Han Shuo and the party of twelve walked south for a full eight days. Along the way, they encountered more and more ferocious magical creatures.
There were unicorn charging bulls, giant lizards, magical wolves that could release blades of wind, and flying eagles that could spit out frost. They were easy to handle at first, and then became more and more difficult until the band was barely able to handle them. Everyone felt the increasing pressure.
Everyone began to eat the food they had brought with them, and began to cook the meat of the magical creatures when all their rations had been eaten.
The magical creatures became increasingly violent, but not all the meat was edible. The lizard, for example, had a strange smell that accompanied its flesh, making it hard to swallow.
But the stronger the magical creature, the more valuable its carcass, especially those that could cast simple magic. These creatures would have magical cores inside their bodies. These cores were very valuable and could be sold for different prices depending on their level.
The band's haul was also unusual. In the past few days, they had received four cores from magical creatures, three from the Wind blade Wolf and one from the Frost Eagle.
The magical creature cores were divided into six levels. Level 6 cores were the cheapest, while level 1 cores were the most expensive and basically hard to get your hands on. These magical cores could be used to create powerful magical weapons and increase a mage's power. Some special ones could even be used to increase a mage's mental strength, so their prices were incredibly high.
The magical core of the Wind blade Wolf was level 5 and could fetch twenty gold on the market, while the Frost Eagle was higher, level 4, and had a market price of 150 gold. Based on their haul of magical creature cores alone, the group had already made a profit, even after deducting the fifty gold needed to borrow the battle steeds.
Not to mention that the bodies of these magical creatures were worth quite a bit of money as well. The fur of the windblade wolf and the unicorn horn of the charging bull were all valuable items. The combined value of these items had far exceeded Fanny and Gene's original expectations.
"Everyone has improved after a few days of training, and you no longer panic when faced with magical creatures. That is the most important thing in a real fight. In addition, our luck has been quite good. We made a lot of money this time. We will divide the profits among everyone after we return to the Academy and sell these items. Fanny was in a good mood and had a satisfied smile on her face as she spoke softly to the students.
Han Shuo had watched the whole thing coldly. The inexperienced students had gone from panicking in the face of magical creatures to treating them with indifference. Han Shuo had seen everything clearly.
Han Shuo's five senses were much sharper than anyone else's due to the training of his magic yuan. His early warnings had helped a lot in the later days, but no one could understand why Han Shuo had such keen senses. Fanny had even searched Han Shuo's body thoroughly over the past few days, but each time she had come up empty handed.
Fanny was perplexed but could think of no better way. All she could say was that she would use the school's magical facilities to give Han Shuo a thorough search when they returned to the academy. After several days of early warnings and cooking delicious meat, Han Shuo's status had unconsciously risen a few notches during this outing.
Except for Bach, Bella and others who were still extremely unfriendly towards Han Shuo because of their continued 'bad luck' of always getting a piece of disgusting food, the other students no longer ordered Han Shuo around. Some of the students who were more particular about their food had even tried to be more friendly with Han Shuo in the hope of getting better food.
"Master Fanny, when can we reach the Cemetery of Death?" Lisa asked immediately after hearing Fanny's words.
Fanny's brow furrowed when she heard this question and she fell silent. After a while she sighed softly. "I've only heard that the Cemetery of Death was once discovered in the deep south of the Dark Forest, but I'm not too sure of its exact location. Our main purpose in travelling to the Dark Forest this time was to teach you the correct method of using necromancy magic when faced with danger. Based on our current findings, you have all achieved this standard.
I don't know the exact location of the Cemetery of Death. You may have noticed by now that the magical creatures we face are growing stronger. If it hadn't been for Bryan's warnings over the past few days, I think some of us would have been injured, but even so, we barely made it through yesterday's encounter with the Frost Eagle. I'm afraid that some of us will not only be injured, but some may even die if we continue. That's why I think it's time we went back.
The students were a little taken aback by Fanny's words as Gene nodded and said, "Indeed. We're only here for training. The location of the Cemetery of Death is uncertain, and we don't even know if it really exists. It's normal that we can't find it. Everyone had a personal experience of the situation yesterday. If we continue south, I feel that everyone's life will be in danger. This time we have already reaped rich rewards, so there is no need to take any more risks.
These were the words of the two teachers. Some of the more cowardly students thought back to the events of the past two days and all nodded their heads in agreement. "Alright, let's go back to the academy. The dangers are getting worse."
Bach, you coward. How else can rewards be gained but by risk? If it weren't for yesterday's danger, how would we have gotten the Frost Eagle's core? Let's go further south, maybe we'll get even more valuable items. That way the other majors won't look down on our necromancy major when we go back to the academy. Lisa glared at Bach with contempt and tilted her head back in sarcasm. She then glanced at Han Shuo, who was cooking meat on the side with an indifferent expression. "Bryan, wouldn't you agree?"
Normally, no one paid any attention to Han Shuo, but after his performance over the past few days, incredibly, the students all stared at Han Shuo after Lisa spoke. Even Fanny and Gene did the same, as if Han Shuo's decision was quite important.
Han Shuo was involuntarily speechless. He paused and then smiled sincerely. "Taking risks is a matter of course. No one has been hurt yet. Why don't we continue? Who knows, maybe we'll get even more rewards!
Fanny looked at Han Shuo strangely, became quiet for a moment and then surprisingly nodded her head. "All right, since that's the case, let's keep going until someone gets hurt. Once that happens, we'll return to our original path."
"Come, come everyone, it's time to eat." Han Shuo laughed lightly and called. Fanny and Lisa then rushed forward happily, dropping their manners as they accepted the two largest pieces of meat Han Shuo handed them.
In the dead of night, the cool moonlight washed over the Dark Forest. Some of the students were already fast asleep in some of the crude tents, while others fought their drowsiness and took up the heavy task of standing guard.
Han Shuo slipped away silently on his own, slowly moving away from the students' tents and creeping through the shadows of the towering trees.
Han Shuo's not very strong body could be seen through the cracks between the shadows of the trees. He was as fast and agile as a cheetah, changing direction with ease as he weaved through the trees. In the blink of an eye, he had travelled far from Fanny and company's tents and was heading south.
After a while, Han Shuo's body suddenly stopped as he spread both palms upwards and chanted the words to summon a skeletal warrior. "Souls of fallen soldiers, heed the call of the dark herald and reveal your existence!"
A skinny, inky-black skeleton wielding a bone dagger suddenly materialised as soon as the incantation was complete. The skeleton's body was even denser and darker than before, completely merging with the colour of the night. It was like a dark elf.
The small skeleton kept jumping off its feet to follow Han Shuo's high-speed dash, but its bones no longer creaked with sound. The seven bone spurs flapped on its back, allowing the small skeleton to glide through the air as if it were hang gliding as it weaved through the forest side by side with Han Shuo.
Suddenly, two Wind blade Wolves appeared in front of the human and skeleton duo. The two Wind blade Wolves were devouring the carcass of a magical creature in the shape of a wild pig. One of them seemed to sense the disturbance in the air as its sharp ears suddenly pricked up and its green eyes darted back and forth.
A bone dagger materialised from the night, shimmering with a cold, sharp light. The bone dagger made a beautiful curve through the thin air and suddenly stabbed at the wolf, who was on high alert.
At the same time, a nimble figure leapt from the trees of the Dark Forest and headed for the other Wind blade wolf. A faint purple light flashed in the darkened sky, looking all the more beautiful and fey.
Two hideous howls rang out from the two Wind blade wolves. The bloodthirsty wolves had all been killed before they could react. One wolf's skull was split open by the bone dagger, and the other fell stiffly to the ground with frosty breath coming from its mouth.
"Hehehe, two more level five cores!" Han Shuo muttered to himself in satisfaction as he pulled his hand back.
On the other side, the small skeleton had already begun to use its bone dagger to dress the precious Wind blade Wolf skin. Judging by his practiced movements, it wasn't the first time he had done this.