Yaka's Bloodline awakening could be said to be risk-free.
Aside from taking a bit more care when crossing the border of Gem Territory, the subsequent steps of hunting a stray Inferno Hound and extracting its heart to create a Bloodline secret medicine were not an issue. It was almost unbelievably smooth sailing, taking less than two and a half months in total.
But the thing Yarn worried about most still happened.
The rusty sword component he was looking for was in Deadwood Forest, known as Death Forest. Through the rusty sword's feedback, he could tell the approximate distance to the component. Previously, to hunt an Inferno Hound, he had ventured deep into the Red Soil Territory's eastern Red Soil, and then, on the black soil near Deadwood Forest, he felt an unprecedentedly strong feedback—a kind of excitement that felt as if his blood was about to boil.
Yarn's vision suddenly went black, and he fainted.
After all, nearly a third of his blood was evaporated on the spot; for an ordinary person, he would have likely died instantly.
Because of this, Yaka had no choice but to take Yarn to a small town near Red Soil for a month-long rest.
While Yarn was recuperating, Yaka also continuously gathered information about Deadwood Forest in the town.
At only sixteen years old, he had already awakened his Bloodline and officially become a Bloodline Knight. No matter how mature Yaka pretended to be, the strong emotions of excitement and joy within him could not be concealed. This further ignited his youthful fearlessness, and thus he naturally did not possess the same innate fear of Deadwood Forest as his father.
So, within a short month, this small town named Red Soil Town came to know of a pair of poor Hunter father and son.
...
"Father!"
Yaka pushed open the small door to the storage room next to the inn and quickly walked in.
The father and son had exchanged free accommodation in this storage room and three meals a day with the innkeeper in exchange for cleaning the stable and tidying the rooms.
Deadwood Forest is vast and borders several territories, but in reality, there are only three directions from which one can truly enter Deadwood Forest, and Red Soil Territory is one of them. The direction of Red Soil Town is the last supply point before heading into Red Soil and black soil. Many Hunters—professionals who make a living by hunting demonic beasts—would stop here to make necessary preparations.
However, most Hunters only dared to hunt first and second-tier demonic beasts. When it came to third-tier and above demonic beasts, those who had not awakened Bloodline Power simply dared not provoke them.
Because the Hunters who stayed in Red Soil Town only went as far as the edge of Deadwood Forest, known as black soil and Death Forest; they dared not step into Deadwood Forest itself. It was precisely because of this that Yaka's inquiries about Deadwood Forest around the town were seen by many townspeople as suicidal behavior. Of course, many also lamented Yaka's youthful fearlessness.
But as for whether anyone thought Yaka could enter Deadwood Forest to hunt, no one was optimistic.
"What's wrong?" Yarn was bare-chested, using a pitchfork to loosen a bale of hay. Hearing his son's voice, he turned his head to look at him. "Why are you in such a hurry? Didn't I tell you to work as a waiter in the shop and gather some information?"
"Father, it's been a month. Most of the information that needed to be gathered has already been collected. What new information could there be?" Yaka shook his head helplessly. "I've basically visited all the Hunters settled in the town, and they've already said everything they can say... I rushed back because I heard that a small team wants to enter Deadwood Forest!"
Hearing Yaka's words, Yarn immediately stopped his work, turned his head, and asked, "Did you find out about their situation?"
"There are Bloodline Users!" Yaka nodded. "At least two."
"We've already been to the edge of Deadwood Forest once. There are traces of demonic beast activity there, but there shouldn't be any third-tier demonic beasts." Yarn's expression became more serious. "Since there are Bloodline Users involved, their target must be third-tier demonic beasts... Only two?"
"I only saw two, because they had strange iron weapons." Yaka shook his head. "But if they can fight without strange iron weapons like me, then I don't know; their team has more than ten people."
In the past month and a half, Yaka would go outside the town every night to practice his Bloodline ability alone.
His swordsmanship wasn't particularly good; his Kingdom Military Swordsmanship could only be described as having standard movements. But conversely, his talent in flame control was exceptional.
The fireballs he conjured with both hands had reached a level where he could control their size: the largest like an adult's head; the smallest like a two-finger-wide pebble.
Their power, of course, also varied.
A head-sized fireball, when thrown, would immediately produce a high-temperature explosive impact, with an effective kill radius of five meters and a lethal kill radius of two meters. Yarn estimated that the power of this fireball within its lethal radius was slightly stronger than the Kingdom Army's fire-throwing barrels. The only drawback was the kill radius—the Kingdom Army's fire-throwing barrels could cause destructive power with a radius of about ten meters, with a maximum kill radius of fifteen meters.
As for fireballs as small as pebbles, although they lacked explosive impact, they possessed strong penetrating power. While it was not yet certain if they could penetrate iron armor or similar protective gear, leather armor would definitely be no problem, and wooden shields could also be directly penetrated.
So, even without strange iron weapons, Yaka's combat power was not to be underestimated; in some respects, he was even stronger than Yarn.
"Are they looking for a guide?" Yarn asked when he heard his son's words.
"Yes." Yaka nodded. "I heard that old man at the tavern tell them to go find Uncle Asen."
Asen, though not a Bloodline User, was currently the only person in Red Soil Town who had entered Deadwood Forest multiple times and returned unscathed.
Therefore, he was very famous in Red Soil Town, and many new Hunters were willing to learn experience and survival skills from him.
After getting the information, Yaka had also visited him with Yarn, and they had exchanged words. So, the father and son knew that Asen had indeed entered Deadwood Forest, but probably not too deeply. After all, as long as one dared to take risks and wasn't too unlucky, it was possible to return from the edge of Deadwood Forest unscathed.
Yarn pondered for a moment, then dropped the pitchfork in his hand, picked up the tightly wrapped rusty sword, and quickly set off with his son.
...
Robin, who had been with Yarn and Yaka for about four months, had long witnessed the caution and meticulousness of this father and son.
They were clearly two people who had awakened Bloodline Power, especially Yarn. Although he had to recuperate for a month after the backlash caused by his uncontrolled excitement over a month ago, he actually gained a blessing in disguise, making a leap in strength and almost stepping into the door of a second-tier Bloodline User.
And Yaka, who had obtained the Flame Demon Hound Bloodline like his brother Yam, had also continuously honed his Bloodline ability. Now, in an unexpected situation, he could even severely wound or kill a second-tier Bloodline User.
Yet, these two, who were outstanding among Bloodline Knights, acted like ordinary people: they not only didn't mind sleeping in simple, dirty, and dilapidated places like stables and storage rooms, but they also didn't reject engaging in strenuous labor, which was considered quite lowly for Bloodline Users.
At first, Robin thought it was just that this father and son hadn't fully adjusted their mindset to being a privileged class of Bloodline Users.
But after observing for more than half a month, he found that even when they had conflicts with other Hunters or villagers of Red Soil Town, they would greatly restrain their strength and not reveal their identity as Bloodline Users. This made him clearly realize that this father and son had not failed to adjust their mindset, but rather they had grown accustomed to caution and disguise, and would never easily reveal their trump cards.
Robin then pondered that perhaps it was precisely because of the escape three and a half years ago, and Yarn's "fortuitous" breakthrough into a Bloodline User during battle with his help, that their family developed this cautious and cunning character.
Cunning and cautious—this was a true description of Yarn's character.
And his third son, Yaka, clearly had a talent that surpassed his father in this regard: he was a bit more resourceful than Yarn, not only having sharper observational skills but also acting with more meticulousness. Yet, at the same time, he possessed the unique boldness and drive of youth, but he also maintained just the right amount of restraint, preventing this drive from turning into arrogant self-importance.
The best manifestation of this was that if an ordinary person possessed Yaka's Bloodline ability, they would surely think about how to better unleash the power of their Bloodline Power. But Yaka chose to do the opposite, opting for precise manipulation of fire, and then deeply developing his Bloodline ability to condense miniature fireball pebbles that were more concealed and also highly penetrating.
Yam might still feel the need to test whether they could penetrate iron armor, but Robin had already realized, based on Yaka's Bloodline ability, that unless it was a weapon or armor forged from strange iron, or specialized heavy armor reaching centimeter-level thickness, it simply couldn't block Yaka's "flame pebbles."
In some ways, Robin believed that the attack method Yaka developed using his Bloodline ability was far more terrifying than simply mindlessly throwing large fireballs.
At this moment, seeing the father and son already setting off to find the mysterious Hunter team planning to delve into Deadwood Forest, Robin knew that this father and son would soon reveal the fangs they had hidden for three years.