Chapter 35: Liang Xiaole
Taking out the black panther’s monster core, Jian Chen and Tie Ta continued on their trip to kill magical beasts.
To easily kill a Class 1 Magical Beast while not having the strength of a Saint was something that any new student would have said was an incomparably difficult task. Life threatening dangers could happen at any time, but to Jian Chen and Tie Ta, it was almost as if they were playing a game. The 2nd region was like a treasure trove of monster cores for those two.
The day passed quickly and nightfall came, both Jian Chen and Tie Ta found an open area in the forest to camp out in. Between them was a campfire with a fire that pulsed as it illuminated the pitch blackness. The two boy’s shadows danced behind their backs, making their reflections seem like devils threatening each other.
The darkness surrounded them from all four corners, and if they were to go outside the range of the bright fire, then they wouldn’t even be able to see their own hands in front of their faces in the darkness. It wasn’t that peaceful however, as somewhere in the distant forest, a magical beast could be heard howling away. Just the sound of it would terrify anyone, and for someone who was absolutely scared already, the sound would cause them to be scared stiff.
Tie Ta turned the monster core in his hand over the fire, causing the light of the fire to shine on it. One look at the two boys revealed that their clothes were not in great condition and were splattered with blood.
The blood was all from Magical Beasts while their clothes had been cut open due to the thorny shrubbery.
“Changyang Xiang Tian, you’re really awesome! I didn’t think that you would be able to wield a corroded iron rod to such an amazing degree, all of the magical beasts we fought against today were killed by you! It was only the initial viper from earlier that I managed to kill.” Tie Ta exclaimed as he heaped praise onto Jian Chen.
Jian Chen’s face had a big smile on it, “I only took a chance when I saw one, if it weren’t for you dealing out damage with your axe, then it would have been even harder to kill those magical beasts.”
Tie Ta laughed, his heart finally taking comfort in his words, “Changyang Xiang Tian, could you tell me, how is it that you’re able to tell if we’re near a magical beast or not?” Tie Ta was naturally very curious about this, the whole day he had been puzzling over it, but it was only now that he found the perfect time to ask.
Jian Chen didn’t bother to hide anything and instead pointed at his ear and head, “I used this and this.”
Tie Ta looked at Jian Chen point at his ears and head in a curious way before asking, “You use your ears to listen and your mind to think?”
“You’re only half correct!” Jian Chen took the iron rod by his side and began to polish it on a small chunk of rock. Absent mindedly responding, he said, “Aside from relying on my ears to listen, I use my spirit to feel my surroundings. However, this method would be too difficult for you to do.”
“Oh!” Tie Ta nodded his head in understanding while thinking it over in his head.
Jian Chen felt the fine point of the iron rod before putting it down. Grabbing onto his Space Belt, he said, “Tie Ta, let us check out our earnings from today.” Shaking his Space Belt, the stored monster cores began to fall out.
One after another, monster cores started to drop out from the space belt and gradually the spot in front of Jian Chen began to pile up with monster cores until it was a foot high.
Tie Ta followed suit and started to shake his own Space Belt. In the end, a small mountain piled up in front of him as well.
“I have 48 monster cores here.” Jian Chen laughed, his profits for today had been huge.
“I have 49 here, I’ve beat you by one.” Tie Ta was extremely happy, he had never seen this many cores before. This was a first for him, since he had never even seen a single monster core before. To Tie Ta who was born in a common household, these monster cores had a huge price tag on them despite all of the cores being Class 1.
“For the first day to be this profitable, not bad! I don’t know how many monster cores we’d need in order to be the ones with the most monster cores. After all, the prize is quite rich; a Class 4 Monster Core and a Space Ring.” Even Jian Chen had been tempted by the prizes, he really wanted that Class 4 Monster Core, the energy inside would be many times stronger than a Class 1 Monster Core.
At this moment, Jian Chen’s eye suddenly grew dark as he whispered, “Quickly store all of the monster cores, people are coming.” After saying that, he immediately started to store all of the cores into his belt and put it back on.
Tie Ta moved quickly as well, the moment he heard Jian Chen start, he had already started to store all of the monster cores. Tie Ta had finished by the time Jian Chen did.
After the two had stored their monster cores away, after a few nervous breaths, the distant grass moved to the side with a rustling sound as a very thin person came walking out. The moment the person saw both Tie Ta and Jian Chen sitting by a fire, a look of surprise came over their face before suddenly letting loose a cry of joy. It was a weak little lady holding onto a rice straw for support who came stumbling over.
“I finally found someone, I finally found someone! I beg of you, please don’t leave me behind. I’m afraid, really really afraid. The magical beasts want to eat me…” The person’s voice was fairly frantic and was full of panic; however, her voice was still gentle somehow.
Hearing her, Jian Chen and Tie Ta then realized the person in front of them was a girl as the fire behind them illuminated her body, showing her Kargath Academy uniform to the both of them. However, the uniform had been cut open by the branches and thorns, some parts of her body could already be seen underneath and even her underwear could be seen poking out. The uniform itself was muddy as if she had fallen multiple times.
The girl’s face was dirty with mud to the point where her appearance couldn’t even be seen clearly. However, on her face could be seen evidence of her crying as she pleadingly looked at Jian Chen. Looking at the pitiful sight, there was nothing but helplessness reflected in her eyes.
“Sit down.” Jian Chen tried to make himself as kind as possible, looking at her situation, he had guessed what type of trouble had taken place. In this environment, even the most reckless of boys would feel horrified, let alone a little girl.
Seeing that the person was actually a pretty girl, Tie Ta’s guard loosened. Carefully putting down the battle axe in his hands, he looked at the girl curiously.
Jian Chen calmly looked at the young girl, and asked, “Can you tell me what your name is?”
“My…my name is Liang Xiaole,” The young girl stuttered back. Seeing both Jian Chen’s and Tie Ta’s eyes flash, she could not help but feel fear, as well as some faint traces of concern and insecurity.
“Why is a lady like you not with others? If you’re so afraid, why would you walk through this forest alone? Just a few random sounds have even scared you to such an extent,” Tie Ta asked in a muffled voice.
Liang Xiaole looked at Tie Ta timidly before she said quietly, “I came here with a few friends at first, but unfortunately we came across a magical beast. That magical beast was quite strong, and my group of friends weren’t able to beat it. Soon after most of us were injured and we all scattered to run away, but I got lost.”
Hearing this, Tie Ta began to choke on his own saliva before saying, “Even with a group you were unable to beat a Class 1 Magical Beast? How useless, just Changyang Xiang Tian and I have already killed over 100 magical beasts today.” A proud look came over his face as he remembered that fact.
“Gululu!”
At that moment, a strange sound suddenly rang out. In an instant, Jian Chen and Tie Ta both directed their gazes to the origin of the sound. It turned out to be Liang Xiaole’s stomach, which at the moment, still would not stop grumbling loudly.
“You must be hungry,” Jian Chen smiled.
“Yes!” Liang Xiaole nodded in embarrassment, and delicately said, “I haven’t eaten all day.” The corner of her eyes could not help but light up as she glanced at the bonfire, where the finely cooked, golden magical beast meat was currently dripping with rich oils. She greedily inhaled its aroma, but the more she did this, the louder her stomach grumbled. Eventually, both Jian Chen and Tie Ta could only hear rumbling sounds in their ears.
Jian Chen smiled. He picked up the skewer with the magical meat on it, and unafraid of the heat, directly used his hand to tear off a large chunk of the meat. Handing it over to Liang Xiaole, he said, “Go on and eat this. Be careful it’s hot though.”
Liang Xiaole twisted her hands, and ripped the corners of her clothes to wipe clean the dirt on her hands. Tenderly, she reached over to receive the magical beast meat. Once it had cooled down, she directly ate it with large mouthfuls, not caring to keep up her appearance in the least.
Liang Xiaole was probably starving, because after she quickly finished that large piece of meat, she still gazed at the remaining piece with a wistful look in her eyes.
Jian Chen smiled, and ripped off another large chunk of magical beast meat. He handed it over to Liang Xiaole and said, “Go ahead and eat this.”
Seeing the piece of magical beast meat that had placed in front of her, Liang Xiaole hesitated for a bit, and in the end, still didn’t reach out to receive it. Instead, she gazed at Jian Chen and Tie Ta and softly asked, “If I finish it, what will you guys eat?”
Tie Ta laughed, “Don’t worry, we still have another one left. Look under that tree.” As he said this, Tie Ta extended a finger to point in the direction.
Liang Xiaole looked at where Tie Ta was pointing, and sure enough, she noticed that underneath a large tree nearby, an unknown magical beast had fallen to the ground. One of its legs had already disappeared, and the ground was covered with fresh blood marks.
Staring at the magical beast’s corpse, Liang Xiaole swallowed hard and said, “You guys are really formidable. To think that the two of you alone could kill a Class 1 Magical Beast.”
“Che….What does that mean?” Tie Ta said, completely unperturbed.
The time stealthily flew by. Jian Chen and Tie Ta had finished eating, and were now preparing to rest.
“Hey, where should i sleep?” Liang Xiaole asked with difficulty.
Jian Chen pointed at a large tree not too far away and said, “Go rest on top of that tree. That way, even if magical beasts try to attack in the middle of the night, you won’t be harmed.”
“Ah, magical beasts still attack during the night?” Liang Xiaole’s face turned ashen at these words. Her eyes were filled with fear, and her whole body began to tremble.
“Then what about you guys? Where would you guys go? You can’t just leave me behind alone, otherwise I’ll definitely be eaten by some savage magical beast,” Liang Xiaole asked in a panicked tone. She nervously glanced at Jian Chen and Tie Ta, as if afraid for her life if they ran away and abandoned her.
Jian Chen internally sighed. He really couldn’t do anything about the cowardly Liang Xiaole. People like her who had been born and raised in noble families as a precious little girl had never experienced the stormy sea. From birth, she had grown up into a sheltered environment, so encountering any danger drove her heart and mind into disarray.
“Don’t worry, we won’t go far. We’re just going to rest in the other tree over there,” Jian Chen said.
Liang Xiaole felt slightly comforted after hearing these words. However, traces of fear still remained in her heart, refusing to go away.
“That damned school, that damned headmaster! Why do they have to force everyone to attend this type of event for no reason at all? Isn’t this just deliberately trying to send us to our deaths?” Whenever she thought about how she had gotten into her current situation, Liang Xiaole could not help but start cursing in anger. Eventually her words gradually began to turn into sobs.
