Beyond the West Gate of Rose Town, three figures ran through the sparse woodland.
GOOGLE search TWKAN
The afternoon sunlight filtered through the branches, casting dappled spots of light on the ground.
He Xi was communicating with Bruce in the distance through [Telepathic Communication].
After testing it, they found that the spell had an effective range of about two kilometers. It worked well, but they still needed to get used to communicating this way.
"How's it going, Bruce? Can you smell the scent that skeleton left behind? Or any monsters nearby?"
A slightly panicked voice exploded in his mind.
"Woof!"
He Xi rubbed his brow and sent another message, exasperated. "Why did you turn back into barking again? We've been practicing all afternoon."
"I'm still not used to hearing a voice out of nowhere. Woof," Bruce complained, sounding a little aggrieved. "Reporting in!
"I haven't found the bone man's scent, but I did smell something familiar—a stinky little green runt!"
"Great, I'll come over and—"
Before he could finish, a graceful black figure soundlessly appeared nearby.
Zoya was back, carrying a Goblin whose eyes had rolled back in its head. Its tongue lolled out, and it had clearly passed out.
"Come back. Zoya's already caught one," He Xi sent to Bruce, then turned to the elf girl. "Thanks for your effort."
[Moon-Eyed Elf Zoya Selene's Favorability toward you has increased. Parsing Points +3]
For the past few days, Zoya had been completing Adventurer Guild requests on her own, saying she wanted to save up for something.
But when she happened to run into He Xi as she was heading out at noon and learned about his "skeleton-search plan," she changed her mind about going to the Guild and eagerly joined him.
He Xi's plan was simple: since the skeleton from