Kai ducked down, his heart drumming inside his chest. He was ready to use any and every skill in his disposal in case they attacked, but…
"Why are you pointing in the west direction?"
"Fey, he's going to the western snow field."
'Oh…?' Hearing that, Kai became confused yet relieved.
Mrs. Skintight seemed to be surprised. "You know where horus gate location is?"
"Yes, I had got a hint before we came here. It's just surprising that Jim actually had a horus orb."
Fey cracked her knuckles. "Yeah, that bastard needs a beating."
"No, it's alright. He meant no harm to us and was only looking for an opportunity."
"Oh, well, if you say so." Fey dropped the idea of punishment way too easily. She suddenly let out a loud yawn.
Her voice then lowered, almost a whisper, but Kai's sharp ears still heard her. "Anyway, how long will it take for the plan to finish? I am feeling tired, stop ruining my sleep like this."
A brief silence followed before Amy said, "The meeting with them will be held in an hour. So quickly get to work and collect the corpses. This area will be under me, you go there."
"Eh, alright, alright. But this still feels like a pain in the ass. I mean why even use up so many resources when we don't even know the quality of the Dusk Stone?"
"If it's a low grade stone then yes, we will be at a loss but only if we look at it monetary wise. No matter what the grade is though, it will help us in the future."
"Tsk."
"Fey, weren't you excited about this before? Why become like this all of a sudden?"
"I was just intrigued because you finally agreed to do something unethical. I mean Amelia Ironhart agreeing to stealing? Damn, that sounded so fun. But man, now my workload has increased so I don't like it anymore," Mrs. Skintight grumbled.
"…"
Kai heard their voice lower as they walked away, but he didn't move and looked at the system screen that had popped in front of him.
[A quest has been issued.]
[Quest: Devour the Unknown Grade Dusk Stone]
[Description: Find and Devour the dusk stone. It's extremely valuable to you]
[Reward: +X Mana Capacity]
[Time Limit: None]
'Mana capacity?' His blue eyes seemed to shine. 'You mean the base mana will increase from 100 to unknown amount based on the quality of this dusk stone?'
[Yes.]
'Damn, that's really valuable to me.'
After the brief sense of excitement, Kai couldn't help but think. How the hell would he even get it? The two ladies were onto something and had already planned to steal the stone from someone else, so obviously, they'd have enough preparation to safeguard the stone.
The miro suddenly had the urge to ignore it and just go with his old plan—hunt in the forest and then search for the horus gate. But…
That was something the old him would do. The one who feared to explore something new, the one who didn't dare to take risks because of his own self doubt.
Kai bit his lips; his irritating old habit of over thinking was back again.
He got up and slowly moved away and only when he deemed himself to be in a safe spot, he canceled his skill and took deep breaths.
As expected, the flow of air through him was calming. 'Now decide what you should do next… Follow them?'
At the moment, he wasn't confident in his own abilities, as in he wasn't sure the current skill set would be enough or not. The unknown skills of his so-called opponents also added to the pressure.
It was then that he saw a red leaf fall down a nearby tree. It floated down, slow and steady.
Looking at it, he suddenly let out a chuckle. Why fret over it like this? Just take it slow and steady. Pressure? There was no external pressure, just the illusionary internal one.
'It will take time for me to stop giving myself pressure for no reason,' he clicked his tongue. 'There's no pressure. I am free to do whatever I want… Next, I'll just devour the remains and hang around in the forest.'
If he chanced on the two women again, then cool, but if not then also it was fine.
It was almost night so the creatures should be popping up soon. He'd try to hunt as much as he could.
The miro bent down and picked the leaf.
[You have devoured a blood devouring conifer's leaf.]
[+3 Mana]
[+1 Skill Points]
"Oh."
He suddenly had a wild idea.
***
Some time later, he stood under one of the devilish trees, the sky had almost darkened, making the canopy look more frightening.
He had already asked his questions form the system, but so he knew that his idea could work, he still felt a bit apprehensive. The memory of those creatures getting slaughtered was still fresh in his mind, after all.
"Hah! Just do it man."
He held some protrusion on the bark, and then started climbing up. It felt… much easier than he expected.
Sure enough, his monkey bloodline helped even though his hands and feet were like humans—he instinctively knew where to grab, where to place his feet, where to push himself up.
Soon, he was on a branch. He sat there and looked at the leaves gulping.
An image of them piercing countless holes through him suddenly flashed through his mind but he shook it off and plucked a leaf.
[You have devoured a blood devouring conifer's leaf.]
Yes, he was going to devour the leaves of the trees.
As many as he could.
But his aim was…
Finding a core of these devilish trees.