"At the break of dawn, as the first rays of sunlight illuminated the place, Jin felt a weight on his chest and a small hand forced his eyes open, only to find Mei sitting on his chest.
"My brother, have you woken up? the wicked Luna's brother is waiting for you outside"
"My sweet princesses don't use such words. What does he want from me now?" Jin asked.
After washing his face, he left the room to find Dou Bai at the breakfast table, sitting as if he were part of the family.
"I see that you're comfortable here. What brings you at this time?"
"Jin, be polite to our guest," the mother intervened, not liking his tone. She signaled for him to approach her and whispered, "How long will you remain isolated from others? You need to build friendships with your peers. Be kind to him, he is a good boy."
"Is this praise related to the necklace you're wearing, and what is that new ring on your finger?" The mother smiled sweetly, it was clear that Dou Bai had brought her jewelry from his father's store.
"Didn't you say that it's not right to refuse free gifts? Come on, tell me, do I look pretty with it on?"
"Yes, yes," Jin sighed and turned to Dou Bai. "What do you want now?"
It seemed that Dou Bai thought they would finish breakfast in two minutes, but with Jin's appetite, it didn't seem like it would end soon.
"Will it take long? If we want to get the Hermit herb, we need to move quickly," Dou Bai said with food in his mouth.
"Move where?" Jin asked.
"To the edges of the forest. Someone saw the silver fox there, and as they say, wherever the silver fox is found, the best herbs are found."
Silver foxes are small animals with beautiful silver fur that build their dens near spiritual herbs. Not only that, but they deliberately show themselves to humans to lead them to these herbs. The reason is that these beautiful animals feed on dead bodies, and surely while looking for the herb dead bodies would be left for them whether from beasts or even humans."
"Jin stopped eating his breakfast and turned to his sister, "Mai, I will be gone for a while. Be obedient and don't forget your breathing exercises."
After Mai recovered, Jin personally trained his sister to the first level of the foundation world. Mai's determination and focus on training were amazing, considering her age, and the reason for this was her desire to defeat her rival Luna.
After two hours of walking, the friends arrived at the edge of the forest, but they were not alone. Even from neighboring villages, there were some young faces who wanted to get the herb.
"Dou Bai, is the Hermit herb really so rare?" Jin wondered as he saw all this crowd.
"Not really. It seems that some herb sellers store it to increase its price. If we don't get it, we probably won't be able to afford it," Dou Bai replied, impressing Jin with his use of the plural form and making him think that he would be a loyal friend.
"Nevertheless, it is a large crowd for just a herb."
At that moment, suspicious movements began to appear in the midst of the crowd. Some young people were retreating one by one to the east.
Dou Bai noticed this and alerted Jin to follow them. Those who preceded them were older and more powerful than those who participated in the entrance exam to the institute, which turned Jin's doubt into certainty - they were not here for something as simple as spiritual herbs.
Suddenly, Dou Bai stopped him and pointed to a silver wolf that had shown up, but the surprise was that none of them followed it.
"Dou Bai, we'll split up. I'll rely on you to get the Hermit herb, and I'll follow those youth to see what brought them here."
With the older youth out of the equation, Dou Bai's task became easy, as no one present matched his strength.
In an attempt to discover the reason for the older youth coming to the forest, Jin separated from his friend and began to follow them from afar, but he quickly slowed his pace and hid to observe the events, as a fight between the young people had broken out.
The battles between the competitors became fierce, but it was clear that they would not last long, as two youth appeared to be at the average level of the world of soul, crushing everyone in moments.
The armor and spear, a young man and a young girl moved in amazing harmony, indicating their fighting experience. The young man used an energy shield as a barrier, paving the way for the young girl's spear attack.
*Slash* The spear pierced the shoulder of one of the youth, to the point that even his energy-enhanced armor could not defend against the attack.
The girl with the ponytail slowly drew her long spear, leaving herself defenseless. Another opponent, a young man dressed entirely in red, like the energy that enveloped his body, took the opportunity to throw a powerful punch capable of breaking rocks towards the girl.
*BOOM* The punch did indeed collide with something, producing a deafening sound, but it did not touch the girl's face. It was her energy shield.
The attacker gritted his teeth and retreated, hiding his damaged fist. Jin watched the battle with a smile. "Fools, they focus their attack on the girl, thinking she's the bigger threat, ignoring the one with the shield."
*SWOOSH*
The sound of the spear piercing the air at a crazy speed made the young man in red forget the pain in his hand and involuntarily close his eyes. The spear missed him, but it hit its real target, the person standing behind him, who screamed in pain after the spear pierced his arm.
Seeing the man hanging from a tree, the young man raised his hands in surrender, and fled.
After their overwhelming victory, they headed towards the mountain, while Jin continued to follow them from afar. They emerged from the forest and reached the foot of the mountain. Suddenly, the young man stopped and shouted,
"Hey boy, how long will you keep chasing us? Haven't you heard the saying that curiosity killed the Dog?"
The strong-built 17-year-old boy with the shield shouted back loudly, after realizing that someone was following them.
"the saying is curiosity killed the cat, not the dog!"
" Artcia, I've told you a hundred times not to correct me in front of strangers. It makes me look bad," the young man scolded his companion, who had just corrected him.
*WHOOSH*
In the moment the young man turned to reprimand his friend, Jin threw a dagger without hesitation.
"Watch out!" the girl warned, but the young man had already formed a half-transparent blue shield around himself to protect himself. Although he didn't hear the sound of the dagger hitting the barrier, he noticed the pain of his companion as the dagger hit her shoulder. At the same moment, a magical circle flashed on the dagger, causing it to return to the hand of its owner.
The girl slowly raised her hand and touched her injured shoulder in disbelief, asking her companion, who was now angry.
"Arfi... Were you the reason for my injury? Did you take the dagger from your shield and hit me?" The girl's angry voice made the young man take a step back and shake his head in denial.
"I have nothing to do with this. There is a magical circle on the dagger. This young man diverted the dagger's path and then pulled it towards him. He planned this; he knows about my shield."
"Do you want to say that I was the target of the attack? I don't like this boy, despite the difference in strength between us, he initiated the attack, and all this trouble just to hurt me."
So far, the two of them have been acting comfortably in front of Jin. A person in the world of development is certainly no match for them, but they are not ready for any risks.
" Artcia, could he have wanted to get your blood to use it in black magic? Maybe he will curse you," said Arfi, with a smile on his face.
Artcia, the girl with the ponytail hairstyle, believed in curses and was afraid of them.
She had an obsession that one of the followers of the witch who killed her family in the past might appear and try to take revenge on her or even curse her.
And with the fact that Jin used magic to change the course of the dagger and she was the target, her delusions overwhelmed her mind, and she tightened her grip on the spear and glared at him coldly.
"You, are you one of the followers of that witch? I won't let your curse hit me."
The girl jumped, and anger overtook her, and she attacked Jin like a madman, Jin fled towards the trees trying to shade her.
"Artcia, I was joking, don't kill him...........she will probably kill him."
After a few minutes, Artcia returned, holding the dagger that Jin had previously wounded her with, and signs of satisfaction were evident on her face.
"That monkey escaped among the trees, but what's important is that he dropped the dagger. I am now reassured," Arfi exclaimed about her madness, as this was not the first time she had exaggerated.
"Artcia, there is no such thing as a curse. Most likely, that boy took a sample of the blood for tracking magic. We need to hurry to the mountain; we don't know how long the gate will remain open."
She nodded in agreement and followed him.
After a short period, the two arrived at the desired location. The scene in front of them was unbelievable. In front of the mountain, there was a circular gate whose edge was rotating rapidly and emitting luminous sparks.