He wandered a little longer, letting the streets settle in his mind, before finally turning back toward home.
When he stepped inside, Maria was already awake.
She had completed her transformation.
She stood in the middle of the room, inspecting her body, flexing her arms, testing her strength. She grabbed the couch and lifted it slightly off the ground… and held it there.
The moment she heard the door open; she dropped the couch and turned around.
"Looks like you're enjoying yourself," Jensen said as he walked in and sat down.
Maria watched him quietly as he settled.
"Here," Jensen said, handing her the Basic Talent Crystal. "This is a Basic Talent Crystal. Although it isn't as good as other Talent Crystals, it still allows you to tell if people can awaken or not."
Maria nodded and accepted the crystal.
"I will be gone for a few days, and I have a few tasks for you."
She straightened slightly.
"Forget about your job for now. I want you to find talented children. The starving ones on the street will do fine, and feel free to visit the orphanages around," Jensen said. "I believe you have enough understanding of the orphanages given where you work."
"I want talent, not just random people. Focus on talent. It doesn't matter how high or low it is."
"Keep the age to where they do not need a babysitter or special care," he continued. "For now, just record their information."
"Also find other talents, from alchemists and blacksmiths to media influencers and other groups that may be useful… as many as possible."
"I want people who have talent but no backing," Jensen added.
He gave her most of the money he had left and, just before leaving, handed Lily's contact information to Maria.
"If you need help, feel free to call Lily. She is also a core member of the family, and she is mostly in charge of the family finances."
Maria nodded as she watched Jensen leave.
***
One of the first considerations in starting a family was talent. As things stood, he could readily acquire resources by killing and robbing but resources alone weren't enough.
The second pillar was loyalty. While he intended to recruit outside subordinates for the family, he also planned to raise and train some from a young age.
Yes, bloodline suppression was effective, but it wasn't absolute.
And then there was the matter of the private settlement he intended to establish. It needed to run smoothly, and he had no intention of doing everything himself.
His trip this time was twofold… one, he planned to refill his blood storage, and two, he was searching for the perfect location for his private settlement.
It had to be close enough to the town for easy access, about one to two days away, but also close enough to a reliable resource point.
It also had to be in a good location… thankfully, none of the major families in Oakland had claimed a private settlement yet, so most of the surrounding land was still relatively open for occupation.
With that in mind, Jensen left the town without looking back.
The deeper he moved into the wilderness, the quieter everything became.
The noise of people, markets, and movement slowly faded, replaced by the sound of wind through the trees and the distant cries of beasts.
He moved carefully but without fear.
At his current level, the outer parts of the forest were no longer a threat, and it didn't take long before he found his first target.
A Level 2 beast.
It lunged at him the moment it noticed his presence, acting on pure instinct.
Jensen didn't even stop walking.
With a slight movement of his hand, the beast was lifted into the air mid-charge, its limbs thrashing wildly.
A second later, its neck twisted unnaturally and silence returned.
He stepped closer, placed his hand over it, and began extracting the blood.
The familiar pull filled his senses as the blood energy flowed into his blood storage and once there was nothing left to absorb, he saved the corpse in his spatial ring before he moved on without wasting time.
This continued for hours.
Hunt… Extract Blood… Move on, although he didn't bother extracting blood from Level 1s, instead, he simply stored their body.
Every now and then, he paused, scanning the area for stronger prey.
But Level 3 beasts were not easy to come by.
The forest he was currently in was still too close to human territory and most higher-level beasts either avoided these regions for better ones or had already been hunted down.
After some time, Jensen stopped searching for them actively.
There was no point.
His main objective was to refill his blood storage, and he was already making steady progress.
By the time night began to fall, his blood storage was almost full.
Jensen glanced around before choosing a tall tree and climbing up with ease.
He settled on a thick branch, leaning slightly against the trunk, from up there, he had a clear view of his surroundings.
The forest at night was a different place entirely different since many beasts were nocturnal.
He closed his eyes, he wasn't not fully asleep since most of his senses were still active, but he was not fully awake either.
The next morning came relatively quick.
As the first light filtered through the trees, Jensen opened his eyes and without hesitation, he dropped down from the tree and continued moving.
This time, he changed direction heading toward the mountain range in the distance.
Up until now, he had been focused mainly on resource locations.
But none of them felt right, they were either too exposed or too close to frequented spots by hunters.
If he was going to build something as he envisioned, he needed more than just resources, he also needed a good position, or the benefits of a private settlement wouldn't be maximised.
As he moved, he pulled out the map he had acquired from a mercenary, it wasn't perfect or anything, but it was detailed enough for use.
Mercenaries depended on this kind of information to survive in the wilderness, so the map marked key terrain, dangerous zones, and known resource areas.
Jensen studied it as he walked another thing he needed to keep an eye on were the tectonic plate location.
The planet was still expanding, and poorly choosing land on such location would be prone to collapse without warning.
In the end Jensen made his decision, folded the map slightly and head toward the rising mountains.