As all the Grootslangs were dead, Adam started looting their corpses, and although he didn't find anything great, he should still be able to sell the loot for some gold coins.
Then, he jumped back on Neith's back, and Thalia asked "Is that the difference between someone who opened the 4th Gate and someone who didn't?"
However, Adam shook his head and said "This is the difference between someone who has experience and someone who doesn't. While the fourth Gate is good, it starts becoming useful in all fights only when you master it. Until then, you will only be able to use it for special kinds of fights."
Thalia then asked "Have you mastered the Fourth Gate?" Adam merely smiled though and said "What do you think?" Thalia looked away and pouted, she understood he wasn't going to say anything.
Adam patted Neith back and she started walking forward. After a moment, Adam asked "Do you have a pet? Your family should be able to provide one for you, right?"
But Thalia shook her head and said "I never wanted to have a pet, I can't see the difference with slavery." Adam laughed and said "Good values. But having a pet doesn't mean enslaving them. Look at Neith. Do you know how we ended up together?"
Thalia looked at him curiously, so Adam said as he tapped lightly on her shell "I received a mission to clear a mine that had been infested by spiders a week ago. In the end, I fought with her, and I beat her. After that, although I did try to make her submit, she wasn't one to bow her head."
Neith let out a spider laugh, which, while sounding scary, Adam had grown used to. He continued "In the end, my incredible charisma still made her accept her situation, and we were able to talk. Thanks to me, she was able to get out of that dungeon, and we became friends, not master and slave."
Neith and Thalia both snorted while listening to him, and Thalia said "Do you plan to take another pet in the future then?" Adam tilted his head and asked "Isn't it only Summoners who can have multiple pets?"
Thalia shook her head and said "The number of pets you can have depends on the strength of your soul. A Sovereign generally has a much stronger soul than the average. Moreover, once one opens the 5th Gate, their soul will receive a big boost, enough for most people to accept a second pet."
Adam raised an eyebrow, but also felt Neith getting tense, and her mind was becoming a little chaotic. He patted her shell with some more strength, enough for her to feel his touch, and soothed her mind through their soul contract before saying "For now, I do not have that intention, I'm perfectly happy with Neith."
He felt her calm down, and Thalia nodded. Adam said to Neith mentally 'Don't worry, even if I get another pet, no one will ever replace you. Moreover, if I do get a second pet, you would be the oldest one, and they would have to obey to you.'
At his words, he felt Neith's earlier disheartened mood become better, and he even felt some eagerness emanate from her. He let out a chuckle and went into a meditative mode.
Since he had already opened the 4th Gate, although he still hadn't promoted to Silver Rank, he figured this was time for him to start working on opening the 5th Gate. In his past life, this was the highest Gate he had opened, and also the one that took him the most time.
If he didn't want to remain stuck at Level 100 and be unable to promote to Gold Rank, then he needed to start working on it as soon as possible.
For the first three Gates, they were relatively easy to open, since they were a continuation of each other. As for the 4th Gate, it wasn't that hard to open either, and he had a great opportunity as well as some good luck.
But for the 5th Gate, even with his past experience and all the luck in the world, it would take him months to open it. To open the 5th Gate one first needed to understand oneself, then to understand the world.
Back in Old Adam's world… no, back in the alternate world, understanding oneself was the easier part, and understanding the world was the more difficult part. However, in this world, understanding oneself was as hard as understanding the world, which was also harder than in the alternate world.
Understanding oneself became harder because of the much stronger bodies, as well as the presence of Qi and Mana. At the same time, having two bodies, one in the game, and one in the real world, turned this task twice as hard.
As for the world, it was also much richer and harder to understand, it seemed more complete than in the alternate world, harder to predict.
That's why, Adam will need to work a lot. Thankfully though, this Gate didn't need him to meditate for big periods of times, so unlike when he was working on his 4th Gate, he didn't have to leave all the efforts to Neith and could enter and exit meditation easily.
As for Thalia, she had barely opened the 3rd Gate, and although she wanted to start working on the 4th Gate already, Adam advised her against her and told her to first perfect her mastery over the 3rd Gate before thinking of the 4th Gate, as a stronger foundation led to better results.
As such, she could also enter and exit meditation and was taking care of the weaker monsters on the way, learning from the fights and quickly gaining experience.
Time passed, and three days went by. Adam had stayed connected to the game for three days straight, after warning his parents of course, and so he had advanced with great speed through the Great Swamp.
During those three days he met multiple kinds of monsters that were very interesting, with a majority being exclusive to this area of the world. He didn't make any tangible progress for his Gate training, but he became Level 38, and he was able to push [Whirlwind Slash] to level 7, and his [Great Ice Breath] to Level 4. At the same time, he had also made great progress to push his [Aqua Slash] to merge with his [Lunar Smite], but he wasn't there yet.
As for Neith, she was able to level up to Level 45. Finally, Thalia got more experience, and she could be considered to be a pretty good fighter.
However, Adam's biggest gain was an unexpected one. It happened a day ago.
As they were walking toward their destination, Adam suddenly felt a weak pulse come from his hand. He was confused at first, before he finally remembered. It was the Godslayer's Heart. Adam had made Neith follow the pulse, as the closer he got to the other heart, the stronger the pulse became.
Eventually they were able to find a hidden cave in the middle of the swamp, in which a Level 100 Elder was sleeping. It was a powerful monster, but the combination of Adam, Neith and Thalia was simply too much for it, and they killed it in the end.
They got a staff from it, which was intended for Fire Elementalists. Adam decided to give it to Thalia, since she had helped in the fight, and he got something much better. Hidden behind a wall, Adam found a Godslayer's Heart. It would have been nearly impossible to find without the pulse of his Godslayer's Heart, as no sane person would just destroy a wall for fun.
While finding this single heart didn't allow him to unlock another one of the heart's abilities, it allowed him to change the boost to his stats from 12% to 15%. Three percents may seem insignificant, but since Adam's stats were in the thousands it did make a difference.
Apart from this incredible discovery, the rest of the journey was pretty calm, and as they exited the Great Swamp they could see the Kloss Canal in the distance, which was so big that it looked like an ocean.
But on the bank they could see, there was a small coastal town. This was their destination, where they would get a boat.