"Whoohoo, we all manage to cooperate very well!" Lu Wan swung his chain blade around in happiness. In his first battle together with Ye Jiao, he screwed up a lot, so this smooth cooperation made him extremely happy.
Qi Huan wiped the green blood on his hand and sword. He took out a small dagger and used it to pry open the spider's body. A small ball was visible to them. His eyes widened when he saw the color.
"It looks like this spider is a variation beast," he commented and climbed down.
"Variation beast? What's that?"
Qi Huan showed the core to the others. "Variation beasts are beasts that manage to use Eon Energy and enchant their strength further. You can say that they have evolved from ordinary rank 2 beast to have their own weapon. Rank 1 beast core has black color while rank 2 beast core has blue color. However, this core has both colors, which means that the spider we met must be a variant."
"That explains why the legs are much stronger than normal spiders!" Lu Wan clasped his hand together. From what he knew, rank 2 beasts shouldn't have that hard legs. It was no wonder that they found it very difficult to break it.
"Yes."
"Does it worth more than ordinary rank 2 beasts?"
Qi Huan nodded. "This is worth 15 points because variants are usually harder to defeat compared to the ordinary ones."
"Let's go search for another variant beast!" Lu Wan cheered and started running again.
Both Qi Huan and Ye Jiao just laughed when they saw Lu Wan getting all excited. It was not easy for the beast to form a variant because it required a lot of Eon Energy and precise control. Because of that, they were even rarer to find.
Still, there was nothing wrong to hope.
With that, the three of them continued to search for rank 2 beasts one after another while still defeating rank 1 beast that they found.
Slash!
"That makes it 17 and 16 with my wins," Lu Wan puffed his chest in proud manner.
Qi Huan looked at Lu Wan with a sidelong glance. "After more than 2 weeks in the forest, you only manage to defeat me once. What a great win."
"Hey! That's because you already use your prominent weapon from the very beginning!"
"You also use your chain blade since we're in this area. There's nothing you could use as an excuse now," Qi Huan smirked.
"Tch, you're not fun."
"Are you two fighting again?" Ye Jiao asked as she returned to their place. She opened her hand and gave 13 cores that she had collected from her hunt.
Lu Wan looked at the cores. "Now this truly feels like cheating."
The three of them hunted rank 1 beast like they were drinking water. The number of cores they gathered was simply insane. Not to mention they have been steadily defeated rank 2 beasts and increased their cooperation.
"It's good that the beasts' number have decreased," Qi Huan responded. "This hunt is intended to clean up a kingdom's area from the excess of beasts because of their fast regenerative ability. Within nine years, their number must have soared so much."
"Isn't this hunt for the young generation to practice?" Lu Wan kept the core inside his storage bracelet.
"Both. They want to train the younger generation and at the same time, eliminate the monsters. For this reason alone, they will surely hold the hunt in different places and give rewards to groups who hunt the most beasts."
As Ye Jiao thought about it, she knew that it must be true. They were eliminating beasts around the capital of Chen Kingdom's area. There were regular hunters every single day, but the increase of beasts was extremely fast. Massive cleaning like this hunt was clearly needed.
"Anyway, there's also a seasonal hunt for adults to hunt rank 3 beasts. That's also to clean up the excess number of beasts and make sure that we don't have to face beasts higher than rank 2," Qi Huan explained.
"I see. You're smarter than you look, Qi Huan."
"If you pay attention in your lesson, you would know this, Lu Wan."
Lu Wan's face darkened. "Don't remind me of that."
The three of them were still chatting around when they sensed that they were being watched. Qi Huan frowned and looked at the direction where they felt it. "It feels as if we're being watched by other people."
"I sense it too."
Ye Jiao nodded. "There are four people watching in our direction right now. They must be on that hill over there."
The landscape around Chen Kingdom Capital city was filled with forest, but it didn't mean there was nothing else. Some grounds were higher than the others, creating small hills here and there or even lower than the others, creating a valley.
"… You can even sense their number?" Qi Huan turned to look at Lu Wan for explanation.
"Don't ask me. She's always very keen at other people's gaze."
Qi Huan arched his eyebrows. He could sense their location because he was used to see other people's gaze directed at him. As the first prince, he had to study a lot of things and became the center of attention. It was important for him to detect the gazes of other people and recognize their intention because it might affect his life and death.
"You're truly a peculiar young girl."
"I'm just used to people's gaze that I can sense them even if they're from afar," Ye Jiao replied. Gazes filled with malice and mockery were something she had faced since a long time ago. Added with her training to avoid people's line of sight as an assassin, her senses grew keener.
"We should just move then."
"Do you know who they are?"
"Nope, my vision is not that good to be able to see someone at this distance," Qi Huan laughed. "But whoever it is, it must be someone powerful."
This place was located quite far from the capital city. To travel this distance, they needed courage and power.
Lu Wan frowned. "I just hope it's not those two."
"It shouldn't be, right?" Qi Huan's mind also pictured the same person as Lu Wan. "He's being watched by someone else, so he shouldn't try to make his move against you anytime soon."
"I hope so."
The three of them didn't wait anymore as they started to run again. This time, they headed straight to the valley below. It was filled with trees too, but there were several other landscapes surrounding it.
…
On the place where Ye Jiao and Lu Wan looked at
"Oh? It seems they realize our presence very quickly."