After the battle with the wolves ended, everyone began clearing the battlefield.
"Emma, are you okay!" Leah asked worriedly, brows furrowed as her gaze swept over Emma's body checking for injuries.
"Hiss—" Emma painfully sucked in a breath, her complexion instantly turning pale.
Supporting herself against a tree, she slowly sat down and only then realized her left leg had been bitten by a wolf. Blood flowed ceaselessly, her pants already soaked red.
"Oh no, it hurts so much. I was so busy fighting just now that I didn't notice the wound was this deep. I've lost so much blood already!" She frowned in pain.
Agnes swiftly glanced over everyone, discovering they were all injured to varying degrees, with Emma's being the most severe.
"It's fine. With wounds of this degree, they're still within the scope of a Sentinel's healing magic." Agnes said calmly, although her expression also grew solemn from seeing Emma's bleeding injury.
"Big brother, go heal them first!" Agnes said, turning to Cedric, a tenseness in her tone.
Alec had just been directing the treant to clear the battlefield and search for magic cores that might be hidden within the sturdy wolf corpses. Those things could still fetch some money.
Only now upon looking back did he notice someone was hurt.
"Sorry, I'll heal you right away." He guiltily said, his face full of self-blame and remorse.
As a Sentinel, he had an innate connection with nature, granting him some healing abilities in addition to animating the inanimate and conjuring elemental constructs.
"Absorb!" He silently chanted a spell, a gentle glow emanating from his hand as he reached out towards a vibrant, flourishing tree.
Before their eyes, the massive tree visibly began to wither at his touch. Its leaves swiftly yellowed and its bark shriveled.
All its essence was absorbed by Alec, turning into viscous green life force that swirled around Alec's hand, giving off a warm glow.
"Blessing!" Next, Alec directed the life force in his hand towards the most heavily wounded Emma.
Hummm!
In an instant, the green glow entered Emma's body, autonomously congregating around her injured area. Tiny specks of green light continuously drifted around the wound as it began to slowly heal. It also carried a mild numbing analgesic effect, causing Emma's complexion to relax somewhat.
Alec successively released two more streams of green life force, directing them into Leah and Clara to provide simple recovery for their injuries.
Soon, the battlefield was thoroughly cleared up.
From observation, this wolf pack's level wasn't high. Most were ordinary sturdy beasts, unable to reach the level of magical beasts, holding little value.
Only an extremely small number of powerful elder wolves bore low grade magic cores within their bodies. Alec carefully collected these all. In town, they could be exchanged for a certain amount of money.
Night had already deepened. From the wind came intermittent low roars of magical beasts, chilling one to the bone.
Puff!
Utilizing immense spiritual power, Agnes easily lit a bonfire. She also took out some dried black fragmented feces and arranged them in a wide perimeter around their camp.
It was said to be the excrement of powerful magical beasts, capable of effectively masking human scent and deterring nighttime magical beasts from approaching, preventing them from daring to come near.
Dinner was of course more wolf meat. After the intense battle, everyone was already exhausted.
Even Leah, who normally had a tiny appetite, now began heartily tucking in, wolfing down food to replenish the energy expended in battle.
"Big sister Agnes, I can feel it. There's this boiling sensation inside me!" Leah said while eating meat, experiencing the incredible changes within her body.
A warmth flowed through her blood vessels. Her stomach felt like it was furiously burning, breaking down the spiritual medicine and power the Goddess had left in her body, refining it into pure strength, quietly raising her attributes.
"Yes, that's the feeling exactly. This is the 'digestion' that happens during cultivation. Because you participated in battle earlier, it stimulated increased secretion of digestion factors!" Agnes explained to her.
"Try immersing your mind within yourself, observing what's happening inside, and purposefully feel this sensation. Transform it from passive digestion into actively controlling digestion. That can increase efficiency!" Agnes continued explaining, to help everyone understand what they should do.
Practice was often more effective than theory. Emma and Clara also quickly grasped this peculiar feeling. Experiencing this change for the first time, they were all extremely excited.
"Is this what it feels like to cultivate?" Emma couldn't help but exclaim, feeling as if she was brimming with power, as if she could do anything.
It was hard to imagine that at the moment she was still only a level 1 Initiation, yet already so powerful. If she continued to advance in the future, who knew what more bizarre changes would occur.
David also silently absorbed this knowledge, but what he felt was somewhat different from the others.
Although he also had that boiling sensation within, it wasn't intense.
Moreover, he didn't need to deliberately sense it with his mind. With just a slight stir of his consciousness, the passive digestion automatically transformed into active, efficiency increasing exponentially.
However, this progress wasn't obvious. This body seemed to require an endless amount of power to fill it up. To improve to the next level was still an unreachable distance away.
Christina was also equally silent, because her experience was the same as David's.
The physiques of the two were clearly more powerful. The amount of spiritual energy they needed to progress was astronomical. This low level battle didn't help them much, barely bringing any significant growth.
Due to their exceedingly high talents and peerless perception, they could comprehend these cultivation techniques by instinct alone, without needing anyone's explanations. To them it was completely effortless.
Their special chaotic physiques also further enhanced their digestion capabilities, allowing them to adapt to and efficiently utilize various different attributed spiritual energies. This had reached an unprecedented level.
"Wuwu, goodnight everyone~" Emma could finally no longer endure, her eyelids growing heavier and heavier.
The Sentinel's healing spell made her wounds feel itchy. She was immersed in a tranquil state. Fatigue was also further stimulated as blood concentrated in her stomach after eating her fill. Soon she became drowsy.
She grabbed Leah next to her and directly leaned against her soft embrace to rest.
"Oh, what am I to do with you!" Seeing Emma was injured, Leah didn't have the heart to say anything. She could only lean against a tree herself and care for Emma while resting.
"Everyone get some rest. I've set up three sentry treants that only need a bit of spiritual power to patrol the perimeter all night." Alec said with a smile. Sentinels had natural advantages when exploring forests.
"Goodnight everyone. I'll be sleeping in the trees. If there's any abnormal movements, I'll also be woken up. Please be at ease." Agnes said, then leapt up into a tree, lying down in a fork between branches.
Although this position was somewhat awkward and uncomfortable, given such dangerous woods, having these resting conditions was already not bad.
Being in the trees also made Agnes more suited for reconnaissance, providing everyone extra security.
Clara was like a great mother, dutifully gathering the two children David and Christina to her side, striving to create a more comfortable resting environment for them.
The night thus silently passed under multiple layers of protection. Since this path was originally quite tranquil, everyone slept very soundly without encountering any danger, peacefully spending the first night.
The next morning at dawn, thin wisps of fog brought a touch of coolness. Specific species of birds began calling out in the forest.
Everyone awoke and set out again to continue the journey.
As they drew nearer to the adventurer outpost, traces of human activity could be seen everywhere.
Alec and Agnes quietly breathed sighs of relief. Having come this far, for their strength, the environment could be said to be truly safe now.
Roaming in this region were mostly ferocious beasts and some low level magical beasts, all unable to pose any real threat to them.
At noon, the sunlight was scorching. The trees also gradually became more sparse.
When the group finally stepped out of the last stretch of woods, they immediately sensed an intense aura of people.
From afar, the hubbub of human voices could already be heard.
"Wow, this is my first time coming to the outside world! Could this be the fabled Kingdom of Diago Adventurer Outpost?!" Emma excitedly exclaimed.
Even David couldn't help looking all around.
On the outskirts of the town, connecting to the forested open plains, was an exceedingly vast square.
Gathered here were adventurers of all shapes and sizes. Some wore heavy iron armor, wielding hefty swords, extremely awe-inspiring.
There were also those in light leather armor, holding curved bows, gazes sharp.
Some were dressed in exotic foreign garb, seemingly hailing from distant lands.
At the center of the square, erected on a towering stone platform, was a conspicuous fluttering flag. Its deep blue base was embroidered with a silver circular shield. Mounted on the shield face were a burning torch and crossed swords, rippling in the wind.
This was the universal symbol of the Adventurer's Guild, representing order and organization.
A group of Adventurer's Guild members dressed in deep blue uniforms busied about in the stone buildings in front of the platform, responsible for handing out quests, recording adventurers' achievements, and providing all kinds of information.
Flanking outwards from the Adventurer's Guild at the center were densely packed buildings of all sizes.
"Fiery Forging, crafting sturdy weapons!"
"Come see my iron armor, protect your life!"
There were many blacksmith workshops. Furnaces in the sheds billowed thin coils of smoke. Blacksmiths swung hammers, pounding red hot iron.
"Fresh herbs, heal your wounds!"
"Maps, maps! Comprehensive terrain info!"
"All kinds of rare materials, help you shine bright!"
There were even more open air markets, filled with all sorts of adventuring necessities. From bandages and first aid ointment, to maps and magic potions, everything imaginable was available. Merchants continuously hawked their wares, the scene extremely lively.
In more remote places were tents of varying sizes, scattered about. Each tent represented an adventurer team, providing places to rest, or temporarily storing spoils and hunted creatures.
"This is so cool! What kind of world is this, it's just like what I read in books!" David looked all around, cheeks flushed, extremely excited.
Other than Alec and Agnes, this was also everyone else's first time witnessing the outside world. They were all engrossed by the rich and colorful scenes.
"This is the second largest adventurer outpost in the Kingdom of Diago. It mainly serves explorations into the Lost Forest to the east. The environment is very suitable for newbies to grow and gain experience!" Agnes explained with a smile.
"Let's go submit a quest first. No matter what, we need to give an account for our fallen companions." Alec looked at the lively spectacle, yet his heart drifted.
He still remembered that just days ago, they were a party of five. Their team had just been rated B-rank strength, accumulating some reputation here.
It was precisely because of this that they had dared to accept the goblin chieftain slaying quest issued by the village, venturing deep into the Lost Forest.
Yet now, as they returned, only the two siblings remained. The other three teammates had been eternally left behind in the goblin tribe, unable to make it back.