression.
'Are you the one to complain about my chick's name?'
Of course, Reliance was a Peak Nascent Soul Realm elder of the Sect, so he didn't say that aloud.
Reliance knew that he was losing ground, so he changed the topic.
"Ahem... the three of them are fine. Anyway, I want to take this kid with me so I can help him raise the chi... Kentucky."
Droman couldn't help but ask.
"I know that you love demon beasts, so I can understand why you want Kentucky. However, what does my disciple have to do with it?"
Before Reliance could answer, Rean intervened.
"Regardless, Kentucky is my and Roan's Demon Beast. I'm not giving him away."
Reliance shook his head in response.
"It's pointless for you to give him away since he already took you as its-"
It was then that he noticed a problem.
"Wait! Did you say that Kentucky is your and someone else's Demon Beast?"
As far as Reliance knows, this Demon Beast would only accept one master in its life, so why were there two owners?
Rean nodded anyway.
"Yes. Kentucky is ours."
Although Roan and Kentucky didn't like each other that much, it was confirmed that Kentucky still accepted Roan somehow. There had been a few times during the last three months that Rean had to leave Kentucky with Roan. Roan was basically the only one other than Rean that Kentucky reluctantly accepted be left with. Any other person would make Kentucky throw a tantrum. Of course, Kentucky still preferred Rean the most.
