A moment later, Eileen returned to Charlie with her head down in dejection.
"I tried, but the emotions of this little tree are rather vague - a little sadness, a little pain, a little fear, and a little bewilderment, but I don't know what it's sad about, who gave it pain, or what made it afraid." Letting out a sigh, Eileen said, "I'm so useless!"
"That's because you asked the wrong subject. It's too small and doesn't have much wisdom."
Eileen looked around and said, "But there aren't any old trees around here either!"
After a thorough inspection, Charlie had collected data on the environment within a 300-meter radius - countless rocks, hundreds of plants, nearly a hundred sounds. The true surrounding world was vividly restored in his mind through sight, hearing, and smell. Some details exposed the real environment hidden under the camouflage, and the hidden dangers were all identified by the chip.
Charlie took out a dagger from his boot, cut down two small trees, and stripped the branches to make a walking stick, handing one to Eileen.
Eileen took it blankly and asked, "Are we going to use it to fight the monsters? Why not use magic?"
This one sentence revealed her complete lack of knowledge about wilderness survival. It would not be something she could learn in a day.
Without explanation, Charlie gestured to Eileen and said, "Less talk, more observation."
Under Charlie's guidance, they walked around a lush green pond and entered a thicket of knee-high reeds. This was a good hiding place, and by staying quiet, they could conceal their presence. But of course, from another perspective, it was also likely to be hiding dangerous creatures.
Eileen saw Charlie holding the walking stick, sometimes probing the soil to test its firmness, gradually understanding its purpose.
Charlie approached a fallen old tree that had been dead for many years, its wood gray and weathered. Pushing aside the lush grass, he exposed the dark brown soil. At the base of the old tree were several clusters of translucent white mushrooms, their caps thick and plump, with droplets of pale yellow liquid hanging on their stems.
"Ghost mushrooms!" Eileen exclaimed, almost jumping up in excitement. Ghost mushrooms were an extremely rare species that usually grew in damp, well-ventilated caves, with strict requirements for temperature, humidity, and soil. They were both a precious delicacy and an essential ingredient for many health-enhancing potions. Even more importantly, ghost mushrooms were listed in the "Wilderness Treasure Trove" handbook given to all apprentices, ranked quite high. Bringing back a few of these would be worth 30 points.
"Wow, and they're exuding so much mushroom pulp!" Eileen was delighted, but didn't dare to pick them, since Charlie had found them.
Charlie squatted down and gestured for Eileen to pick the largest one, roots and all. "Want to have a taste?"
Eileen shook her head, her face slightly flushed, and pouted at him, muttering, "What a waste! This one mushroom is worth at least 10 points!"
Chuckling, Charlie said, "The best things should be kept for oneself. As for points, there's plenty of that here!"
He then took a big bite out of half of the mushroom and handed the other half to Eileen. "Here, this half is for you. Eat it, then dig the rest out. We'll each take half."
Eileen gave him a resentful look. In all her time in the Arcane Circle, she had never done anything so extravagant as to eat 5 points' worth of treasure in one bite. But as she slowly savored each bite, the mushroom tasted like pure gold, and she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of excitement.
Charlie's reason for directly consuming the mushroom was simple - his chip could analyze its components, and soon provided the results:
"Ghost Mushroom: Contains various nutrients, boosts the body's immune system, causes slight changes to the physiology, finds affinity with shadow properties and water element properties. Shall we quantify the benefits?"
Charlie was surprised. "Can it already quantify the body's data?"
"Yes, enough data has been collected. Referencing the normal human data of the Wagelan continent, the host's combat-related attributes have been quantified according to the Prinson standard."
The 'Prinson Standard' was a 23rd century benchmark for human physical fitness, precisely defining thousands of data points related to a normal adult's capabilities, from physical thresholds to calculation ability and reaction speed. By comparing one's actual data to this standard, one's 'Prinson Coefficient' could be precisely calculated, allowing accurate comparisons between individuals.
"Quantify the benefits," Charlie commanded mentally.
"The host has consumed the ghost mushroom, with a current digestion rate of 63%. Shadow affinity +2, Shadow resistance +3, Water element affinity +2, Physique +0.21. These are estimated values with some margin of error."
"Output my personal data."
"Host Charlie, Prinson Coefficients:Strength: 1.22Agility: 0.93Willpower: 368Endurance: 0.82Physique: 0.77Personal Mana Pool: 85.47Shadow Affinity: 2Shadow Resistance: 3Water Element Affinity: 2."
Except for Willpower, the other data was rather dismal - Agility, Endurance, and Physique were even lower than a normal person's. The only solace was that after a month of diligent stellar meditation, Charlie's personal mana pool had reached triple digits, making him almost a second-rank mage.
Of course, to meet Master Nal's requirement of becoming a Stellar Mage, he still lacked over 1,900 mana points. At his current rate of progress, he was far from reaching that goal, so he would need to find other ways to improve, such as reforming his physique.
Half a ghost mushroom had increased his Physique by 24% - a very nice effect. But the points were also quite valuable.
"Scan Eileen's data."
The chip's analysis showed that while Eileen's personal mana pool was less than half of Charlie's, in other aspects she was slightly stronger than him. Of course, her ability to communicate with plants was not factored in, which at least gave Charlie a bit of confidence.
In fact, this was something he should be ashamed of - seeking to find inner balance by comparing himself to a young girl was the mentality of the weak.
"Why are you staring at me?" Eileen, feeling his gaze, mumbled.
Charlie casually chuckled, "Nothing, you look good when you're working diligently!"
Eileen's face flushed slightly as she turned her back to him, unaware that this posture was even more alluring.
After searching around the old tree, they didn't find anything else and left the area somewhat unsatisfied.
"You still haven't answered my question. How did you know there would be ghost mushrooms here?" Eileen asked, more talkative now that they were more familiar.
Charlie explained, "It was just an experiment. If you pay attention to the information in the texts about where medicinal herbs are found, you should gain some experience in knowing which places are likely to grow which plants. That will make your search more purposeful. By observing and comparing, you can identify potential locations and be more likely to find things."
This was an adult's way of thinking, a natural instinct for Charlie, but quite insightful for the teenage girl.
Eileen couldn't help but praise him, "Charlie, you're so learned!"
"Let's go," Charlie said, pushing through the grass. As they continued walking through the expanse of reed field, he shared his plan: "For now, let's not consider going deep into the swamp. No matter if you can swim or not, getting stuck in the swamp would be a big problem. Let's just explore the areas we can walk through and see what we can find."
"Okay," Eileen readily agreed, having tasted the sweet fruits of their exploration.
Suddenly, Charlie halted, his foot suspended in the air. With a quick backwards motion of his hand, he stopped Eileen.
Eileen's face flushed, and she glared at him, pushing away the arm across her chest. But she noticed Charlie's focused, intent expression and held back from disturbing his concentration.
A drifting voice could be faintly heard: "Susie, you fled from Sunmoon City, but you still couldn't escape from my grasp. There was no chance for you in the academy, so what about now? Keep running for me to see!"
"Weining, as a prince, why are you so relentless? Didn't you already have a target? Why are you still pursuing me?"
Hearing this name, Charlie couldn't help but pause. Weining, the prince - it had to be a new student, and apparently an acquaintance. What a coincidence!
"Ah, you mean Azure Eyes?" Weining suddenly realized, a faint smile appearing on his lips. "She's different from you. I plan to pursue her in a normal way, that should be more interesting."
"Then why don't you use a normal approach with me?" Susie asked.
"Oh, because I don't have that much patience for you," Weining slowly approached from behind, his breath lightly caressing her, his pleasant scent intoxicating. He couldn't help but take a deep whiff. "You smell so good!"
At that moment, Susie stood rooted to the spot, her body trembling slightly. One hand rested on the dagger at her waist, but she seemed to have lost the strength to draw it.
Weining gently wrapped his arms around her from behind, his hands lightly caressing her flat stomach. Just this slight movement made Susie shudder.
"Why bother with effort when power can solve things? Don't you agree?" Weining said.
Susie sneered, "Prince Weining, you can say that again after you become the king. You still have an older brother and two younger brothers, and Princess Elsa hates you. Do you really think you can rest easy? Aren't you afraid my father will side with the others?"
Weining chuckled calmly. "I'll tell you a secret. As my future consort, your arrangement with your father is part of our agreement. It's you, the rebellious young lady, who has been evading the family's arrangement, causing your father so much worry. How troublesome!"
Susie's whole body trembled, her fists clenched tightly, so resentful!
Weining chuckled lightly, "Exactly! That's the feeling - the more you resist, the more resentful you are, and the more interesting it becomes! That's what I like about you!"