Danger

The Petrification Lizard lying in the grass had a round, plump body. Its fat body made it almost neckless, and its mouth, which was half a meter long, revealed a row of sharp teeth. Its eyes were closed, and its eyelids looked as big as fists.

Its entire body was covered in spots of withered yellow and grass green, and its limbs were weighed down by its heavy body, so only two thick forelimbs could be seen, with sharp nails that looked like hooked daggers.

Roy discovered that the most fatal wound on his abdomen was on the lower part of his body, with almost no other injuries.

Even the three arrows Klayr shot at its head only pierced the skin and flesh.

A large pool of bruises seeped into the grass. Roy leaned closer and couldn't help but touch the lizard skin on his body. It was almost no different from touching a stone.

Even if they wanted to turn it over so it was lying on its back, Roy and Klayr couldn't do it...

"What should we do?" Klayr was dumbfounded. The Petrification Lizard in front of her had no breath and must have died here.

Roy tugged at the rope, but couldn't budge the Petrification Lizard an inch. He had no choice but to give up on the rope and then pulled out his dagger, intending to cut along the Petrification Lizard's neck to try and sever its head. Since the leather on the head was the hardest to peel, he simply gave up on that and only needed the leather from the body and tail.

In addition, this guy has a magic core inside his head.

Neither Roy nor Klayr learned the Skinning Technique. Although the Elf Academy offered the course, very few new students enrolled.

Those willing to learn Skinning Technique are mostly veterans from the Elf Academy. They may have gone through several wilderness trials and gained hunting experience, only to suddenly realize that without Skinning Technique, they can't do many things while hunting in the wild, so they learn this course when they return to the academy.

Roy carried an ordinary fish-killing dagger, which was very useful for killing fish and scaling them, but this dagger, forged from ordinary steel, couldn't cut through the hard shell of the Petrification Lizard at all.

He poked at the Petrification Lizard's skin with his dagger, only to find that it could only make shallow cuts.

In such hot weather, once an animal dies, its body will gradually begin to decompose and smell, and the hotter the weather, the shorter this process becomes...

The biggest problem is when the odor of internal organs is inside the body.

Roy tugged at the rope again, hoping to drag the Petrification Lizard Petrification Lizard the shade of a tree and use the branches and rope to turn it over.

Unfortunately, it's too heavy.

Roy thought of the ropes that pulled the sails on the Black Pearl. The huge sails on the mainmasts weighed hundreds of pounds each, and the ropes that pulled the sails on the ship all had pulley systems. Unfortunately, he did not bring those heavy pulleys with him on this trip to the Malaga Jungle.

"There's no way we can budge this big guy," Klayr said from the side.

Roy glanced at the Long Dagger at Klayr's waist and said to Klayr, "Then just skin it. Before it rots, peel off its most precious lizard skin. There's a magic core inside its skull. My dagger can't cut through its tough skin. How about trying your Long Dagger?"

Klayr drew Long Dagger from her waist and handed it to Roy.

The Long Dagger he carried was not the one he used in the gladiatorial arena duel, but a gift his father gave him after learning that he was going to take an outdoor practical course.

The dagger was clearly sharp enough, and a small whetstone was embedded in the scabbard.

Roy gripped the dagger and forcefully cut through the hardened hide inside the Petrification Lizard. The blade remained undamaged, and both of them let out a soft breath.

Beneath the hardened hide was a layer of tender white flesh, which even oozed oil after being cut open with a dagger.

"This dagger is really sharp..."

Roy cut off the Petrification Lizard's head along its neck, then made an incision on its side and began peeling off Petrification Lizard hard skin from its body.

Since neither of them had learned Skinning Technique, the entire Petrification Lizard hide was cut into four pieces, and the leather on the four thick lizard legs was ultimately not peeled off.

When they peeled the Petrification Lizard Petrification Lizard down to its belly, Roy and Klayr finally understood the cause of its death.

It had a wound on its abdomen that was nearly half a meter long.

When Roy was skinning it, he found that there was almost no blood on its body, indicating that it had bled to death.

They managed to completely dismantle the Petrification Lizard before nightfall.

There was no way to proceed further in the jungle.

Roy then tied all the lizard skins together, wrapped them along with the Petrification Lizard's head in banana leaves, tied them with rope, and put them into Klayr's Magic Pouch.

Roy had originally planned to leave a piece of the lizard's tail so he could roast it and eat it the next day.

However, this was met with strong opposition from Klayr.

The two had no choice but to follow the elves' example, digging a large pit on the spot and burying the remaining Petrification Lizard skeletons in the grass.

After harvesting the Petrification Lizard hide, the two were exhausted.

We originally planned to camp under this big tree and rest for the night.

However, while setting up the tent, Roy looked at the bushes where the Petrification Lizard were buried and said to Klayr, "Klayr, I think we should leave here first. If there are other Petrification Lizard around here, once they follow the tracks, we might not be able to escape."

Klayr knew Roy was right, so she decided to Checkpoint Two that very night.

In fact, the Magala Jungle is even more difficult to traverse at night, and the dangers lurking in the darkness are impossible to detect...

Roy and Klayr relied on a Divine Light to trek through the jungle for most of the night, finally managing to cross a mountain ridge and reach the vicinity of the second checkpoint.

It's so late; the teachers in charge of attendance are probably already resting.

The valley was quite large, and it was impossible to pinpoint the exact location of the check-in point at night. Roy and Klayr discussed it and decided to find a place to camp and check in at dawn, while also informing the instructor in charge of check-in about the discovery of the Petrification Lizard in the jungle.

As dawn broke and a light mist still hung over the jungle, Roy climbed out of the tent and felt the entire tent was damp with the mist.

Not only were the grass and leaves covered in dew, but even the stones underfoot were wet.

Roy lay in the simple tent and slept for only two hours before he couldn't fall asleep anymore.

He chose a high ground with a better view and compared it with the Parchment Map to estimate the approximate location of checkpoint number 2.

Sure enough, we found a cliff in the valley. It was hard to spot in the jungle, but once you stood on a high point and looked out over the entire mountain range, the check-in point was easy to find.

Seeing that Klayr was still fast asleep in the tent, Roy decided to go to the checkpoint himself, get his Parchment Map stamped, and then the two of them would leave.

We've been traveling and stopping frequently along the way, and today is the ninth day since we entered the Malaga Jungle.

Of the eight check-in points, Roy has only found two so far.

Thinking that he might not be able to find all the sign-in points, Roy felt that the geography assignment given by Master Harper was really difficult...

"Roy, where are you going?"

Roy tied his trouser legs tight with a rope and was about to sign in when Klayr woke up, poked her head out of the tent, and squinted at him, asking a question.

Roy stood up, pointed in the direction of check-in point number 2, and said to Klayr, "I've found check-in point number 2. I'm just about to go there to get my stamp. You can sleep a little longer. I'll be right back after I check in, and then we'll head to Checkpoint Three..."

"Wait for me, let's go together!"

Klayr poured the water from her water pouch onto her head, wiped her face, and then quickly put on her leather armor before emerging from the tent...

Neither of them packed up the tent, since there was nothing of value inside except for the tent itself.

The jungle here has been cleared by the elf students who arrived earlier. There are no thorns or vines, but the path is bad and some footprints are full of mud and water.

A wisp of mist rushed towards him, and Roy wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he smelled a faint scent of blood in the air.

We soon arrived at the check-in point, which was an open area near the foot of the cliff, with several tents set up right next to the cliff face.

Because it's next to the rock face, and the terrain is relatively open, the fog is thinner there.

From afar, Roy saw several elven students sitting opposite an instructor. These elves didn't seem to be talking, and he wondered what they were doing there...

Klayr then noticed something strange: the person waiting at the second check-in point was actually a human instructor.

He was about to mutter a complaint to Roy when he saw Roy's pupils suddenly shrink, and his eyes even showed a hint of panic.

He reached out and grabbed Klayr, saying in a very low voice, "Don't go over there..."

His voice was even a little breathless.

Klayr felt Roy tugging at her arm, so she and Roy carefully backed away together.

It wasn't until the morning mist completely obscured the sign-in area that Klayr finally spoke up, asking, "Roy, what's wrong?"

Roy leaned against a large tree, cautiously surveying his surroundings, and whispered:

"He's not an instructor at the academy. I've seen him before; he's a seaman. I witnessed him kill a Dark Moon Elf in Castleton City,"

Klayr's eyes widened, and she exclaimed in disbelief, "Then how come he's at the sign-in point?"

An answer flashed in both their eyes simultaneously, but Klayr's translucent, pointed ears twitched slightly, and she spoke quickly in a very low voice:

"Someone's coming! Quick, hide!"

Roy crouched down and used his shoulder to lift Klayr's feet, helping her quickly climb the tree. Then Klayr hooked her feet onto a horizontal branch, leaned down, and stretched out her arms to pull Roy's arm...

As Roy climbed up the tree trunk, Klayr gave a strong pull, dragging Roy up to the top of the tree...