There was no doubt that the task Punk considered "easy, safe, and simple" was actually neither easy nor safe, much less simple. Gathering intelligence was never just a matter of strolling around near the enemy's lair from afar. When the opponents were a group of genuine Morningstar-tier clerics, merely exposing one's location was already dangerous enough.
For example, on the distant Listener Plane somewhere in the Multiverse, Babong and "Campfire Moth" had paid a painful price because of an order issued by a Bright Moon Mage with no experience in strategic command...
But as always, ease and difficulty were relative. Some people had no choice but to risk life and limb because disaster had fallen from the sky, while others only needed to calmly walk to their destination and admire the scenery. The world was simply that unfair.
Professionals like "Plague Box" and the ogre "Thick Rock Layer" were clearly among the unlucky ones. After all, the mission they had received had been targeted by Smile's slaughter group from the very beginning. By comparison, the group led by "Candy Merchant," who had been ordered to observe Aikar—Life's Call, the Grand High Priest of the Church of Life in the Eternal Forest—was much luckier. Even after they swaggered into the Eternal Forest, no attacks or dangers had come into contact with them.
Yes, they had swaggered straight into the Eternal Forest. At least up to this point, Mimibes's journey had been exceptionally smooth.
In fact, nearly two hundred thousand years had passed since Punk's last visit to the Eternal Forest. For some unknown reason, Aikar, the Grand High Priest of the Church of Life, had already overcome all opposition more than fifty thousand years ago and abolished those harsh, utterly impersonal racial isolation policies. Then, over the long passage of time,