Chapter 15 (1/2)

Transformation

After half a month, the Kuhti cub had now fully integrated into the new living environment and he was no longer tense around the Cotto and Kuwei cub.

When Xie Tao walked around in the house, he would even occasionally see them get along quite intimately, cleaning each other’s feathers.

They would sit closely together and use their beaks to gently comb the lower back feathers on each other. It gave a very lovely and harmonious feeling and each time Xie Tao saw this he couldn’t help but smile.

Xie Tao normally only looked and did not disturb them, but sometimes he would walk closer and sit down beside them and touch their cute small wings. The cubs would then usually stroke their heads against his hand and call out to him.

Despite knowing that the Kuhti cub was still trying to learn how to fly, the Kuwei and Cotto cub, who had long been able to fly, did not despise or mock the new cub. They would even accompany the Kuhti cub when he was training and tried to show him how to do it.

The most common exercise they did was ground flying, which like it sounded, was an exercise where the cub would flap him wings and try to take off from the ground.

Maybe it was because of the other cubs’ assistance or maybe just the Kuhti cub’s persistence, but after having failed in every other club, the cub finally managed to make progress here in the Yunbao branch.

When standing on the ground he could now take off and fly a bit forward. Although this might not seem much to others and his flying ability was far from the standard, in Xie Tao’s eyes, the cub had improved a lot.

If compared with the previous situation where the cub had been unable to fly despite having been persistently trained in other clubs, how could this not be seen as a big improvement?

“If you continue to work hard, you will definitely be able to fly.” Xie Tao picked up the cub that had landed after flying a bit and looking into his eyes he said this in a firm tone.

Xie Tao would often repeat this, both to encourage the cub but also in hope that his own ability could somehow act as a catalytic and make it easier for the cub to achieve this.

According to what Zarad had told him, when he concentrated there was indeed a short-lived mental fluctuation and thinking about his ability to put the cubs to sleep, Xie Tao felt a bit confident that he would be able to affect the cub.

However he knew that his ability could not achieve this alone but he hoped that it would at least become a small boost to aid the cub as he worked hard.

“Tiuh!” The Kuhti cub looked up and lightly flapped his wings as he, with the same firm tone, answered Xie Tao. He would make sure to continue practice hard, so that in the future, the youth would not have to kneel down in order to pick him up, he would fly into his arms by himself!

Including the two eggs still being nurtured in the hatching room, there were now thirteen cubs in the club, and although the Kuhti cub had recently taken up a lot of his time, Xie Tao’s attention was still mainly on the Knox cub.

The reasons for this were quite simple. Firstly, because the cub had recently hatched and was more vulnerable than the older cubs. Secondly, because the golden ball had declared the Knox cub to be his final guidance.

This Knox cub may be the root to the destruction of this world or the key to save it.

If Xie Tao had been a resident of this high-technological world, then he would certainly not have believed that such a God existed and if contacted, would have not believed a word.

But he was not.

He had experienced the establishment of a spiritual link and traveled between two worlds. He therefore certainly believed and took this guidance very seriously.

The Knox cub had grown a lot in this last half month and was now lager than the average rabbit. He was almost the size of a four month old kitten and Xie Tao could no longer hold him with just one hand.

Holding the cub in his arms, Xie Tao habitually touched the cub’s back and followed the spine to touch the cub’s fluffy little tail. He then said the other’s name. “Ya Yi.”

The Knox cub hardly interacted with the other cubs and was neither as lively and active as them. He seemed to like sticking close to Xie Tao more and no matter what he did, be it closing doors properly or even locking them, somehow he would still wake up with a fluffball on his chest every morning.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was always those piercing pale blue eyes. He seemed to have been watching him for a long period and every time their eyes met for the first time in the morning, the Knox cub’s two vertical pupils would tightened further and became even more slender.

Xie Tao had been concerned about this behavior of his, especially when the cub still needed to stay in the hatching room. But seeing as it could not be prevented, Xie Tao had simply decided to take the cub with him when he went back to his room in the evening. It wasn’t ideal but he felt that it was at least better than having the cub run over in the middle of the cold night.

When Xie Tao touched the cub’s tail, the cub had slightly moved. But as the reaction was not obvious, Xie Tao did not notice it.

“Meeah.” Hearing the youth call his name, the Knox cub responded in a low tone.

In order to better take care of the cubs in the club and supplement his lacking knowledge as a caretaker, Xie Tao had recently brought a “Cub Encyclopedia” on the Star Network.

Although the book described the various races’ habits, preferences, etc. Xie Tao did not know if the information was 100% applicable to reality, he therefore planned to only use the book as a reference and slowly try to figure out the cubs by interacting with them.

Unfortunately, even though the book claimed to have information about cubs from every race, Xie Tao could not find anything related to Knox cubs in the book.

However, thinking about the fact that the Knox basically got extinct more than thirty years ago, as well as all the destruction and trauma they caused, Xie Tao could understand why they had not included Knox cubs in the encyclopedia.

But even after searching online, Xie Tao could not find any relevant information about the Knox race, only a few useless words.

The Star Alliance did not want anyone to be reminded of such a dangerous race and the events that followed, they had therefore blocked all information about the Knox race on the Star Network.

Xie Tao could only fly blind.

The Know cub held in his arms did not behave like to the other cubs and this was the main reason that he had wanted to know more about his race, he had wanted to see if this was normal, and if not, what may have caused it.

Now that the Kuhti cub had been integrated into the club and had started to train more independently, Xie Tao was more free.

When Xie Tao was using his spiritual power on him, Zarad therefore lowered his gaze to look at the Knox cub resting in the other’s arms. He had not had a chance to talk to him about the Knox race yet as it had seemly been very hectic for Xie Tao recently. But know that it had calmed down, Zarad wanted to take the opportunity. He therefore waited until Xie Tao was done with today’s session and then brought it up.

“The Knox cub’s egg was indeed sent to the nursing club ranked third, but for some reason, it made its way to our club.” Xia Qi had actually already told him the specific reasons as to why the egg got transferred to their club, however he did not want to mention it in the presence of the cub.

It was quite sad.

When the Knox cub was still in his egg, he had been moved around a lot, many clubs directly refused nursing him and even the clubs that took him in generally sent him away after only a couple of weeks. The egg therefore eventually made its way to their club where it finally permanently stayed.

Xie Tao wanted to shield the cub from this, he didn’t need to know of those things, the cub had now found his home, that was all that mattered.

Zarad nodded in understanding to his words. Even if Xie Tao had not said anything, he could basically guess why the cub had made his way to this club. However, it wasn’t that important, he had only asked this question in order to start a conversation so that what he wanted to say next would not be as awkward and out of the blue.

From the first time he saw the young man interacting with the Knox cub, Zarad had been worried that the other might have no knowledge of the Knox race.

After all, the human youth in front of him looked very young and it had been many years since the Star Alliance had launched an information blockade of the Know race. Zarad therefore felt that the youth’s understanding of the Knox race might be very limited.

To avoid that the youth’s ignorance brought him any kind of danger, Zarad had for a while now wanted to share some of his knowledge of the race. The young man was after all his amazing benefactor that had been helping him restore his abilities. Zarad certainly did not want anything to happen to him.

The Knox race was in fact superior in both technology and abilities. Even thought many people now spoke of them with a condescending and abhorrent tone, they could not deny that this race had once built a powerful and unprecedentedly prosperous empire.

The other races needed to work hard in order to develop abilities, however the Knoxs did not have to do anything. They naturally developed them soon after hatching and unlike the other races which had individuals who were unable to ever develop abilities, every person in the Knox race got abilities.

The fact that it was so easy for the Knoxs to acquire abilities was already enough to induce jealous in the other races but the fact that they had not used that power for the right thing was what made everyone despise them so much.

However just as much as they despised them, they also feared them. It was very dangerous to have so much power and not use it properly.

Even if the Knox, who was being held in the youth’s arms, was only a cub, the danger still existed. Anyone who witnessed the event that transpired more than 30 years ago, knew exactly how crazy the Knox race really was…