Fortunately, the research team didn't need much time to catalogue the ruin. More scientists were arriving, accompanied by mercenary units or other "adventurers" – basically warriors, priests and mages – who had agreed to guard the place long term.
On the other hand, I had the opportunity to return home. Or at least to the condominium complex that the marine biology department had provided for my family as accommodation while my mom worked here. Jun Hai had a legitimate reason.
"Your job, big bro, was to escort me. And now that I've completed the mission of collecting samples from the river and logging data regarding the organisms that live in both the ruin and the river, my job here is done. I'm bringing this back to the marine biology department in the seaside lab. You know, the one where mom is working in right now."
"Ah, okay."
"So you can complete the job by escorting me back. of course, if you prefer to stick around here, that's fine too. But I intend to go back either way. The ruins are interesting and all, but I'm not an archaeologist. And I prefer to study the samples that I've collected with more sophisticated equipment. Oh, and it's not just water samples from the river. I also have tissue samples and a few…uh, of the little creatures in jars. They're in my storage device right now. I'm not sure how long they'll last, so I need to get back to the lab as quickly as possible."
"Understood. I'll follow you back. Honestly, with your own summoned spirit beasts, I suspect that you can return home by yourself, so you're actually telling me this to help me out."
"Heh."
He knew me well enough to be aware that I wouldn't want to hang out in the ruin for too long, and that I also wanted to check out on our parents. With dad as part of the security team in the lab, mom shouldn't be in any danger, but we both knew that our time in Scandinavia was coming to an end. Maybe in a week or so, we would have to return to Hua Xia.
Mom wasn't here for a long term project. They invited her here to consult her for her expertise regarding something they found offshore, but this wasn't meant to be a permanent posting that would last for years. Only a couple of months. Otherwise, Jun Hai and I wouldn't have tagged along because we had school and stuff back home.
"All right, let's go back to the condo!"
After we bade farewell to the original archeological team and the mustached mercenary and his paramilitary squads, we departed the tower. Once we reached a large enough clearing, Jun Hai signaled for a stop before summoning his Violent Salamander.
"You guys want a ride, or are you going to summon your Charred Dragon, big bro?"
"Huh? Uh, I guess I'll just call Xiao Huo Long." I scratched my head and summoned him. "But we're flying back?"
"Yeah, of course. Why? You want to walk back instead? It'll take a lot longer. It's easier this way, and I don't think we have to be afraid of any flying saurian spirit beasts like pterosaurs or Thunder Drakes because my Violent Salamander and your Charred Dragon are Earth ranked. There's practically nothing in the skies that can threaten them."
"Why didn't we just fly to the ruin from the city then?" Silvia asked grumpily.
"Firstly, we didn't know where the ruin is, and it's much harder to search for it from above when you don't know what it looks like. Secondly, there were too many people for our two flying spirit beasts to transport. I mean, now that there's four of us, I don't think there's a problem, but trying to transport an entire team of researchers, their equipment and devices, as well as a full paramilitary platoon? Our dragon spirit beasts aren't passenger planes."
"Oh, that's a good point." Silvia looked sheepish.
"Still, I'm not sure if I can simply ride on Xiao Huo Long's back. I didn't teach him the move Fly. And I haven't gotten any Hidden Machines that can teach him the move. Do you have the Hidden Machine? Maybe you can lend it to me."
"What are you talking about?" Jun Hai stared at me as if I had gone mad. "Big bro, did you play too many pocket monster games or something? Fly isn't something you need to teach your spirit beasts. Either they can fly or they can't. And hidden machines? Do you think there's some magical disc that you can use to teach spirit beasts techniques, skills and attacks? C'mon, this is reality, not a game. There's nothing so convenient."
"You say that, but I bet you have a Zig Zag Racoon that you use as a HM slave."
"If I did, don't you think I would have summoned him earlier during our trek through the forest? He would be using Cut on the trees blocking our path, or Rock Smash on rocks along the route or Strength to push boulders out of the way. In fact, if I had a spirit beast capable of using Waterfall, wouldn't I have summoned her instead of relying on you to fly us up the damned waterfall?"
…he actually had a point.
"Anyway, let's go. Enough wasting time with the jokes. I want to sleep in a bed."
"Roger that."
As Jun Hai pointed out, the flight back to the condo complex took less than an hour, which was a sharp contrast to the full day trek to the ruin a few days prior. We didn't have to bash through dense foliage or cut through treacherous vegetation – and I realized how stupid I was to have believed that Jun Hai possessed a HM mule. Like he said, he would have summoned him to make our lives so much easier during our journey to the Dryad ruin.
First, we stopped by the lab so that Jun Hai could drop off the samples and specimens in jars. I caught sight of tiny crustaceans and amphibians that looked as if they came from millions of years ago. Sure, I wasn't as knowledgeable as Jun Hai regarding marine biology, but I did have some interest in paleontology. I like dinosaurs, which was why I was trying my best to collect saurian spirit beasts.
Now I had my very own Giga Rex and Ankylosaurus-like Terra Tortoises! Yay! And an Armored Carid! Oh, and I had a newcomer to my ranks too, but I supposed I should rewind about a couple of days, before reinforcements and the new team of archeologists arrived.
We were taking shifts and I was serving as sentry during one of the night watch when I had heard a sound from the forest.
"I'll check that out," I told the mercenary who had been posted as a guard on the perimeter. He nodded, gripping his carbine nervously and looking around for the source. He had seen what I was capable of – or more accurately, he had seen what I could summon – and so he trusted me to take care of whatever it was if it proved to be a threat.
"What's the matter?" Sylvie asked, emerging from the tent. I suspected she didn't sleep at all, judging from how quickly she came out. She was accompanied by Silvia, who was rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn.
"Big sis, why are you panicking?"
"I sensed that Jun Wen is about to leave. You found something?"
"Yeah. You want to come along?"
"Of course."
"Hey!" Silvia brightened up, her drowsiness forgotten. "An adventure? I'm up for it!"
"I'm sure you are." I tried not to roll my eyes, but I was glad to see that the fairy sisters were up for an adventure in the middle of the night. We went deeper into the forest, and I noticed the system giving me a notification window.
Another quest, but it was a simple mission to investigate the source of the sound, with the relevant reward. As usual. I raised an eyebrow at that. This sounded like the system had located something it thought I would need for the future. The damned thing was almost a deus ex machina, not in the very real sense, but more like a…predictive engine that knew what I might need for the future and conveniently gave it to me.
Fortunately, it wasn't nowhere as bad as…say, Wu Dong Qian Kun (Martial Movement Upheaval?) where Lin Dong always just happened to run across a weapon or a treasure or a technique that happened to counter his next opponent right before he encountered them. In reality, I actually had to work hard to earn the stuff I got, and I usually obtained them right after a grueling battle, not before just so that I could conveniently use this super rare treasure or spirit beast or technique or weapon against an opponent who would have otherwise overpowered me. Talk about plot armor.
At least that was what I thought, but I was completely caught off guard by how simple this particular quest was this time. When Sylvie, Silvia and I reached the river where I tracked the sound to, the three of us stopped and watched as a huge herd of plated lizards lumbered along the shore. Some paused to lap water with their mouths, their heads being absurdly small when compared to their massive bodies. Like Stegosauruses, these Plated Lizards sported twin rows of diamond-shaped leaf plates that ran from their necks to their tails, before terminating in four wooden spikes.
Their color was different, though. They were green with reddish-brown plates, but their bellies were white. They resembled stuffed toys for some reason, but supersized and brought to life. The plates were gigantic leaves that reminded me of autumn. Plated Lizards had a high affinity with the wood element, which explained their dazzling colors.
The system that notified me with something, and I gaped at it.
"What? I completed the mission just like that?"
To be fair, I only had like ten or so ordinary spirit contracts, and by this point, those weren't anything exciting. Not when I already owned so many Earth-ranked spirit beasts and developed the combat potential of my army tremendously. I had a feeling that this was more to add more diversity to the spirit beasts inhabiting my dungeon than any dues ex machina plot device where they would save my ass from the next enemy or whatever nonsense.
"They are amazing! How cute!"
Silvia rushed ahead before Sylvie or I could stop her. She was like an excited kid, bounding around happily and stopping next to the Plated Lizards. I tensed, getting ready for a battle in case they judged her as a threat and attacked, but the majority of the herd just moved on, ignoring her. They were herbivorous and had no interest in humans and fairies.
That didn't make them not dangerous, though. Their immense bulks meant that they crushed fallen logs into splinters with each step, while their swinging tails might prove lethal because of the quartet of lance-like spikes that could so easily impale our fragile bodies. Silvia didn't seem to care, though, skillfully evading their legs and tails to approach a few smaller Plated Lizards.
"Look!"
She stopped next to a baby Plated Lizard and reached a hand out to pat it. It stopped and enjoyed her stroking, almost growling in pleasure. A few of the younger Plated Lizards also came, almost surrounding Silvia. Sylvie started forward, anxious for her sister's safety, but she was relieved to see that they didn't mean any harm.
"Oh…they are so friendly."
Sylvie was surprised when a couple of the Plated Lizards broke off to poke at her curiously. She also knelt down to pat their heads, glancing at me. I simply nodded in encouragement. Then I turned and spotted their parents staring at me.
Raising my hands, I showed that I wasn't any threat. No weapons, no aggression, nothing. Calm and slow, I lowered my head and backed off. But the parents didn't seem to mind. To my surprise, the system flashed another window.
"Huh, so I guess they don't mind making a spirit contract with me?"
Needless to say, I now had ten Plated Lizards in my dungeon. Four of them were adults – two couples – and their children, or six calves. Eventually, they would breed and multiply, but for now, I was contented to see that I had more saurian spirit beasts in the mix. I was thinking of checking on them when I returned to my room in the condo complex.
However, when I accompanied Jun Hai to the lab where he submitted his collected data, samples and specimens, one of the staff hurried toward me.
"You are Director Song's sons, aren't you? Song Jun Wen and Song Jun Hai?"
My brother and I exchanged a glance before we nodded.
"Yeah. What's wrong?" I couldn't mask the anxiety in my voice. "Did something happen to our mom?"
"Oh, no. Not your mom. But you came here with your girlfriend, didn't you?" The staff member was staring straight at me, recognizing me as the elder son.
"Myria?"
"Yeah, Myria Poseidon." The staff member looked at me grimly. "She's…stuck at sea at the moment, and currently needs assistance."