Chapter 20

Red Beard had come to the Ashen Wasteland on a job from the Adventurers' Guild. Now that he had the Red Sun Fruit, he could turn in the job at the Adventurers' Guild in Kru Town, then pick up another to escort the fruit to the Imperial Capital. Simple as that.

After a night's rest, the group of more than twenty left the Adventurers' Camp. They summoned their Starhorn Horses and rode toward Kru Town in a neat formation.

They made quite a sight.

"I asked around," San San whispered, sounding as though someone might overhear. "The Red Wind Mercenary Group is no ordinary outfit."

Ye Chuqi wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but she held back for the sake of San San's fragile nerves.

"They say it ranks second among the continent's mercenary groups. It has exceptional strength, but it was its formidable wealth that let it overtake so many established groups and leap into second place."

"You mean it threw money at the problem?"

"Pretty much. With fighters of equal strength, the Red Wind Mercenary Group has better equipment and supplies, so of course its overall rating is higher. Its jobs also have excellent completion rates and results, which helped its ranking rise quickly."

"Then the group that's managed to hold on to first place against a contender like that must be formidable."

"You saw yesterday that a pound of magic beast meat only costs a few silver coins, and that's with prices driven up by how remote this place is. So a gold coin goes a long way."

"Hm?"

"So when are you giving me those Low-Rank Beast Cores? Once you've purified them, you can sell them and we'll have money!"

Ye Chuqi swept her Divine Sense through her space. The Low-Rank Beast Cores she had secretly slipped to San San lay in the little pool of Spirit Spring at its center, their black, violent energy being drawn out bit by bit. Big Black Fish floated belly-up in a nearby puddle, blowing bubbles in comfort. After just a few days, he seemed even sturdier, his black scales gleaming. Not far away, San San had tidied the spirit field and planted the divided Red Sun Fruit plants alongside some unidentified plants she had picked up. Nourished by the space and Spirit Spring, they all brimmed with life.

It looked wonderful.

"Later."

There were things she couldn't do in front of the Red Wind Mercenary Group, especially without a Spatial Ring as cover. But it wasn't time to leave them yet. She still needed to learn about this world. At the very least, she could wait until they reached Kru Town.

The whole group riding Starhorn Horses made a striking sight. Many hurried travelers stopped for another look, then spotted the badges on their chests and nodded in understanding—the Red Wind Mercenary Group. No wonder.

Most people were used to traveling on foot. A procession this grand was rare.

Ye Chuqi noticed something else: there were more mages on the road.

Mages dressed differently from everyone else. They favored robes that swept down to their feet and took pride in the ornate magical embroidery on them. Those robes symbolized power and status, and mages liked to wear those symbols openly.

Ye Chuqi turned to Red Beard. "Are they...?" She pointed toward the retreating figures of the mages.

"The Imperial Academy's annual assessment is about to begin. Those are its students," Red Beard said with a nod. "Upper-year students who've come here together for field training."

But why here? The Ashen Wasteland was not especially dangerous, but it was short on resources. There was little to gain from training here. The Lost Forest wasn't far away. It was more dangerous, sure, but wasn't that the point of training?

"You may not have heard, Captain," Coke said unhurriedly from behind them. "Word got out after you entered the Ashen Wasteland that there were signs of a mineral vein deep inside. Nobody even knows what kind of vein it is, or who started the rumor, but they all came running. Usually there are hardly any people at the Adventurers' Camp out there."

Ye Chuqi had been lucky to see so many market stalls.

A mineral vein...

Before Ye Chuqi could say anything, San San's voice burst into her ear. "A mineral vein! It's a mineral vein! Qi Qi, a mineral vein!"

Back in the Cultivation World, San San had always wanted to find a Spirit Vein to plant in the space. It had said that one would speed up the space's development and make it easier for spiritual energy to circulate and replenish itself within it.

Ye Chuqi knew mineral veins contained all kinds of energy, though she didn't know whether a vein here could serve the same purpose as a Spirit Vein. That was all right. If one wasn't enough, she could get several.

Several mineral veins, not just a few pieces of ore. Ye Chuqi smilingly promised San San, "No rush. We'll come back and look in a while." It wasn't the right time yet.

"By then, it'll belong to someone else," San San grumbled.

"Then we'll find another." Spirit Veins were hard to find, but mineral veins were much easier. She could surely find a few for San San.

An improved space would benefit her enormously, too.

"You're just humoring me..." San San sounded aggrieved. It had waited years for a Spirit Vein without so much as a glimpse of one. And that wasn't even mentioning Ye Chuqi's original promise to work hard at leveling up so she could make it a body. "Hmph..."

After the aggrieved San San went quiet, Ye Chuqi looked back at the receding Ashen Wasteland, filled with mixed feelings.

A clear line cut across the horizon. On this side lay lush grass and leafy trees. On the other, black mist hung heavy over the Ashen Wasteland, where the shadows of gnarled, dead trees seemed to writhe.

Whether there really was a mineral vein or the rumor was a trap, she couldn't yet say. But Ye Chuqi had a feeling that anyone entering the Ashen Wasteland now would come away with nothing good.

The outskirts were another matter. Years of human traffic had made them fairly peaceful. But Red Beard's group had disturbed the calm deep in the Ashen Wasteland. The death of that High-Rank Magic Beast was a warning. San San had spoken with Big Black Fish: all this time, the Horned Python's dominance had kept the beasts in the depths hiding, afraid it would devour them as fuel for its advancement.