“Fly toward the right,” Ethan whispered in Luna’s ears. “Fly low so the other academies won’t spot us.”
Luna obeyed and controlled her flying broom to hover lower as she navigated down the valley.
The rest of the group followed behind them, flying in formation.
After resting for an entire day, the handsome young man told them that it was time to collect some resources.
Since they got into the valley a bit late, most of the extremely rare herbs that were rarely seen on the Shire Continent were already picked by the other academies.
Still, the competition for what remained was high. On top of gathering resources, the other academies hindered their rivals from gaining more.
Fortunately, these academies didn’t resort to killing each other. They simply used paralyzing and binding spells to stop their competitors from taking more resources.
They even intimidated some of their rivals into breaking their Escape Runes, threatening that they would beat them up if they didn’t.
Because of this, less than forty people, excluding Ethan’s group, remained in the valley.
To his surprise, none of the academies that were targeting the students of Brynhildr Academy were in the valley.
He wasn’t aware that Henry had already cleared them out before meeting them in the Abel Plains.
“I’ve never seen so many Aquamarine Blooms in one place before,” the beautiful Elf, Sefarina, muttered as she looked at the beautiful flowers, whose flower petals looked like teardrops.
“These flowers are useful for cleaning out impurities inside the body,” Bridget commented. “They are also good at treating burn marks and scars. This is one of the most sought-after herbs by the Dwarven Race, so it always fetches a good price.”
The main reason why the Aquamarine Blooms were hard to find was due to the fact that they could only be found underwater.
Usually, they could only be seen in shallow rivers or springs with clean waters.
Actually, Ethan wasn’t the one who found these resources.
The one helping them gather these aquatic flowers was none other than Sebastian.
Such a chore was simple for the Guardian of Zentris, who was sensitive to magical energies near bodies of water.
“Take everything,” Ethan stated. “Maybe some of the students in Terra Manor will know of a way to cultivate these flowers in Brynhildr Academy.”
The handsome young man then glanced at Bridget, who was looking at the flowers with excitement.
“Take as many as you need as well,” Ethan smiled. “Once I find a method to cultivate these flowers, I’ll pass them to you.”
Since Bridget was a member of one of his Protector Clans, it was only natural that he shared resources with her.
Hearing her Master’s words, the pretty Dwarf smiled and nodded her head with gratitude.
“Thank you, Mast—Ethan!” Bridge corrected herself mid-sentence. “My family will definitely put it to good use!”
She no longer hesitated and took out specialized containers to store herbs.
Ethan simply used his control over the water and carefully dug the entire plant out from under the water.
He made sure that none of the roots were damaged to ensure that the plants could easily be cultivated after finding the right environment to replant them.
Luna, Emma, and the other members of his group took at least a dozen flowers each.
Ethan took the rest and stored them inside his storage ring.
Since this might be the last time that their academy would enter this Legacy Domain, he didn’t hesitate to take all the Aquamarine Blooms, leaving nothing behind for Nightfall Academy.
The members of Brynhildr Academy focused on harvesting rare herbs that were located near bodies of water, and they evaded the students from other academies.
It wasn’t because they were afraid of conflicts.
They merely didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention while they looted the place.
Half a day later, the group found an ideal place to rest and have lunch.
Ethan snagged several fish from the river, which he personally barbecued for everyone.
One of the things that he learned from the Lands of Alastor was the right way to barbecue food.
He even carried his own spices with him, so that he could cook barbecue anytime, anywhere.
“This is delicious!” Ace commented after taking a bite of his barbecued fish. “I never thought that barbecued fish could taste this good.”
“Sir Ethan, can you teach me how to barbecue next time?” Archer inquired since he had the same opinion as his twin.
Both of them usually spent their time outdoors, and they typically hunted for food.
If they could learn Ethan’s secret mix of spices, they would definitely be able to impress the pretty girls from their academy with ease.
There was a saying that the door to people’s hearts was through their stomachs.
No one would turn down good food, even if the one offering them looked like a dinosaur.
“Of course,” Ethan replied. “I have a few pouches with me as well. You can take a few. Just rub them on the meat before you barbecue them.”
Ethan gave Ace and Archer two pouches each of his Mixed Herbs, making the two young men give their Master a thumbs up in their hearts.
“Can I have some too?” Sefarina asked with a flushed face. “I also like to eat meat from time to time.”
“Why not?” Ethan smiled and gave the beautiful Elf two pouches of spices as well.
In order to be fair to everyone, he also gave two pouches to Emma, Bridget, and Luna.
“I will treat this as my Family Heirloom,” Bridget said as she held the two pouches in her hands.
“… You will waste them if you do that.” Ethan could only shake his head helplessly, thinking that Bridget was idolizing him too much.
The young man then placed a newly cooked fish beside Lilith, who was in her cat form.
The black cat happily ate the food that was personally cooked by her Master and ate with gusto.
Luna looked at the Black Cat with a smile because she found Lilith’s expression really cute.
Ethan didn’t hide anything from her and told her that Lilith, Bridget, Sefarina, Ace, and Archer, were the people sent by their clans to protect him.
He also admitted that he didn’t know much about his background but that Emma said that he would know of it once he passed his Coming Of Age Trial in Midgard.
Because of this, she didn’t pry Lilith for answers and simply enjoyed her time with her beloved.
She wasn’t aware that a small creature was stalking their group in the valley as it navigated its underground tunnels.
It was trying to get a better understanding of its Kindred Spirit and the Weird Blue Guy who was also with her.
Tomorrow was the Night of the Full Moon.
The little creature was curious if the angelic beauty would also be affected by the full moon.
All it knew was that tomorrow, it would be able to leave its nest.
It was confident that the only one that could potentially harm it was the Weird Blue Guy, who had that horrifying creature hiding inside his body.
After their lunch ended, the group resumed their treasure hunting and cleaned up all the resources near the bodies of water.
Their next goal was to head deeper into the valley to forage for resources that the other academies had missed.
Since Janga Valley extended for a hundred miles, they were confident that they would be able to find resources that the other academies had overlooked.
Of course, their little stalker followed them in their exploration, traveling at great speeds underground, not wishing for anyone to see it out in the open.