The shark was dark blue and had four fins, but compared to some species of evolved beasts it wasn't much different from a normal shark. As the leaping shark gremlin came closer, Rio shot a flaming spear into its open mouth, causing it to explode from the inside. However, even as the red gore fell, his expression remained grave. In addition to the gremlin he just killed, five more had jumped out as well. This time, he expanded his barrier to knock them back but at this moment when his barrier was at its weakest, a tiger with red and blue eyes jumped from the cliff where his camp was and rammed into his barrier, shattering it.
"Damn it!"
Rio quickly took out a halberd and smashed the tiger gremlin's head. Compared to evolved beasts, gremlins were generally weaker, but he couldn't let his guard down since they had a higher chance of birthing stronger variants. Additionally, even the weaker ones were a threat since energy-based attacks were less effective against gremlins.
After killing the tiger gremlin, Rio quickly remade his barrier and fired a barrage of small fireballs at the other gremlins that leaped at him. Few of them were burnt by these fireballs, but they were all at least knocked down to the lake. As they fell, Rio carefully watched the lake. He didn't care about the red colour that started to fill it, or the chewing and crunching sounds that reached him, only the condition of the sunfield pyraflower concerned him.
'Should I give up?'
Though he was managing, he didn't know how long that would be for. The end of the wave of gremlins still couldn't be seen so he wasn't confident that he could hold out here until this stopped.
"Caw!!"
As he hovered and pondered, two human-sized birds dived at his barrier with glowing beaks. Wary of their beaks, Rio quickly expanded his barrier to confront them, and his fears weren't superfluous. The beaks pierced through his barrier, but since he was prepared this time he stopped them with mental control and then sliced off their heads with his halberd. The gremlins fell but without time for relief to settle in, five more were waiting in the sky.
'Tch, I guess this is no time to be stubborn.'
Determined to return here once the gremlins were gone, Rio started to escape, or at least attempted to. For some reason even though he was fleeing on his flying sword, the wave of gremlins would still follow him.
"What, why are they...! Those damn brats!!!"
After a brief pondering session, Rio remembered the gas that was thrown at him and immediately realised that it was what was attracting the gremlins to him.
"I should have killed them!"
Now that he realised that they were targeting him specifically, Rio didn't bother looking back anymore. But since the gremlins had already surrounded him, it wouldn't be easy to escape even though he was off the ground. Before he knew it there was a large bird or a dark blue child with bat wings staring at him in every direction. Although he had killed several of them, each was as strong as the average beast spirit so he could already feel the fatigue piling on. Nonetheless, Rio's determination didn't waver as he faced them. In fact, he revealed a daring smirk.
"Took you long enough."
"Just be grateful that I'm even here."
Along with a response that seemed to come out of nowhere, a blue streak of fire smashed through the cluster of gremlins around Rio. Looking down, he saw a gremlin-free plot of land as well as the handsome young man responsible for it. Rio still didn't like his attitude, but his strength was something he could have faith in. Since staying the sky would only deplete his limited nature energy, he flew down and landed near him.
"I'll say thanks after we get through this. I got hit with some weird gas that seems to be attracting these things. What do you think?"
"I think you screwed up. Hah~, give me your hand."
"..."
Shui sighed in exasperation and stretched out his hand, but Rio returned a strange look. Sensing the intent behind this look, Shui scowled.
"Rio, even if I did swing that way I definitely wouldn't be trying any moves out on you."
Shui then forcefully grabbed his wrist and used 'Purify'. After a dim flash of white light Shui released Rio.
"That should do it."
As Rio looked around, he noticed that the gremlins seemed less aggravated and most of them began to disperse. Rio didn't know what Shui did, but it looked like it was effective.
"Thanks. Let's go back and get the sunfield pyraflower."
"Okay."
There were still quite a few gremlins that they had to get past, but with the two of them together, it took little effort. Unfortunately, though they returned to the lake in under ten minutes, the flower was gone.
"Shit! I swear if I catch those brats again I'll rip them to pieces!" shouted Rio as he stomped his feet.
"Calm down, what's done is done. Let's go."
Meanwhile, a group of elders was sitting in front of a grid of screens showing different scenes inside the Spirit Nest. Like what the core disciples were told, the elders could watch what was happening inside the Spirit Nest using the spirits sent out by their guest elder who was an expert spiritualist.
"Hehe, it's just the first day and so much has happened. By the way, does anyone know where those kids got gremlin nip?"
One elder with a grey beard chuckled while looking at the screen showing Shui and Rio. Since most of them were already familiar with the original core disciples, the newcomers were getting more attention, with Shui being the most popular.
"I think one of them works part-time as guest elder Kerr's assistant. Maybe they bought it from him."
"Hmm, speaking of which where is the guest elder?"
"He should be in his quarters. You know how he is with research."
"True."
As the elders' conversation moved from Shui to other matters, they missed the moment when the screen showing Shui switched to another area.
'I feel a little sorry for Rio but he's not important enough for me to give this up.'
Shui and Rio made a new camp deep in the forest on the way to a certain place where they could search for treasure and get supplies. While Rio was meditating in his tent, Shui secretly laid a concealment array around his tent. This wasn't to make sure that Rio didn't do anything to him, but to ensure that what he was doing wouldn't be exposed to Rio.
Once the array was set up, Shui entered his tent and took out something that RIo would be very shocked to see.
'The sunfield pyraflower.'
When Rio first told Shui that this herb existed inside the Spirit Nest and that he knew its location, Shui wasn't very excited since it would have limited use for him. However, when he saw it while searching for Rio, that opinion was quickly changed. He wasn't overcome by petty greed. When he saw the flower, he was sure that it wasn't a normal sunfield pyraflower. The energy it hid was far too great. Furthermore, he could sense the natural laws of fire being attracted to it.
'With this, my understanding and control over fire will skyrocket. And if there's anything left I might be able to make my first tesora-rank artifact. It will still be lacking compared to my Sui or a Master's archaic-rank artifact, but I could at least use it without worrying about it breaking on me.'
As Shui's heart pounded with ecstasy, he sent his spiritual sense to enter the flower. But surprisingly, there was life already inside of it.