The next day.
At the faintly bright hour of dawn, the camp at the foot of the mountain extinguished its bonfires.
While Shien was still sound asleep, Vivian entered his tent and dragged him out of bed.
"Now is when nocturnal monsters are returning to their nests, while most diurnal monsters will not appear until after sunrise. This is the best time for us to enter the mountains."
Using that reasoning, Vivian gathered everyone together.
However, the girls seemed to have long prepared for this—or rather, they were already accustomed to such a life. Each of them looked bright and alert, without the slightest trace of drowsiness.
Only Shien kept yawning among the energetic girls, looking as though he could collapse at any moment.
"Honestly, that is far too slovenly. Go wash your face and wake yourself up properly."
Like a worried older sister, Vivian sent Shien off to wash up, leaving him with a wry smile.
"I thought I had gotten used to waking up early after coming to this world, but I still cannot compare to proper adventurers after all?"
As adventurers, they not only had to stay up in the middle of the night to keep watch for several hours, but also had to rise early and venture into the mountains to complete commissions. It was truly exhausting.
What was more, once they entered the mountains, they had to face all kinds of dangerous monsters and could not afford to be careless. Even if they lacked sleep, they had to force themselves to stay alert. There was no room for slackness there either.
"Do they not care about getting their beauty sleep or something?"
As Shien washed up in a daze, his thoughts wandered wildly. Only after splashing cold water over his face and rubbing it hard several times did he finally wake up.
Then, Shien returned to the girls and prepared to enter the Mangal Mountain Range with them, all packed and ready to go.
"Everyone, come over here."
Vivian called everyone over, took a map from the luggage, and spread it out before them.
It was naturally a map of the Mangal Mountain Range.
Not only did the map contain detailed route markings, it also had several special symbols.
There were symbols marked with red "X"s, symbols resembling pools of water, and various other miscellaneous markings. The map had clearly been drawn with great care.
"First, let us confirm the objectives of this trip."
Vivian's gaze swept across everyone.
"Now that we have cleared out the Blood Sucking Vine, our two remaining tasks are to collect spring water from a medium-sized Magic Power Source and obtain Fire Lizard Hide."
After confirming that, Vivian continued.
"There are seventeen Magic Power Sources in the Mangal Mountain Range in total: one large, three medium, and thirteen small. So first, we will eliminate all the small Magic Power Sources."
As she spoke, Vivian took out a quill pen and marked thirteen pool symbols on the map with "X"s.
Only then did Shien realize that those pool symbols marked the locations of every Magic Power Source in the Mangal Mountain Range.
"Next, we will not go near the large Magic Power Source either," Vivian said. "Although bringing back spring water from a large Magic Power Source would definitely make the client ecstatic enough to declare this commission complete, and they might even pay us extra, large Magic Power Sources usually attract the most dangerous high-level monsters in the area. It is said that the large Magic Power Source in the Mangal Mountain Range is inhabited by a powerful Level 80 monster. For safety's sake, we cannot go near it."
Vivian crossed out a pool symbol colored in brilliant gold, then crossed out another pool symbol nearby.
That Magic Power Source was probably too close to the large one, so Vivian had crossed it out as well.
"That leaves two Magic Power Sources. One is relatively close to us, while the other is on the opposite side of the mountain range. Where we should go is obvious."
Vivian decisively crossed out the other pool symbol, leaving only one.
Immediately afterward, Vivian used her quill to mark the route from their current location to the remaining pool symbol.
"This is the shortest route to the target Magic Power Source." Vivian tapped the route with the tip of her pen. "If all goes smoothly, by the time we reach our destination, it should be just when the monsters begin becoming active. We will collect the spring water before then, then wait near that Magic Power Source. Once monsters approach, the moment we spot a group of Fire Lizards, we will hunt them."
That way, they would be able to complete both tasks perfectly.
"That is the plan. If anyone has any questions, ask now."
Vivian looked to the others.
Tier, Lumya, and Merika did not speak, presumably because they had no questions.
But—
"I have a question."
With a serious expression, Shien raised his hand and asked.
"What exactly is a Magic Power Source?"
Shien had wanted to ask that for quite some time.
Even now, he still did not know what a Magic Power Source was.
However, upon hearing Shien's question, Lumya and Merika swayed and nearly fell over, while even Tier gave off an utterly speechless air, leaving Vivian dumbfounded as well.
"It seems you are severely lacking in common sense, Shien."
Vivian said this somewhat helplessly.
Still, Vivian no longer looked at Shien with the same doubtful gaze as before.
"You know that everyone has magic power within their body, right?"
"Sorry, I did not know that."
"I-I see..."
Vivian began looking at Shien with sympathy, even pity.
Even the other girls felt varying degrees of helplessness. Tier fell silent, Lumya looked lost, and Merika wore an odd expression, making Shien feel as if an elementary school teacher had labeled him a bad student with poor grades. He could only laugh awkwardly.
"Then I will explain it from the beginning."
Vivian gave a small laugh, then began explaining patiently.
"Everything in the world can potentially carry magic power. Life in particular possesses magic power from the moment it is born, because magic power is essentially life force."
"Once life force is converted, it can become magic power. Even ordinary people possess magic power, though only a tiny amount. Only by raising one's level to a certain extent can one possess a considerable amount of magic power and use magic and skills."
"And as the entity that nurtures all life and things, the world itself possesses an enormous life force."
"Therefore, the world's magic power flows through both the atmosphere and the earth. When that magic power gathers in large quantities in one place and becomes materialized, it forms a spring."
"That is what a Magic Power Source is."
Vivian's explanation was extremely simple and easy to understand, and Shien instantly grasped the nature of a Magic Power Source.
However, there was something else Shien had wanted to ask for a long time.
"Magic power is converted from life force, right?"
Shien said this in a tone that sounded like he was about to complain.
"That setting is certainly common, but I have always wanted to ask: if you consume a huge amount of magic power, then consume life force, do people really not die?"
It was a question that had troubled Shien for a long time.
I have a goal! That is to write every single complaint I often had while reading novels into this book! Aaaaaah! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
Before you continue