Chapter 16: Grandmother Liji's Reminder, Gaining Experience

Night fell—

The stars were scattered like dots.

The night sky was unexpectedly bright, adorned by starlight and moonlight; this was a starry vista that Tang Zheng, even in the countryside of his past life, had never been able to see.

Crackle, crackle!

The firewood in the campfire ignited, emitting crackling sounds as the flames danced.

Enfirea was sitting by the campfire, holding several herbs in his hands and studying them, sniffing them from time to time, and even opening his mouth to bite off a piece to taste.

Grandmother Liji stood not far away in front of the carriage, checking the condition of the herbs inside.

In the "Rock" squad, apart from the captain, Dosari, and the older of the twins, Rand, who were standing on the perimeter keeping watch,

the remaining two had already gone to scout the surrounding environment.

They were currently camping out in the wilderness.

According to a reminder from Captain Dosari, there was a village not far from their location where they could stay the night.

However.

Grandmother Liji had refused; she did not want to take a detour.

Because there was a crate of relatively precious herbs on the carriage purchased from the Royal Capital that needed to be returned to E-Rantel for refining as soon as possible, they had chosen the fastest route.

Consequently, they had skipped over several towns along the way.

Such a choice by the client would undoubtedly increase the dangers on the road, and under normal circumstances, it would naturally cause dissatisfaction among an adventurer party.

After all!

The relationship between a client and an adventurer party was merely one of cooperation; if the client did something unacceptable during the mission, the adventurers could naturally terminate the contract halfway.

However, this would require paying a not-insignificant sum of money to the Adventurer's Guild.

Given the current situation—where they had to act as manual laborers while also not following a safe route—under normal circumstances, the adventurer party would have already come into conflict with the client.

Yet!

After the "Rock" squad learned that Grandmother Liji was the owner of the apothecary in E-Rantel, known as the best pharmacist in E-Rantel,

their initial dissatisfaction vanished entirely, and they even became much more attentive along the way!

This made Tang Zheng have to sigh that the "Rock" adventurer squad was truly exceptionally pragmatic!

Tang Zheng sat by the campfire, observing Enfirea’s focused movements as he studied the herbs.

At this moment, Enfirea was holding a thin, root-like plant about a thumb’s length in his palm, and was just biting a small piece off to taste.

The next moment!

Enfirea spat out the bit he had bitten off: "So it’s Bitter Root. You really can’t tell the difference between the two just by looking at them."

After saying this, Enfirea finally noticed Tang Zheng, who was sitting to the side watching him.

"This herb is called Bitter Root; it looks exactly like this Plum Root. You can’t tell them apart by appearance; you can only distinguish them by tasting."

"Their effects are also different. Bitter Root is suitable for steeping in wine and has a certain detoxifying effect; it is a basic material for making antidote potions."

"While Plum Root also has a bitter taste, it has a hint of sweetness, making it suitable as a basic material for healing potions."

Enfirea’s naturally shy personality brightened when he spoke of herbs, his eyes shining and his voice becoming much more confident.

"I see."

Tang Zheng nodded, putting on an expression of listening intently.

In reality, he just wanted to see if he could obtain the "Pharmacist" profession by learning herbal knowledge.

Currently, there were no prompts on his attribute panel.

"Tang, are you very interested in herbs?" Enfirea looked at Tang Zheng with his bright blue pupils.

"I am indeed quite interested." Tang Zheng nodded.

"Hmph!"

Just as Enfirea was about to say something more, a soft snort rang out.

Grandmother Liji walked over with her hands behind her back, "Enfirea, don't show off your shallow knowledge."

"Using your mouth to taste is the most basic and lowest-level method of identification; it’s not like your nose can’t smell!" A stern voice carrying a hint of reprimand came through.

"I understand, Grandmother."

Enfirea lowered his head, speaking with some shame.

Tang Zheng withdrew his gaze; he did not know if Grandmother Liji’s reprimand of Enfirea was meant as a warning to him as well.

In this other world where the spread of knowledge was clearly restricted,

his behavior of asking Enfirea about herbal knowledge during this time was indeed somewhat inappropriate.

"Don't be nervous."

"Although I am a bit stingy, I won't get angry over such a small matter." Grandmother Liji looked at Tang Zheng and spoke calmly.

Uh...

Calling oneself stingy, even if it was a fact!

But Tang Zheng, as an outsider, knew that whatever he said at this moment would be inappropriate.

"Just by understanding the properties of a few herbs, you want to make healing potions? Don't even think about it."

"Since you have some talent in faith-based magic, don't waste your energy on other aspects; whether it's martial arts or herbal knowledge, it's all a waste of time."

Grandmother Liji spoke in an unhurried tone.

Tang Zheng was startled, realizing that she was kindly reminding him, and quickly replied after coming to his senses: "Thank you, Lady Bareare."

Hearing Tang Zheng’s form of address,

the wrinkled skin on Grandmother Liji’s face smoothed out quite a bit; she seemed very pleased with this title.

"Bareare" was the other party’s surname.

=9+Shu_ba

This was something Tang Zheng had learned while interacting with Enfirea, though he had known it originally.

Step! Step!

Two sets of footsteps came from the wilderness.

It was the twin younger brother, Luer, and the archer, Bask, who had left not long ago to scout the surroundings.

With their return, the expressions on the faces of the other two members of the "Rock" squad relaxed slightly.

"Grunt... grunt."

A weak groan came from behind Luer.

As it turned out.

Luer was carrying a wild boar weighing over 200 catties, looking exceptionally relaxed: "Luck was good; we caught a wild boar. Our dinner for tonight is sorted."

"Pierced through the center of the forehead with one arrow? And it’s still not dead."

"Hey, Bask, your archery has improved again."

Rand stood with his hands on his hips, looking at the wild boar his brother was carrying, especially the visible blood hole in the boar’s forehead.

"It’s just a wild boar." Bask said with a light laugh.

Thud!

Luer walked to the campfire and dropped the wild boar on his back onto the ground, emitting a dull thud.

"Tang, it still has one breath left."

Luer said to Tang Zheng with a grin, then pointed his finger at a spot on the boar’s neck: "Strike here, and you can kill it in one blow."

"Many thanks." Tang Zheng rose from the campfire and walked toward the wild boar lying on the ground with only one breath left.

Because Grandmother Liji needed to return to E-Rantel as quickly as possible, although the chosen route was faster, they could not stop in towns to rest.

Grandmother Liji had naturally planned the route well in advance and was prepared, so there was no lack of food, but clearly, that did not include food for the "Rock" squad and Tang Zheng.

Therefore!

Besides saving the food they carried themselves, the "Rock" squad also obtained food and reserves through hunting, which was clearly not a problem for adventurers.

During this process,

Tang Zheng had mentioned that if possible, he would like to be the one to deliver the final blow to the captured prey.

The excuse given was:

He had thoughts of becoming an adventurer, but he had never seen bloodshed, so he wanted to adapt to it in advance.

And regarding this explanation,

the "Rock" squad had no suspicions whatsoever.

Because Tang Zheng truly did not look like an adventurer; even the lowest-level adventurer would carry some tools when going on a long journey, and Tang Zheng had no such awareness at all.

Perhaps one could doubt their strength, but they could still tell this much from experience.

Therefore,

the "Rock" squad did not hesitate in the slightest; during this time, whenever they caught a beast, they would leave it with one breath for Tang Zheng to kill.

Swish!

Tang Zheng drew his short sword from his waist and walked to the side of the wild boar, whose body was still twitching slightly.

Without the slightest hesitation, he raised his short sword and stabbed it into the spot on the boar that Luer had just mentioned.

(End of chapter)