After Annie and Jakob woke up, Thalion transford into a shadowstalker and moved toward another marked cross on the map. He discovered one fortunate feature: his map updated daily, as if it were connected to a cloud-based network or similar technology. After an hour of navigating the jungle's undergrowth, he ca to a small clearing filled with blooming midnight sunroses.
“This is just perfect,” he thought. There were even four people, all from Veridara, with no slaves in sight. Thalion hid behind a clump of ivy with pink bioluminescent flowers, patiently watching for three hours as the workers harvested the midnight sunroses, occasionally grumbling about why a slave couldn’t handle the task.
When they finished and had collected all flowers of level 19 or higher in their spatial rings, they turned to leave but didn’t get far as a giant beast attacked them. Defeating the workers wasn’t hard; his ambushes were so efficient that only one of them managed to wound him, but his injury was already healing. Thalion transford into his human form and fed them to the sanguine thorn, which was clearly irritated since he hadn’t fed it the day before, despite all the beasts he had slain on the grassland near the river.
Next, he checked their spatial rings. First, he built a small hill from the flowers. Besides the flowers and their weapons, the storage was empty. However, they had an identical map showing the position of multiple farming spots. It took him considerably longer to consu these flowers than the last set, their higher level likely made the difference. Satisfied, he placed the drained corpses in his spatial ring and returned to the grassland.
Annie and Jakob had been battling creatures for hours, and their efforts had paid off as both reached level 23. They began by tackling bonespike boars, then moved on to cursed wolves. The wolves got so kind of blood curse that rose from their skin, requiring caution not to breathe in their mist, but a wave of water reliably cleared the air of poison. Annie had gained a movent ability that allowed her to surf on a tidal wave—an exciting, if short-lived, skill with a high mana cost. Jakob’s new skill was similar, making the earth under his feet moved in the direction he willed.
Jakob also acquired a skill to harden his fists and another that launched a rock spike from the ground, enabling him to target the soft underbellies of most beasts. They watched peacefully as the beasts grazed on the grass. One peculiar thing they noticed was that mudwallers seed fearful of the water, entering only the shallow shores and never venturing deeper despite their strength. Annie suspected a powerful creature lurked in the river depths, but it didn’t matter to them. They wouldn’t risk their lives anyway.
Then they saw it: a massive ship moving up the river. The entire vessel was made of a mysterious blue tal and lacked sails. How was it moving so quickly against the current? On deck, she saw her forr owner—a young woman with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. They had probably found the cuffs and were now heading upstream to search for clues. Annie gestured for Jakob to lie low as she spotted soone pointing toward the dead animals. Her heart sank as the ship ca to a halt, and several figures observed the grassland. Jakob used a spell to bury them just enough to ensure they wouldn’t be seen. After a tense mont, the ship continued upstream.
Jakob and Annie both exhaled, relieved. This could have ended badly. Good that they had always watched the river, just in case that the blue robes ca for them. The slave cuffs must have traveled kiloters down with the strong current, so they really must have been desperate or very angry.
“Let’s skip another round of hunting; they might co back,” Jakob said, sounding worried.
“I agree. Let’s head back to the tree,” Annie replied.
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