Chapter 32: True Fragrance and Truth

The bonfire crackled intermittently, flames swaying and making light and shadow roll across the two people's faces.

Luge was thinking of that inheritance site in his mind, yet his feet still walked toward the bonfire; the Spiritual Light flickered, just like his wildly pounding little heart — he knew this burly man watching the bonfire had locked onto him; his Foul Skin had already stopped the moment the enthusiastic man spoke his first word, for sometimes malice isn't immediately fatal, but the trouble it provokes may develop in unexpected directions.

He sat down on the other side of the bonfire.

"Thank you."

He had seen in Kalu's diary that low-rank Apprentices must show respect to high-rank Apprentices, especially this kind of limit Apprentice.

"Actually, that guy doesn't necessarily have malice either, and he knows I'm in the team, so things won't develop that way; therefore the probability is high he won't do that." Ba'angte said.

Luge intuitively felt in his heart that this limit Apprentice was very serious; facing a low-level Apprentice like him, he would still say so much — in Kalu's diary many Apprentices gradually became solitary, some old Apprentices extremely hard to get along with.

"I didn't do it to help you, so you don't need to thank me; I did it only because I detest him, wanted him to scram out of my sight — but your appearance helped me, I should thank you for giving me an excuse; actually I wanted to quarrel with him more fiercely, take the chance to beat him up hard." Ba'angte said, tossing something over.

Luge reached out and caught it — it was actually a large piece of Magic Stone.

Crack! Bang!

The flames burst, nearly went out, then swayed unsteadily back to life.

A figure walked out from within — precisely the man who had been playing with fire earlier.

"Hm? Where did he go?"

The fire man held a large beast leg in his hand, unknown from which unlucky Underground Beast it came; it looked like a plump hind leg.

Facing the fire man's question, Ba'angte merely shrugged.

The fire man revealed an enlightened expression, then set about processing the beast leg, muttering as he worked.

"You used Phantom Sound Technique when you had me get the beast leg? Hm? I said 'okay' — what did that guy hear in his ears?" The fire man lowered his head, busy as he spoke, his mood quite stable, as if he had guessed long ago; "Little guy, remember, don't be fooled by this big blockhead's appearance — he's a weird guy; 'weird' is already the most accurate description of him — not exactly vicious, not exactly good……"

Hearing this, Ba'angte shrugged again and said: "What he heard was also 'okay', but the previous sentence differed; I didn't risk altering your words, I only changed my own — you know, I'm not good at these things, so it was very taxing to pull off, and I still had to find a way to hide the Spell fluctuations — just that that guy was too detestable."

Oil from the beast leg dripped intermittently under the roasting; the two were sometimes silent, sometimes exchanged a few words.

Luge looked around, felt the atmosphere had already eased, and thought he himself could leave now.

"You two, thank you for your kindness; I think I should leave."

He stood up and spoke calmly, but his heart was still somewhat panicked — sitting together with two powerful Wizard Apprentices felt more tense than facing two powerful Underground Beasts.

In an instant, he felt his Breath locked onto again, as if every move was enveloped by a pair of invisible Big Hands — as if those hands, moving with his actions, would graze his dog fur if they were even slightly slow.

"You can't leave." The fire man said.

The beast leg, turned by the fire man, was now giving off waves of fragrance, and still being sprinkled with various seasonings Luge didn't recognize — this level of flavor was absolutely something Luge hadn't tasted in a very, very long time; the boiled worms in his Storage Bag that he was reluctant to eat more of instantly lost their appeal.

The nose-piercing fragrance made one unable to resist swallowing saliva.

But the saliva Luge swallowed now was more from tension, like a criminal awaiting sentencing.

If one must say what his crime was, then in his shallow understanding, weakness in the Ground world is sin.

"This is three portions; waste would be bad — we must maintain reverence for the living beings of the Ground world."

The fire man spoke and began carving the meat from the beast leg, casually producing a clean plate — the plate even had golden patterns that momentarily dazed Luge; he accepted it in a daze, with a strange illusion, a peculiar feeling that he had returned to the Civilized World.

Luge wanted to behave elegantly, but that was truly hard to achieve — even under the dual effect of fear and worry, he still couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food.

The Kobold's sense of smell and taste finally proved useful here; he had worried that years of eating sticky worms might have caused them to degenerate.

"Look, Ba'angte, this little guy's appetite is the best praise for me."

The fire man seemed very satisfied with Luge's performance.

Ba'angte ignored him, head down eating on his own, occasionally taking out a crystal-like round ball to glance at twice.

"Those troublesome giant worms should be truly dead — just don't know where that little worm hid." Ba'angte said.

The fire man's face was calm; he carved another large strip of meat for Luge.

"This mission is very unusual; wait three more days — if there's no clear result, I'll give up and leave here." The fire man said.

"Hmph!"

Ba'angte gave a cold snort.

"Niteli Wu Xue Da Ren's reward isn't so easily taken — he brought out that kind of thing precisely to attract limit Wizard Apprentices craving Promotion; so the first phase's failure is inevitable — there will even be limit Wizard Apprentices secretly helping that little worm escape, giving it a larger range of movement, letting it follow Spirituality's guidance to find that City —" The fire man's tone shifted — "Including you? Now the little Chong Ren's tracks can't be found; extra complaints will only make you look more foolish and incompetent."

"Hmph! The reward for directly catching that worm — only a little guy like this would fall for it." Ba'angte said.

Luge stood up again; the meal was finished, and he believed he really could leave now.

The two's discussion about the little Chong Ren made him sit on pins and needles, terrified some remarkable Spell might detect his connection with that crybaby worm.

Moreover, the two were speaking Ground Yu Tong Shi; he feared the Cultivation Bag at his waist might suddenly vibrate, drawing their attention.

"Thank you both for the treat — this is the most delicious meal I've had in a very long time."

He tried his best to keep calm, and after speaking politely bowed to the two.

This time there was no obstruction.

He only hated that he didn't know that kind of cool hurrying method — couldn't leave in a cool and swift way; walking step by step, the further he went the more tense he became — he nearly twisted his ankle.

"Hm?"

Ba'angte suddenly looked at the crystal-like round ball and stood up.

The fire man, by contrast, had an unhurried appearance.

"If it's that little Chong Ren, I'll go; if it's still that snake, it's your private matter — perhaps you can take that side's little guy along; a low-level Apprentice can still be of some use against that injured snake — also don't give him Magic Stones anymore; what this kind of person needs most is Spell Knowledge, even if it's elementary — experimental-subject-origin Apprentices are all like that."

The fire man's words made Luge's steps pause.

"I know you can easily kill that snake, but right now you want to catch it."

(Chapter End)