"You mean the one that I happened to fight with? Isn't that great?"
While I'm initially surprised, this is actually great for us! If we use this route, no one from the sect will be able to follow us deeper into the forest, while I will get the chance to pet Pengu's awesome fur again!
"Great? Did you forget how scared I was when you were fighting with it?! Do you want me to have a heart seizure just by going into this forest?"
Ah, so that's what made her react to my old pal in this way. While I can understand her dislike towards this particular demonic beast, I can't say I share this feeling.
If not for pengu, I would be stuck to farming my experience points on normal beasts. If not for pengu, I would never gain enough fame to secure my place on Eve's side. All in all, when I look back at those events, my fight with him was the best that could happen to facilitate my growth!
"I don't want to make you feel bad about it, but I think you saw how did I part with it. As long as we bring it some valuable food, we should be able to pass through its territory safely!"
There is no way in hell that I can guarantee such a thing, but considering how stronger did I get since the last time I saw it, I shouldn't have any problems warding pengu off if it will have enough guts to launch an attack on us!
"Ahh… I guess I will have to trust you on that one again… I will agree to go this way, but you need to promise me, that as soon as things go awry, we will run away!"
Dang it! I can't handle her sweetness! It's like she doesn't care that we are probably evenly matched with former pengu, she still can't help but force such a thing on me! Well, if we meet any trouble that would advocate running away, we won't be able to do it in the first place, so agreeing to her request actually doesn't mean anything this time. While it feels bad to cheat her like that if I can calm her worries down in this way, its just a pure profit!
"Okay then. As soon as we will encounter something that will put us on the spot, we will do our best to run away. Does that satisfy you?"
Since time is sparse, I want to finish this topic and get moving already. While it's only the middle of the day now, just preparing the food can take us more time than I would like. Even if the sun is still high in the sky, I don't think we will reach our hunting ground before the nights set down!
"Yes, it does. Since we are set on going, what kind of stuff do you think we will need? I can prepare the basic supplies, but is there anything else you require?"
Finally dropping our circulation to stop the voice barrier, Eve asked as she moved to the kitchen, where she was always able to magically procure the food for our meals. While I'm still curious about this magical event, there is a lot of more important stuff to take care of now.
"Nah, I don't think there is anything special I would need. Oh, I would forget! When I was visiting the sect master's place, she gave me two core sect tokens. As soon as we go back, we can move to a new place there. What do you think about it?"
With our cultivation now officially reaching the spirit attainment realm, not only were we qualified for the core area of the sect, but with just a little bit of effort, we should be able to enter the ranks of grand elders! With our cultivation realm equal to Stella's, there is no way she would keep our status as disciples, even if my knowledge was far from sufficient to support my new social status.
But I want to avoid that situation. While I still don't really understand everything from Eve's memories, if I'm not wrong, reaching this level means that we can kind of graduate from the sect! If Stella catches the news about it, she might want to follow her master's footsteps, while leaving the hurdle of managing this sect to us!
No way in hell will I agree to such a situation! It's not like I'm required to share the information about my advances. Even if I wanted to proudly announce them and just spend my days in comfort, I would still have to wait a fair bit of time before I could do it safely. Allowing others to realise how fast I was able to climb through the cultivation levels could only bring me trouble! I don't want to appear in the situation that I saw in Eve's memories when a bunch of strange old people will molest and dissect my body in hopes of learning how to do the same!
In just a few moments, Eve comes back from a kitchen with a sizeable bag of various foods that disappeared in a flash in her storage ring.
"I guess that we will spend at least an entire day in each of the areas to safely get used to the power level of local monsters. Since you want to train in the spirit attainment area, I guess you will spend quite a while there, so I took enough food to feed us for at least a week. Later on, we will need to use our prey to get by, but it's way more than enough time for us to maintain a healthy diet."
Stretching her back a bit, Eve unintentionally pressed her breast right against the tightened cloth of her robes, allowing me to catch a glance at two protruding points in the middle of her curves.
As if noticing my gaze, she covered her bosom with her arms and turned her head down shyly.
"Just in case, I made sure to grab some blankets and the wine that Stella gifted me. If we will be in the right mood, we might discuss our secrets right in the forest."
I guess I know her for a little too short to judge whether she got excited by the prospect of fight or spending such a long time all alone with me in the wild. In the end, it doesn't really matter. If we won't make it to the Pengu lair before the night, attempting to cross it won't be possible, holding us for an entire night! If we want to not only get on its other side but also establish a safe camp for the night, we need to hurry!
"Let's go then!"