Setting Out

"Captain, we got word that the Budaso Adventure Team is heading to the Wild Grasslands. Should we...?"

A short-statured dwarf reported to a bespectacled young man with slicked-back hair.

At the end of his report, the dwarf drew a finger across his throat, hatred showing in his eyes.

"Tap, tap, tap!"

The young man drummed a finger on the table. Reke's face surfaced in his mind, and the mix of fury and fear twisting his expression distorted his otherwise handsome features.

"Captain, what are you hesitating for? The chance to avenge my brother is right in front of us. I'm going to kill them!"

The dwarf spoke through gritted teeth.

Ever since learning of his brother's death, he had thought of nothing but revenge. If the captain hadn't stopped him each time, he would have gone after them long ago.

What the dwarf didn't know was that his captain had been lying to him. His brother's death had nothing directly to do with the Budaso Adventure Team, but since the young man didn't dare reveal the truth, he had pinned all the blame on them.

"We've waited a whole year. Don't rush it now. When we strike, we strike to kill. None of them can be allowed to escape. Go find out exactly who'll be going."

After receiving the captain's answer, the dwarf grinned and hurried off to gather information.

Once the dwarf had left, the young man was alone in the room, which covered several hundred square meters.

That young man was Hatton, the man Reke had frightened into fleeing a year ago. The dwarf who had just left was the older brother of the burly man Reke had killed.

After Hatton had been scared out of Panxi City, he moved his adventure team to neighboring Crescent City.

He had spent the past year gathering information, and had learned that Reke wasn't part of the Budaso Adventure Team. That gave him hope for revenge.

He didn't dare provoke Reke. He didn't even dare stay in Panxi City, afraid he might run into him and lose his life. He blamed everything on Pat, thinking that if Pat hadn't taken that man to the guild, they never would have crossed paths, and he wouldn't have had to abandon the enterprise he'd built over more than a decade.

"Pat, Pat... You picked yourself a fine place to die."

Hatton looked at the white porcelain bottle on the table and gave a sinister laugh.

If Pat had stayed in Panxi City, Hatton wouldn't have dared risk provoking him. But now that they were heading to the Wild Grasslands, he had the perfect opportunity.

The white porcelain bottle contained Beast-Attracting Powder he had bought at great expense. A little of it could draw wild beasts from within ten miles. This entire bottle would send the beasts within a thousand miles into a frenzy.

Pat and the others had no idea what Hatton was planning. They were busy making their final preparations.

"Everyone, our training officially begins today. The road ahead will be paved with blood and sweat. If you're afraid, I'll give you the chance to leave. Step out of line now."

Pat stood on a raised platform and addressed the nearly hundred people below, young and old alike.

Silence fell. Not a single person left the group or said a word. The old folks gazed at him with determination, while the young people watched him with eager excitement.

Pat nodded in satisfaction and swept his hand through the air.

"Let's go!"

At his command, the crowd surged into motion as one.

Bellis spotted Lan Xin standing behind Pat. Unable to contain her curiosity, she darted over and said, "Little sidekick, why are you with our team? Shouldn't you be following that country bumpkin around?"

"Bellis, Brother Lei doesn't want to argue with you, but you need to show him some respect." Hearing what Bellis had called Reke, Lan Xin furrowed his brows, his young face turning stern.

"Tch, mind your own business. Just be a good little sidekick." Bellis didn't care in the slightest about Lan Xin's expression.

Ever since they'd met, the two had argued whenever they saw each other because of the way Bellis addressed Reke.

"You're unbelievable." If Reke hadn't told him to hold back, Lan Xin would have already gone after Bellis.

Since he couldn't fight her, Lan Xin turned his head away, unwilling to entertain Bellis any longer.

Pat and the others watched the two with amused smiles.

Lola's eyes shifted as if she'd thought of something fun. She grabbed her third sister and led her aside to whisper.

Reke could naturally sense the commotion from the building, but he didn't want to get involved. As far as he was concerned, this was no different from a group tour. What was there to care about?

Uti was different. Watching the group set off, she couldn't help worrying.

It was her child's first time away from her. She worried he wouldn't eat well, and she worried he'd get hurt.

"Uti, don't worry about me for a while. I'm going to take on a mission."

"Huh? Reke, are you leaving too?"

Uti put aside her worries about her son and turned to stare blankly at Reke. She hadn't expected to be alone after just one day.

"Yeah. Take care of yourself."

Reke was always quick and decisive. After giving her a brief instruction, he vanished into thin air.

He flew in the opposite direction from the Wild Grasslands.

It was the first time in over a year that Reke had visited another city.

When he accepted this mission, he had already planned to spend the coming year visiting other cities.

The mission was to explore the Super Ancient Civilization. It was a large-scale adventurer mission, open only to those at Level 5 or higher, with no limit on the number of participants.

According to the public mission details, the Super Ancient Civilization might hold a way to strengthen one's mental power.

That was what had drawn Reke in. What worried him most was losing control after undergoing the Great Ape Transformation.

If he couldn't solve that problem, he wouldn't even get the chance to experiment with becoming an ape-transformed Super Saiyan. He wouldn't dare try, afraid he'd end up killing himself.

As for the Super Saiyan God, honestly, Reke couldn't understand it. He couldn't figure out why five Saiyans with righteous hearts could transform another Saiyan into a Super Saiyan God simply by pouring their righteous hearts into him.

According to the lore, the divine transformation was far beyond Super Saiyan 3.

Super Saiyan 3 was no minor transformation. It gave a four-hundredfold increase. And if the threshold for becoming a Super Saiyan was three million in battle power, the threshold for Super Saiyan 3 should be even higher—at least a billion in base form, surely.

But the Super Saiyan God transformation only required six Saiyans with righteous hearts, with no other threshold.

Whatever the case, Reke didn't buy it. Even if it was only a temporary method, he wasn't counting on it. Wasn't that just rubbing all their hard work in the dirt?

He placed all his hopes on Super Saiyan 4, seeing it as another way to affirm his hard work.

And maintaining his sanity was the most important thing. That was why the mission details had caught Reke's interest. If there was even the slightest chance, he didn't mind making the trip.

There was still plenty of time before the mission began, so Reke wasn't in a hurry. He planned to stop in every city along the way, sample the local cuisine, and take in the local customs.

Reke took his time, but things didn't go nearly as smoothly for Pat and the others.

The fighting had barely begun, and the young members of the adventure team who had never seen blood were already in a panic. Some couldn't even react when a wild beast's claws were right in front of them, just staring blankly at it.