Chapter 111: Peaceful at Last
Just as Jian Chen entered the house, he saw Captain Kendall sitting with the other members eating breakfast. On the table was a huge steaming plate of beef.
“Jian Chen, come and eat! Today we shall be hunting, so you need to eat your fill so that you can be full of energy when you’re fighting against the magical beasts.” Kendall motioned for Jian Chen to sit down next to him at the long table.
Hu Po tore a piece of beef off and began to chew it, “That’s right, today we must eat until our stomachs are full. If we come across a strong magical beast, if we can’t kill it, we can at least run away.”
Kendall looked at Hu Po with a disapproving look, “Hu Po, do you really want us to come across a magical beast we cannot defeat? If we come across a Class 4 Magical Beast that specializes in speed, then the lives of our group will be forfeited to the Magic Beast Mountain Range.”
“Kendall, I’m not just full of hot air. We have to take this seriously I know. While Class 4 Magical Beasts scare me, we aren’t going to the depths of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, so we won’t be seeing any Class 4 Magical Beasts there.” Hu Po said.
Sitting down on the table, Jian Chen took a piece of beef and chewed it with his mouth, “Uncle Kendall, what Hu Po said isn’t wrong. Class 4 Magical Beasts are generally within the depths of the mountain range, as long as we don’t go too far in, then we won’t see any.” Jian Chen had spent a decent amount of time there, so he was familiar with the environment there.
“Something like that can’t be guaranteed.” Kendall’s face grew serious as he looked around the table, “Even though we’re only going to be around the outskirts of the mountain range, no one should drop their guard. While the majority of Class 4 Magical Beasts reside in the depths of the mountain range, there are still a few exceptions. A few bored Class 4 Magical Beasts could chase a few weaker ones to the outskirts of the mountain range. Something like this can happen, on the Tian Yuan Continent, this is not a rare occurrence, it has happened many times before.”
Jian Chen nodded his head at this. He agreed with Captain Kendall’s words because he had read many times in books that strong magical beasts would occasionally come out of their usual place as a result of boredom. However, this didn’t happen enough for it to be extremely probable. In Jian Chen’s time in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, he had never met a Class 4 Magical Beast while on the outskirts of the mountain range, and even Class 3 Magical Beasts were rare there.
“This piece of information is something we all know, and while we haven’t yet come across such an event, some others have. Alright, Kendall, stop talking about it, it makes everyone’s heart feel heavy. If we really come across such an event, then it’ll be our bad luck. Lets just eat for now and then hit the road.” The next one to speak was the one who wasn’t that much younger than Captain Kendall, as well as being one of the strongest mercenaries in the group–Deere. With the strength of a Peak Great Saint, he was already close to becoming a Saint Master.
The moment Deere spoke, everyone became calm once more and resumed eating from the plate of beef. In a flash, the platter of beef had quickly been wiped clean, leaving behind only bits and pieces.
After the food was finished, everyone immediately set out on the road. Within their group of 10, only Jian Chen was riding on horseback while everyone else walked on foot.
“Jian Chen, when we get to the Magical Beast Mountain Range, what will you do about your horse? You can’t possibly bring the horse in there.” Kendall asked Jian Chen.
Hearing Kendall, Jian Chen began to laugh as he patted the white mane of his horse. “There’s still 20 kilometers until we arrive at the mountain range. When we get there, I’ll let the horse go.”
Xiao Dao immediately bounded forward when he heard what Jian Chen said and cried out, “That can’t be, Jian Chen! Could it be you want to let the horse go free? You’re wasting such a large amount of money.”
Jian Chen could only laugh and say, “If I’m letting it go, then why not let it have its freedom? On such a large continent, whether or not it can survive, it’ll be up to its luck.” Horses were the most common of animals on the continent as well as the most inferior and abundant type of transportation. Wild animals were also able to absorb the World Essence and eat a few treasures to become magical beasts. Even these horses had the ability to become one. Jian Chen had once read that 100 years ago, there was a horse with the strength of a Class 5 Magical Beast, however, its potential was limited and its innate ability was lacking. Advancing in strength for them was a difficult path as well as a long one.
Even though most of the people were walking on foot, the journey was progressing quickly. After two hours of traveling, everyone had finally reached the foot of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Seeing the verdant plant life in front of him, Jian Chen disembarked from his horse and headed into the forest along with the group. The white horse stayed behind, but Jian Chen knew that after a while, it would leave by itself.
“From here on out, be careful everyone. Although the forests here have more wild animals than magical beasts, that doesn’t mean we can drop our guards.” Captain Kendall looked at everyone solemnly before continuing to say, “Deere, Hu Po and I will walk in front of the group, Zhou Da Kai, Zhou Xiao Kai and Chang Ning Feng will walk behind the group. The rest will be in between us six.”
After that, the group maintained the position ordered by Kendall and moved onward. On the road, although many wild animals had attacked them, their strength was incomparable to the Class 1 Magical Beasts who were also not a threat to their group.
After 6 hours, the Flame Mercenaries finally reached the other side of the forest and entered the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range where the Class 1 Magical Beasts resided.
Captain Kendall who was walking ahead of the group twisted his head back and said to everyone, “Everyone prepare yourself to fight! From here on out, Class 1 and 2 Magical Beasts will be roaming around.”
However even before Captain Kendall had warned everyone, everyone but Jian Chen had already long since prepared themselves for battle and stared around themselves intensely.
The group continued to walk into the outskirts of the mountain range, but after walking for 4 hours, they had not seen a single Magical Beast.
Within the group, Jian Chen continued to walk with his eyes flickering with indifference. With each step he took, he was already aware of every finite detail of the magical beast’s activity around them. However, whenever a magical beast was hiding in the tall bushes 10 meters away from them, they would retreat. Not a single one would dare attack them, leaving Jian Chen to be perplexed beyond belief on why they were doing that.
“Could it be that the magical beasts have realized the strength of our group and don’t want to die?” Jian Chen’s eyebrows furrowed together as he thought to himself. When he had been in the Magical Beast Mountain Range before, he had never come across such behavior.
Unable to take it anymore, Jian Chen asked, “Uncle Kendall, do you not feel as if something is wrong?”
Jian Chen’s question had been heard by the sensitive ears of everyone in the group. The entire group turned around to look at him as Kendall asked, “Jian Chen, what exactly is wrong here?”
Jian Chen hesitated for a moment before saying, “This place is where Class 1 Magical Beasts roam about, so why is it we have not come across a single one yet?”
Upon hearing this, everyone let loose a relieved breath of air. They had thought that Jian Chen actually had something in mind that was related to an unfavorable event.
Kendall laughed and said, “Jian Chen, this is actually very common. Although this is the roaming grounds for Class 1 Magical Beasts, but the Magical Beast Mountain Range is vast, and this is only just one of the many roads. Not coming across a magical beast isn’t rare, every single time we’ve entered here in the past it has been like this.”
Jian Chen’s eyebrows furrowed together even more, in his heart, he knew that this wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
“Captain Kendall, could it be that you’ve never come across a Class 1 Magical Beast yet?” Jian Chen asked.
“It’s not that, we just merely don’t see one often. The majority of the beasts that appear are Class 2 and 3. Of course, there are times where we don’t see a single Class 1 Magical Beast at all.” He answered Jian Chen’s questions patiently.
“Captain Kendall, then on average, how many Monster Cores do you usually get?” Jian Chen asked.
“Not too few,” Captain Kendall thought about it before saying, “On average, we can get 4 or 5 Class 2 Monster Cores in a single day, and maybe 6 or 7 if our luck is good. Class 3 Monster Cores will be less since Class 3 Magical Beasts don’t roam around here as often. So the chances of seeing one are slim, and since Class 3 Magical Beasts are hard to kill as well, it’ll be difficult for us to avoid any injuries. For that reason, if we come across any Class 3 Magical Beast, we try not to provoke it.”
Kendall paused for a moment before saying, “When Deere makes a breakthrough to a Saint Master, then with our combined strength, it will be easy to kill a Class 3 Magical Beast. However, until Deere becomes a Saint Master, we need to do our best and avoid Class 3 Magical Beasts. Although Class 3 Monster Cores sell for a higher price than Class 2 Monster Cores, I don’t wish to see any casualties. If we get a little bit more money in exchange for our lives, what use would that be?”