Chapter 47

The Lost Forest held danger and opportunity in equal measure. Before he met Ye Chuqi, Xiaojiu had learned that firsthand. The people who had taken him into the forest had come prepared, yet they had lost several members in just a few days, despite exploring only a little way beyond its outskirts. Now he and Ye Chuqi had walked out of the forest's depths, and somehow it had felt easier than hunting around the edges.

That was all thanks to Ye Chuqi.

Xiaojiu obediently lowered his gaze to the ground. There was plenty he did not understand, especially about the complicated human world. But some things needed only instinct to recognize, and he saw those clearly.

The girl before him had the power to change his fate.

He wanted to follow her.

Xiaojiu had already drifted into thought, but Ye Chuqi was still lecturing him. "And the way you fight—do you know what it means to hurt yourself almost as badly as your enemy? Some things can be handled with skill, but you insist on meeting every blow head-on. It's not as if your body is especially tough..."

How could human flesh stand up to the altered bodies of Magic Beasts? He could claw at one without breaking its skin, while one swipe from it could tear him apart. There was no comparison.

"You can train your body, though. I'll teach you a breathing technique. Start practicing it little by little." Ye Chuqi sighed.

Xiaojiu looked at her eagerly. "Will it cost money?"

Ye Chuqi burst out laughing. Just how badly had all those days of asking him for money and adding it to his tab scarred the poor child?

"Of course it costs money. This breathing technique is far more expensive than medicine for your wounds. Do you still want to learn it?"

Xiaojiu narrowed his eyes. The fierceness was gone, but the light in them shone brighter than ever. "Yes." Everything Ye Chuqi had taught him was valuable. Even with his limited experience, he could tell that much. So he had to learn it. As for the price—"I'll pay you back!" If he truly could not, he would sell himself to Ye Chuqi!

"Hmph!" Ye Chuqi made a face. "If you can't pay me back, I'll sell you off—and make you count the money for me!"

Xiaojiu: "..."

Once they left the depths of the Lost Forest, their surroundings changed noticeably. Towering trees still crowded overhead, but the smell of the air was different, and the signs around them grew far more varied.

The depths were home to High-Rank Magic Beasts, so traces of humans and Low-Rank Magic Beasts had been scarce. Plants, on the other hand, had flourished there. Following her map, Ye Chuqi had found quite a few medicinal herbs. Unfortunately, they were all ordinary herbs without a trace of spirituality. San San told her not to dwell on it. She could plant them in the space's spiritual fields, and the next crop would be infused with the space's Spiritual Power. Even San San could not say what they might become.

After they left the territory of the High-Rank Magic Beasts, the tracks of smaller beasts were the first to grow more common. Ye Chuqi did not know the creatures here very well, but she had some experience reading such signs.

Xiaojiu knew them much better. Once he realized Ye Chuqi was unfamiliar with them, he made a point of showing her the tracks: what each kind of footprint meant, how broken plants could reveal a beast's size, and how even the occasional droppings or claw marks on a tree could indicate its mood.

Ye Chuqi: "..." It was rather more detail than she wanted.

Things were different here. Without the presence of High-Rank Magic Beasts to keep them in check, small and Low-Rank Magic Beasts roamed everywhere, fighting by any means they could for a place to survive. Battles broke out from time to time, and Ye Chuqi and Xiaojiu could easily get caught in one.

Humans were insignificant here. There were only two of them, both still young, and the Magic Beasts thought little of them. That also meant the beasts were unlikely to attack unless they had to.

Ye Chuqi carefully led Xiaojiu around two Low-Rank Magic Beasts fighting furiously over a medicinal herb. But Xiaojiu looked toward them and hesitated.

"What is it?"

Xiaojiu pointed to the center of the fight. The two beasts were tearing into each other, sending plants and dirt flying, yet neither strayed from that patch of ground or harmed the little blade of grass swaying in the wind.

"Are we going to leave that behind?"

"Do you know what it is?" Ye Chuqi narrowed her eyes for a better look. She did not recognize it, but San San soon supplied the answer. The tender little plant was called Leaf Pearl. Its leaves were highly poisonous, but the droplets that formed on them as it matured were remarkably effective against poison.

If Xiaojiu was willing to stop despite the danger, it must be worth a great deal.

"Someone important in Monte City was poisoned. The Adventurers' Guild posted a high-level task offering to buy a Leaf Pearl." The task had included a detailed description, and Xiaojiu had read it carefully. The reward was a hundred thousand gold coins. At the time, he had wondered how big a bag he would need to hold that many coins—and how he could ever spend them all.

Someone important.

Ye Chuqi pinched the bridge of her nose. "Xiaojiu, do you really think the two of us can beat two Magic Beasts?"

They were only Low-Rank Magic Beasts, but San San had said they were both level three, just a step away from level four. One was venomous and clearly wanted the Leaf Pearl's leaves to strengthen itself. The other was not venomous, but fought even more desperately.

Before long, the second beast was covered in venom too. Soon it would probably need the droplets from the Leaf Pearl to cure itself.

What were they even fighting for? Could they not wait until the Leaf Pearl matured and share it peacefully?

Xiaojiu crouched down. The spot concealed them both while giving them a clear view of the fight. "Let's wait a little longer."

"You want to wait until they've both worn each other down, and then...?"

Xiaojiu nodded. "Yes." Then he remembered something and added, "The adventurers who brought me into the forest took this task." Perhaps they had accepted it on a whim, hoping to get lucky. Perhaps they had come prepared because they knew something. He did not even know whether they would make it back alive from that place. But he wanted to see their faces when they learned he had completed the task.