Ch40 - [Docile sheep] Perhaps it was only a pile of pretty rocks.

Xi Jin used numerous phrases to praise the delicious smell of the round ring. He even spun around in circles restlessly inside Nalun’s palm.

“It smells amazing!” He stressed repeatedly: “This kind of pure natural delicacy, without any impurities… I haven’t smelt it in such a long time!”

Delicacy……?

Nalun recalled the eating habits of the species, the Metal Devouring bug. For a bug that survived on a diet of metals, it was completely reasonable that it wanted to eat metal. However, even though Nalun really wanted to be freed from the round ring, he still felt like allowing a bug bite all over the place on his chest… wasn’t an appropriate kind of solution.

–Although it would be painless, can’t there be a better method to remove the ring?

The Honored Prince sank into despair.

Half a moment later, he finally lowered his voice and said: “Okay, wait for me later at night.”

Xi Jin froze, extremely touched by this deep expression of friendship. Little eyes wide open, he rubbed against the other’s thumb: “I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait for you! I’ll also give you my beloved gem stone!”

Nalun: “…….” Gen stone or whatever, he didn’t really care very much.

The superior IQ Asha didn’t really understand the thought process of this Metal Devouring Bug. If you must know, the money he paid was enough to buy a huge pile of metal components. Yet Xi Jin just naively exchanged it completely into coins.

And also the gemstone…… Right now, he really doubted the Insectoid’s ability to discern gems.

Perhaps it was only a pile of pretty rocks.

He recalled Alida saying once, Xi Jin lived on the Black Street where vagabonds wander in droves. The most valuable thing there was probably…… probably……

His highness, the Honored Prince, who lived without worries, temporarily couldn’t think of anything of little value.

There was the sound of something heavy landing next to him. Nalun turned his head and just happened to see Mona bending down to pick up the equipment on the floor.

“So, sorry……” She frantically pushed back her hair, saying: “They’ve already distributed the parachute. I grabbed one for you. Here. We’re about to be thrown into the forest soon.”

Nalun calmly accepted the item and said thanks.

Mona didn’t lie. After obtaining the landing gear, the cabin door was opened. People were invited out of the transport plane one by one. When it was Nalun’s turn, he looked down below. The vast deep green was like an enormous fluffy rug, extending to the ends of the horizon. This forest area, which belonged to the outskirts of the Imperial Capital, was very well protected. It both maintained a naturally grown style while having vestiges of being conserved by humankind– Very suited to be an area of entertainment to conduct a harmless competition.

“Have a pleasant journey.”

The staff worker’s blessing didn’t even end, Nalun already felt the floor pull out beneath him. He started to fall downward swiftly. Hastily pressing the button, he opened the parachute and landed steadily on the ground.

Nalun raised his head. He saw the transport plane hovering over him for a second before continuing onward.

The air was permeated with a humid feeling of soil and mud. The surroundings were completely quiet. Oddly shaped trees grew chaotically together. Nalun opened his personal comp. It indicated that it was in an area without signal.

He touched his pocket and pulled out a confused and disoriented bug.

Xi Jin narrowed its eyes, shook its head, and laid limp in Nalun’s palm.

“So, sSo…… high.” After a feeble exclamation, the Metal Devouring bug stretched its 8 legs straight and fainted.

Nalun: “……”

He silently stuffed the bug back into his pocket securely and then started to differentiate the direction. According to the travel itinerary from the transport plane, walking forward along the edge of something would make it easier to find companions.

Of course, he also didn’t forget his agreement with Mona and left his mark along the side of the road.

The forest was quiet and without any noise. What entered his ears was the sound of his own footsteps. What entered his eyes were rarely seen vegetation. Occasionally, he could see some curiously peeking little animals.

Nalun even saw some endangered species and instantly felt amazed. This forest only opened during the special holiday period. The amount of visitors was also limited. The goal was to protect the ecosystem within the forest.

Plenty of participants had signed up just for the scenery. In comparison to winning, they preferred to treat this as a trip.

The first group that Nalun ran into was this kind of scenery people.

Wearing the Hunter’s emblems, a man and two women had expressions brimming with love towards mother nature. One of them, a golden haired girl, even held a drawing canvas in her hands, suspected to be sketching a still life……

Meanwhile, the man by her side was currently talking to her with a lowered head, behaving intimately.

The other woman looked rather cold and indifferent. She maintained an appropriate distance away from the two people. Although her face was calm and composed, there seemed to be a kind of irritation hidden between her brows. Clearly, this woman had been forcibly fed too much dog food during the duration of this journey.

Nalun hid in the darkness, letting out a sigh internally.

Such a herd of docile sheep……

Even though there were more numbers on the opposing side, the strongest person there was Baron Lunklan. However, even he was only a person with looks and no substance.

That’s right. Nalun was able to recognize: the guy currently fawning over the golden haired girl was the person who originally should have sat next to Nalun– Baron Lunklan. The other was in the same generation as him. During the academy, he even chatted with Nalun a few times. From Nalun’s memories, he was a liberal arts major, whose battle skills often struggled on the passing line.

Very good.

When Nalun walked out, the three little lambs froze in unison.

The golden haired girl put down the canvas in her hand and gave a courteous lady’s bow: “Your highness Nalun, good day.”

The Honored Prince, who was just about to charge over brutally, defeat his opponents, and assimilate them under his name, skid to a halt: “……”

Readjusting the expression on his face, he could only return the polite greeting: “Good day.”

The golden haired lady looked rather excited: “It’s really too beautiful in here! Not far ahead, there’s a 7-days Poppy. I had always thought it was extinct. Who would have imagined, I’d be able to see it today in this forest!”

Nalun: “Uh……”

He came here to fight, to pillage emblems.

“The 7-days Poppy. Have you heard of it? Oh, I even drew a picture of it! I’m really too happy!” This artist started to flip through her sketches.

Nalun: “……” Wait, don’t.

Fortunately, Baron Lunklan noticed Nalun’s emblem. He narrowed his eyes and became vigilant: “The Prey team?”

Nalun nodded and pulled out the weapon that was uniformly distributed to everyone– a long sword made of special materials. He said: “En. Therefore, in comparison to appreciating the scenery, I’m more interested in the competition.”

The golden haired lady trembled briefly, as if somewhat stunned by this person’s dangerous development.

Baron Lunklan furrowed his brows, aura gradually growing cold.

Just as Nalun thought a confrontation was about to erupt, on the other side, Lunklan decisively took off his and the golden haired lady’s emblems and said: “Here you go. Don’t frighten Rinni.”

Nalun: “……”

These scenery people were really hard to understand!

Nalun expressionlessly accepted the two emblems and aligned them with his own emblem. With a ‘beep’, the scoring system dutifully recorded his gains.

After the beeping noise, Lunklan and the golden haired lady’s Hunter emblems started to change. The original bow and spear gradually disappeared and was replaced by the python and lion image.

Nalun stared in silence for a while. He confirmed that internally, he didn’t feel the delight of success at all. In fact, he even felt a bit sad.