Once Eric felt the reaction from his core, he instantly knew that the mana density had risen to an insane level.
His heart raced in anticipation as he formed a plan for how he would go about ditching them.
The oath didn’t say anything about escaping during the expedition.
“Come to think of it, I don’t think anyone is foolish enough to leave the protection of the guards.
In usual cases, at least,” Eric thought.
The carriage moved into the forest at a steady pace.
Small creatures occasionally appeared, but Eric noticed that they were avoiding the carriage—or rather, avoiding the awakened inside it.
“Hmm.
It seems they’re sentient enough to notice the power difference between awakened.
Since the beginning point of cultivation is Awakening, these guys must be Ascended or higher,” Eric analyzed the duo while suppressing his increasingly unstable core.
After traveling deeper into the forest for a few kilometers, the forest finally reacted—or rather, one of its occupants did.
Runes that Eric hadn’t even noticed before shimmered across the surface of the carriage.
A Force field shimmered around the carriage a second before a full-sized tree crashed onto it.
Both Eric and the passengers froze in fear as a bear-type beast landed in front of the carriage with a deafening boom.
Eric’s eyes widened in amazement as one of the guards stepped forward.
His bulky body moved with confidence as he brandished his axe, his gaze cold and calculated, as if the massive beast didn’t even register as a threat.
The beast roared and smashed its front paws against the ground.
Instantly, thick green vines shot out from the earth and tried to wrap themselves around the guard.
The guard moved in a fluid motion as thick green liquid flowed from his hands into the tip of his axe.
He swung, slicing through the vines like blades cutting through webs, before charging toward the beast.
While the beast and the cultivator fought, Eric didn’t fail to notice two details.
The first was that the two guards didn’t attack it together.
It was as if the bear wasn’t much of a threat to them.
This proved that the guards were of a higher rank than the beast.
However, the beast didn’t seem excessively overwhelmed either, which suggested that the guards were only Ascended while the beast was at least a powerful Awakened.
Secondly, every time the guard’s blade touched the surface of the plants, they seemed to wither as if they had been poisoned.
In one swift movement, the guard jumped and slashed at the beast’s head before it could summon more vines.
The other passengers were shaking in fear, probably rethinking their life choices.
Eric, however, could only stare at the headless bear in amazement.
They moved a little deeper into the forest before eventually camping in a remote area.
Along the way, they came across several aggressive beasts, which forced the guards to engage.
They even encountered two beasts that were on par with the guards.
It was during those battles that Eric finally saw the guards go all out.
The bulky guard’s body seemed to be made entirely of poison.
His body constantly secreted a greenish gas that seemed to act like a toxin.
Even his blood was green instead of the usual red.
The other guard was a slender woman with golden hair tied in a bun.
Her power was just as interesting as it was explosive.
Unlike the toxic man, her body was a bomb waiting to explode.
She could turn any sound into miniature explosives, and the most terrifying part was that the sound didn’t have to originate from her.
She could even detonate drops of her own blood.
It was only after observing all of this that Eric finally understood the significance of forming one’s body with one’s element.
After setting up their tents, the cultivators gathered the employees in an open area to give them instructions about the expedition.
“Listen, and listen carefully,” one of the male guards said loudly.
He gazed at his audience, making sure they were paying attention before continuing.
“We will provide you with the details of the plants you will be looking for tomorrow.
Each of you will be assigned a different ingredient.
This is for security purposes.” While the guard was explaining the protocols, Eric became more focused on his first statement.
“If they’re splitting the workforce to gather different ingredients for security reasons, doesn’t that mean that anyone interested in these ingredients could simply find all the participants and extract the full list from them?” Eric thought, his eyebrows furrowing.
Then it clicked.
It was a tiny detail, easily overlooked because of the dangerous environment where they would be gathering the ingredients.
A chill ran down his spine as he considered a grim possibility.
“What if those who never returned weren’t simply victims of beasts?
What if they were killed to prevent interested parties from uncovering the ingredients?
If that’s the case, do any of them even survive after returning?” Eric looked up at his two protectors.
At that moment, he no longer felt like an employee.
He felt like prey.
Eric returned to their shared tent with a troubled expression.
He had been joking throughout the journey about traveling with dead men, but now it didn’t sound like a joke anymore.
Nevertheless, he slept that night, pushing the troubling thoughts to the back of his mind.
Eric was woken up by the movement of his fellow workers.
He quickly sat up and reviewed his plan in his mind.
“I will have to shake this guy off and look for a relatively quiet place to awaken.
If I awaken fast enough, I will use that chance to escape.” He had previously planned to awaken in an area supervised by the cultivators, but that plan seemed to be more dangerous than he had thought.
He left his tent and went to collect the list of ingredients he was supposed to gather.
It contained a drawing of an ordinary-looking red flower, but Eric wasn’t convinced by its supposedly ordinary appearance.
“We’ve drawn a magic circle around fifty kilometers of the forest.
At the edges of the circle, you will see red flags.
If you cross that point, you are on your own,” the male guard warned.
Eric nodded, filing the information into his mind.
He left the guard and started walking deeper into the forest.
He used the density of the mana to navigate his path.
The deeper he went, the more restless his core became.
It was like a hungry beast struggling to break free.
After walking for a while without bothering to gather any ingredients, he finally saw the flags in the distance.
However, before he could bolt across the boundary, a black silhouette rose from the shadows directly in front of him.
Eric raised his head and looked at the massive beast staring down at him.
It was a giant wolf, black as night, with fur as thick as wires.
Even without awakening, Eric could sense without a doubt that this wasn’t an Ascended beast.
A few seconds later, the male guard landed between Eric and the beast.
Eric readied himself to bolt out of there.
He knew this wasn’t a fight he could afford to watch.
But what happened next was something he never expected, even in his wildest dreams.
The man clasped his right hand over the back of his left and bowed respectfully.
“Greetings, messenger of the Black Dragon.
To what do we owe this pleasure?” Eric was utterly shocked when the wolf spoke.
It actually spoke.
A loud, bestial voice echoed through their minds.
“The queen seeks him.” Eric didn’t even wait for the man’s reply.
The moment the guard bowed, he knew he had already been given up.
He turned and bolted toward the outer layer with all the speed he could muster.
But sadly, it wasn’t enough.
He felt a huge paw slam into his head.
Everything went dark.