Chapter 115: A Generous Profit
Jian Chen stared at the mercenaries walking in front of him when a flash of realization came, “Of course, it’s intimidation! This has to be due to the murderous air we’re emitting.” Jian Chen’s eyes sparkled as he came to this realization. After seeing so many magical beasts retreat without a fight from this group, it had, after all, been because the entire group was releasing an intimidating amount of killing intent into the air around them.
Although the magical beasts lacked wisdom, they were born with superior genetics that granted them formidable instincts. The moment they sensed an opponent they wouldn’t be able to beat their primal instincts would urge them to immediately cower and run away.
Thinking about this, Jian Chen opened his mouth, “One moment please, everyone suppress your killing intent. Otherwise, we’ll just continue about this path without seeing another magical beast.”
Kendall turned his head in the manner of a fox as he asked, “Jian Chen, is that useful?”
“Whether it’s useful or not will be known after everyone tries it for themselves.” Jian Chen didn’t want to bother to explain.
Hearing what Jian Chen had said, Kabolds began to think to himself for a moment as the glint in his eye grew brighter and brighter. “Everyone should believe in Jian Chen for now, these past few times we entered the Magical Beast Forest we would always come across only a few Class 1 Magical Beasts. I had always found this to be strange, but until now, I hadn’t an answer for it, so we can’t outrule what Jian Chen has said here.”
“So even Kabolds would say something like this, then let’s follow Jian Chen’s suggestion,” said the elder of the Zhou twins.
Kabolds had only the strength of a Saint, but he was extremely smart. His past suggestions had been of great benefit to the Flame Mercenaries before, so everyone would readily agree with what he said.
After a while, everyone had slowly started to suppress their killing intent to the point where not even a small amount could be felt leaking out.
Just as everyone finished suppressing their killing intent, they barely traveled 3 kilometers, before a Class 1 Magical Beast appeared. This made every single member of the Flame Mercenaries happy at the new change of events. Although a Class 1 Monster Core was worth less than a Class 2 Monster Core, killing a Class 1 Magical Beast was an easy task. As long as there were Class 1 Magical Beasts, the road ahead of them would be filled with generous profit.
“Haha, so we finally came across a Class 1 Magical Beast. Captain Kendall, please allow me, Kabolds and Yun Xuan to deal with this one.” Xiao Dao cried out in joy as a small dagger appeared in his hand. Striking at the magical beast, Kabolds and Yun Xuan followed behind quickly.
Seeing the small knife in Xiao Dao’s hand, Jian Chen shook his head in exasperation. No wonder he was called Xiao Dao, it was because his Saint Weapon had been a tiny blade. Turning his gaze over to Kabolds and Yun Xuan, both wielded a two-handed sword.
TL Note: Xiao Dao means small knife
Xiao Dao and the other two began to engage the Class 1 Magical Beast in an intense fight since their strengths weren’t all that different from the magical beast. After a while of the three fighting it at such a dangerously close distance, the cooperation of the three mercenaries finally killed the magical beast.
None of the Great Saints like Jian Chen had any desire to join in on the fight since all of them had fully believed that the three Saints would be able to be able to take care of the Class 1 Magical Beast.
Continuing onward, the group couldn’t walk for long without coming across a few Class 1 and even some Class 2 Magical Beasts. But this type of outcome had proved to everyone how Jian Chen’s theory was true.
By nightfall, the group had found a place to rest in and prepared a big campfire. While eating the meat from a magical beast for dinner, they had begun to tidy up the profits they had earned today.
Sitting in front of the campfire was Captain Kendall who watched the flames flicker and dance with a smile as a pile of monster cores sat next to him.
“Everyone, right now let’s talk about today’s harvest.” Kendall laughed as he looked around himself. “Today, we earned a total of 20 monster cores; 7 Class 2 Monster Cores and 13 Class 1 Monster Cores, making our profits exceed far more than in the past.” At the last few words, Kendall had practically yelled it out, making it clear that he was beyond excited.
“Haha, we have to thank Jian Chen for this. If it weren’t for his advice, we wouldn’t have come across even a single Class 1 Magical Beast.” Hu Po laughed as he took a drink of his wine.
Chang Ning Feng laughed as well, “Hu Po is right, brother Jian Chen’s contributions for today’s profit cannot go unnoticed. From the 7 Class 2 Magical Beasts, Jian Chen had killed 3 of them by himself! Brother Jian Chen, come! Take a drink!” Chang Ning Feng held out his wine gourd towards him.
Jian Chen took the gourd from Chang Ning Feng and took a drink joyously. “Don’t say things like this, when we talk about contributions, everyone in this group had contributed. What can be said for sure however is that this time’s trip in the Magical Beast Mountain Range has given the group a profit never seen before.”
“Haha, that’s correct. With an expert like brother Jian Chen here, our Flame Mercenaries has gotten a harvest far richer than anything else.” Kendall spoke merrily. “Seeing this pile of monster cores here makes me feel as if I am one step closer to my dream.”
“Captain, what is your dream?” Xiao Dao asked curiously.
“My dream is for our Flame Mercenaries to be the number one mercenary group on the Tian Yuan Continent!” Captain Kendall roared happily as he said, “This is my biggest dream!”
Hearing this, everyone began to laugh with him.
“The number one mercenary group on the Tian Yuan Continent, Kendall, your dream will be impossible to accomplish.” Hu Po slapped Kendall on his back in a joking way.
“That’s right, what Hu Po said is right. Kendall, your dream is like something from a fantasy. Following what you say, then I desire to be the strongest expert in the Tian Yuan Continent.” Deere laughed.
“Hahaha, the number one expert on the continent, you dream highly…”
……
Jian Chen sat by the fire and smiled as he watched everyone gossip among themselves. Every so often, he would laugh with everyone, and at this moment within his heart, he was completely content for the first time in a long time. Although everyone was joking around with each other, but with each word they spoke to one another revealed the deep bonds of friendships between them all and even infected Jian Chen with it.
After the food was eaten and the wine exhausted, everyone began to sprinkle some powder around themselves and the campsite to prevent their Qi from escaping and being detected by the surrounding magical beasts. Then, they extinguished the camp fire and dug into their tents to rest for the night.
Jian Chen carelessly reclined within his own tent as he thought about a few things from the day. Right now in his hand were 2 Class 4 Monster Cores, but those were the only monster cores he had left. Even if he wanted to cultivate, he had no desire to use the Class 4 Monster Cores. When he would become a Saint Master, then he would use the Class 4 Monster Cores to cultivate.
“It looks like tomorrow I should encourage Captain Kendall to go hunting for Class 3 Magical Beasts. If I can’t get at least 3 Class 3 Monster Cores every day, then I won’t be able to cultivate.” Jian Chen thought to himself.
“With my strength, I should be able to kill any Class 3 Magical Beasts with ease, and with Captain Kendall and the group’s cooperation, then that means at least 2 Class 3 Magical Beasts can be fought simultaneously. As long as we don’t bump into 4 Class 3 Magical Beasts at the same time, then there won’t be any danger.”
“En, the Flame Mercenaries should probably be able to stay in the Magical Beast Mountain Range for a month or so. Since the group is quite decent, I should try my best to help procure some monster cores for them during this time. A month after, I’ll leave the group and put all my efforts in strengthening myself. I’ll treat this month as a break, after all, the anti-venom genes within my body from the Silver Striped Golden Snake haven’t fully been incorporated into my bloodstream yet. While waiting for this, I need to focus on not sustaining any injuries otherwise the blood with the anti-venom genes will flow away. If I can prevent that, then my bloodstream will have a constant source of anti-venom genes flowing through it, granting me the Thousand Immunity. By that point, I’ll never be able to be poisoned by anyone else as long as it doesn’t reach the levels of a Silver Striped Golden Snake in toxicity. “
Jian Chen lay back onto the ground of his tent as countless thoughts went through his head. Only after some time did he begin to calm himself and listen to his surroundings. After confirming it was safe, he began to sit cross-legged and absorb the World Essence in the air to cultivate.
Despite the fact that absorbing the World Essence would only give him 1% of what he should normally getting, Jian Chen had no desire to sleep or give up any chance to increase his own strength.