Dawn broke the sky, and a brilliant ray of light scattered across the land, piercing through the layers of fog in the Black Pine Forest.
At last, it was light.
“Wake up, it’s time for breakfast.”
Beaman nudged his deeply sleeping little brother. In such a foul-smelling place, surrounded by enemies, someone could actually sleep so soundly, he simply pulled off the mask from his face.
“That stinks.” Ivan coughed as he inhaled the pungent smell and opened his eyes.
Seeing his reaction, Beaman looked skeptically at the mask Peggy had sewn, not knowing that Ivan had added quite a few good things inside it to counteract the poison smoke.
Ivan said, “I only have one, so I didn’t give you one.”
In fact, he wasn’t the only one who had fallen asleep amidst the skunk konjac plants. After trudging through the jungle all day yesterday, worrying in the early night and fleeing in the latter half, even a body of iron would not hold up. Once they were in the konjac with no danger, it was easy to fall asleep.
All of them were knight’s pages, not bothered in the least by a bit of cold and damp.
Leider called everyone to leave the skunk konjac plants behind.
Once out, they saw that everyone was fine, and indeed, no mercenary showed signs of poisoning.
The mercenaries had formed a habit, making sure to prepare thoroughly for adventures, with items such as antidotes, insect repellents, hemostatics, fire-making tools, and dry food always at the ready, for after all, one’s life was one’s own.
“This isn’t good, our captain hasn’t woken up.”
The guard at the back brought out Marshall, who had fallen into a coma.
Leider glanced at the others, with his gaze finally resting on his son Ivan.
“I’ll find something. We can treat him when we get back,” Ivan said, turning around and using his sword to cut a skunk konjac, wrapping its leaf around the konjac.
After yesterday’s day and night of struggle, Leider didn’t expect everyone to continue searching for the porcupine’s burrow and declared they would head back and plan further from there.
The group once again set out on their journey home.
The tightly pressing herd of wolf deer that had been around had disappeared without a trace, the daytime Black Pine Forest seemed like a completely different world compared to the night.
“Hey, there’s some good stuff, your spoils of war from the arrow you shot, Ivan.”
After some distance, a mercenary spotted a deer head on the ground, bloodied and with barely a few scraps of skin left, but the deer antlers, like coral daggers, remained intact. Mercenary Bobby skillfully peeled off the antlers and handed them to Ivan.
Ivan turned his head and glanced at deputy leader Glowe.
Glowe laughed, “Those are yours. Mine should be further ahead.”
Ivan then accepted, “Then I won’t be shy.”
Clearly, his performance the previous night had earned the recognition of the other members of the Giant Shield Mercenary Group, no longer automatically seeing him as the uneducated troublemaker of the past.
Within an hour, the people arrived at the familiar Black Pine Forest, and many had smiles on their faces.
“Oh, Holy Mother above, you’re finally back. I was so worried last night I couldn’t sleep. What happened to my captain Marshall?” In the Black Pine Forest, the group unexpectedly encountered Baron Church and other guards.
Whether Baron Church was truly worried or not, seeing him in such a state gave everyone some relief, especially the three guards who would surely become even more loyal to their lord.
“Mr. Ivan, it’s really great that you are safe and sound.” Lisa was there too, and in her eyes, there was only one person. “Knife deer antlers, are these your spoils of war? You are so brave.”
Subsequently, Ivan and a few others followed the baron to Black Pine Castle, where Ivan, as promised, looked over the unfortunate Marshall, who had been hit with a double dose of poison and needed to be treated the same way Old Orio had treated him.
Marshall’s condition seemed serious but was lighter than Ivan’s own initial poisoning.
Ivan straightforwardly charged one gold piece for the treatment, which Baron Church considered before agreeing to.
Witnessing Ivan’s treatment methods, Miss Lisa’s eyes almost shone with admiration.
Evening had come again, and Ivan and his son were still in the castle.
With stars in the night sky, the evening seemed exceptionally comforting.
Ivan found his father, “Dad, I think we need to talk.”
Leider looked at his son, who had grown up before he knew it, and nodded gently.
The two moved to a corner of the room, next to a railing, where a faint light shone upon them.
“What do you want to know?”
Ivan said, “About our family’s Breathing Method, are there any drawbacks? I saw that you were very exhausted after fighting the tree monster last night.” He had noticed an unusual exhaustion in his father the previous night.
Leider was silent for a moment before replying, “The Goliath Frog Breathing Method is an ancestral Breathing Method of the Marichadon family, focusing on explosive power. Once released, it’s stronger and faster, and the Combat Energy is more aggressive. Many upper class Breathing Methods can’t compare to it, but the energy consumption is also much greater.”
Such a Breathing Method indeed qualifies as intermediate quality.
Ivan looked at him and listened as he explained, “Many years ago, our family suffered a devastating blow. Countless people died, and then your great-grandfather inherited the title. Since then, there has been a serious loss in our family’s inheritance, and the Breathing Method lacks the key connection to stomach digestion.
The main ingredient for the Breathing Secret Medicine was lost, as the method of its cultivation was lost; our fields were destroyed. Later on, through hard work, we improved the secret medicine, but its effects were far from the original.
Anyone practicing the Goliath Frog Breathing Method will bear a considerable burden on their body after each outburst and will need a day or two to recover. In fact, there used to be a potion that could make up for this aspect, but it was also lost in the disaster.
Another characteristic of the Goliath Frog Breathing Method is that it’s very difficult to switch to other Breathing Methods after one has started practicing it.”
Through his explanation, Ivan realized he was not the direct heir of the Marichadon family, and that the Goliath Frog Breathing Method was in name only, with many flaws. Its remaining value was barely different from an elementary Breathing Method.
After a pause, Ivan asked, “So, is that why you want me to go to Cassia to study swordsmanship?”
Leider said, “That’s right. The founder of Cassia Swordsmanship Hall is the eleventh son of Giant Waves Marquis, greatly valued by the Marquis himself. If you perform well, you could serve the Marquis directly, aiming for a better future. This way, both you and your descendants will find it easier to obtain titles.”
It was indeed about the title, a persistent dream for the Marichadon family across generations.
As for the Giant Waves Marquis, Ivan had also heard of him. The over-sixty-year-old Marquis was particularly prolific with sons, rumored to have a total of 24 sons, the youngest being only two years old.
“If I want to review the Goliath Frog Breathing Method and the secret medicine, would you agree?”
“You don’t want to serve the Cassia Swordsmanship Hall?”
“Not necessarily. I’m still considering it. And I want to see if the Goliath Frog Secret Medicine can be perfected.”
Leider did not refuse Ivan’s request and said that he would give it to him after Flying Fish Port.
It was only after he knew of his son’s success in improving the Whirlpool Potion that Leider realized how astonishing his son’s talent as a Pharmacist was. Perhaps his son truly did not need to join Cassia Swordsmanship Hall.
“By the way, you might want to try this. It’s a Mountain Monster Potion concocted by Old Orio, a highly efficient nutrition potion, which might alleviate the burden after the outburst.”
That night, father and son had an extremely enjoyable conversation, and after they finished talking, Ivan gave his father a vial of Mountain Monster Potion.
…
On that same night, far away at the seaside town of Flying Fish Port.
In front of a house in East City, a Blood Light Butterfly fluttered its wings, followed by a little green winged snake flying in the air, along with a person in a gray robe.
The person in the gray robe gently leaped over the front gate and landed in the courtyard.
The Blood Light Butterfly slowly circled the house, coming to rest behind a portion of the wall, where it emitted a more brilliant light.
“Heh, found it.”
The man in the gray robe casually flicked his hand, and the Blood Light Butterfly turned into a streak of light that passed through the wall into the house.
On the other side of the wall, the room was lit by dim yellow light. Underneath, an old man with white hair and a burn scar on his face was unaware of the blood-colored streak of light that had landed on him.