The next day, Seraph called over Ariana and her friends, then took them to the Mission Hall of Soul Peak.

The familiar old man stared at the group for a moment, then casted a puzzled look at Seraph.

The white-haired youth gently explained. "We need a custom mission for us all to go. Is something like that available?"

The man squinted his eyes, his spiritual sense brushing over everyone in the group so fast that they didn’t notice.

"Hmm, one Peak Master, one Core Master, one Initial Master, and four Peak Advanced. Hmm."

The line up was too strong. However, there were missions that could make them occupied for a while.

"Here."

He handed a mission to Seraph, who read it with a bright smile. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

His smile froze, dimmed, and turned awkward after he finished reading it.

"Uh... can you help us modify..."

As expected, the old man disagreed. "No. That’s your mission now. Do it properly."

Seraph nodded, then led the team out.

"Uh... what exactly is our mission?"

Curious, Ariana asked carefully.

Seraph yawned. "Herding a flock of spirit beasts. Nice, right?"

Sylvia blinked in surprise. "Wait. I thought herding is for only one shepherd. Why is it given to us?"

Looking at the mission again, Seraph answered in a low voice.

"Because we aren’t herding just a random spirit beast. We’re herding Sky Bisons."

Soon, the seven of them arrived at the beast farm. A few workers were already waiting for them and immediately ushered them in.

"Welcome, welcome."

Ignoring those people and leaving the talk to Sylvia, Seraph looked around in search for a particular girl.

However, he couldn’t find her at all. There was not even a trace of her.

"Perhaps it’s not her turn, yet?"

Muttering to himself, he looked up and decided to ask one of the workers.

"Do you know of anyone called Maria that works here? She has black hair in twin pigtails. Do you know her?"

The chubby man looked at him in confusion, then said.

"Maria? Oh, you mean... wait. Maria? No... what was your question again?"

Seraph was surprised, looking at the man oddly.

He turned to another person, and their answer was similar. It seemed they knew her, but would forget once her name was mentioned.

"A curse? I’m not sure."

Realizing that his search was futile, he returned to the group.

Sylvia said to him. "They told us we’ll be going to the base of Solstice Peak where there is enough vegetation. That’s where they’re going to graze."

As she was talking, a worker walked up to them and smiled.

"You two can handle the Sky Bisons, right? So we want the other disciples to help us take these Horned Hens to—"

Seraph shot him a hard stare while smiling.

"We’re not splitting up. Any problems?"

The worker flinched, but still insisted. "The two of you should be enough to handle the Sky Bisons. Let the others—"

"No," Seraph shook his head, still smiling. "We came here as a team. Don’t expect me to allow you splitting us up. Alright?"

The worker’s expression darkened. "This... you’re really making things difficult for—"

This time, Seraph didn’t even bother with him. He turned to Ariana and the others, beaming.

"Alright, guys. Let’s be quick with it."

"W-wait!"

Ignoring the young man’s plea, the group left the area and headed to the pen of the Sky Bisons.

"Hello there, it has been a while."

Seraph grinned and waved at the spirit beasts, flame flickering at his fingertips.

MOOO-!

As if remembering something, the spirit beasts stepped back in a guarded manner.

"Big brother, you’ve been here before?"

Ariana latched onto his arm and asked.

He nodded, his gaze still locked on the bisons. "Yeah. I once assisted Maria in... hm?"

He suddenly paused, then shook his head. "I once cleaned their pen, all by myself. It is strange that I can’t remember how I cleaned it, though."

Ariana shrugged, then turned to the bisons. "How do we get them to follow us?"

Seraph grinned and stepped forward. "Watch."

He shot six flame arrows into the pen, letting fire spread. The bisons immediately took to the air and began complaining with their beastly sounds.

"Wait! Why did you burn it?!"

Dera gasped in shock, immediately sending over a flood of water and ice to coll the flames.

Seraph gave her a thumbs-up, then rose into the air, standing on two wind blades.

"Follow me."

The others glanced at each other, then took out weapons from their storage rings. Coating the weapons with spirit energy, they stepped onto them and slowly levitated to Seraph’s level.

Seeing them ready, he took out a bell, then rang it loudly.

"Seraph? Where did you get the hell?" Sylvia asked with a frown.

Pointing at the angry worker who was shouting from below, he answered. "From him, naturally."

They turned their attention back to the bisons, realizing they were all silent and were looking at Seraph.

No, more specifically, they were looking at the bell in his hand.

"Good. Let’s lead the way."

Ringing the bell, Seraph turned around with the others and began flying.

MOOOOO-!

Behind them, the bisons flapped their large, flat tail and used their thick legs to paddle the air, rushing after the sound of the bell.

"Woo-hoo! I love flying!"

Dera grinned wildly as the wind blew her hair backwards.

Sera was calmer, merely standing straight and not moving about like her sister.

"Don’t slam into a rock, idiot."

She gave a warning as Dera swerved too low. The black-haired girl immediately noticed and flew back to the group.

"Hehe, I won’t go far again, okay?"

Acting cute, she tried poking Dera’s chest, but the girl simply moved away.

Meanwhile, Tamar and Fellin kept staring at the trailing bisons. They were awed by such a species and were curious about them too.

"We’re here."

Seraph’s voice snapped them back to reality, and they realized they had reached the Solstice Peak.

Still ringing the bell, Seraph and the others landed on the lush grassland, followed by the bisons who were trailing them.

"Start eating! Start eating!"