Villainous

Much like mana circulation, body tempering required moving mana through meridians in a certain pattern. However, body tempering required pills, potions, or special treasures consumed in conjunction with the technique to have any visible effect. Without them it was like a body builder going jogging - it wouldn"t hurt their physique and might even have some benefits, but it wouldn"t build the significant muscle ma.s.s they desired.

After practicing Hecatoncheires, Li Mei felt refreshed and vigorous. All the aches and pains left over from the training room session were completely gone! Even if it didn"t make her stronger, the pain relieving effects were valuable enough.

As she was doing some stretches to limber up, a Quest screen popped into existence.

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[Intruders]

★★★★

Many groups of intruders have infiltrated your forest! Their weapons stink of innocent young blood, the despair of countless pained souls clinging to their backs. These foul people have recently committed a heartless ma.s.sacre!

As someone fond of retribution, how can you let this go?

Their destination is the hidden research facility. As this is a specific Search and Destroy Quest, each group"s location and movements will be shown on your map.

Groups remaining in the forest: 11

Reward: 250000 EXP per group

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Li Mei"s eyes lit up as she accepted the quest. 11 groups, 250000 EXP each... 2750000 EXP total for killing all of them. That was a huge chunk off her debt! And to have recently committed a ma.s.sacre...

She thought of the estate"s farmers and their families, living peacefully while growing produce and livestock for the estate. They weren"t researchers or hired security, just ordinary civilians - Faust confirmed as much during one of their lessons. The number of estate residents who knew about Oriole and the hidden research center could be counted on one hand, not including security staff and the researchers who actually lived in the facility.

Innocent men, women, and children, killed because of a selfish internal dispute in some clandestine research organization they weren"t even aware of.

The light in Li Mei"s mauve eyes sharpened to a cold, resolved glint. They wanted a war?

Fine.

They could have their war.

...

She changed into a plain, comfortable outfit consisting of dark colors that covered just about everything except her bare hands and feet. Her short red hair was too bright to be sneaking around a forest with, so she tied a black scarf around her head to hide both it and a large majority of her face. Previously she used the shredded remains of a shirt, having a scarf felt borderline luxurious.

After the manor fire, her scalp was burned and most of her hair singed off. It initially grew back in uneven patches, which she used Bao"s claws to shear until it all reached a uniform length. Once it started growing normally, she kept it short for the sake of convenience. Strong smells would only broadcast her position to predators, using shampoos and scented soaps while surviving in a wild forest was just asking for trouble.

"One day I won"t live in a d.a.m.ned forest full of clingy jumping creatures with too many claws and teeth, and I"ll grow my hair out really long!" Li Mei sighed, shaking her head with remorse. The soaps Faust brought her were unscented so she could get clean without risking her neck. "I"ll have so many scented oils and hair clips and lotions. So many!"

Li Mei cleaned up the empty tubs on the floor and filled her storage with supplies for an excursion: homemade daggers, many clean bottled water, preserved food, a thick blanket, a flame lighter, bandages, medicinal plants, and repellent herbs for keeping away pests. A homemade paste was rubbed onto her clothes - the smell was faint, but the herbs and berries used in its mixing kept away tree-dwelling ambush predators like Phytons and Vine Crawlers.

Preparations complete, she nudged the snoozing Bao with her feet. "C"mon, lazy brother! We"ve got some hunting to do."

The Fera jumped to his feet with instant alertness, large ears perked forward. They spent quite some time recovering from injuries sustained fighting the Rank 2 Verasus, so Bao was eager to go out and get some exercise. Li Mei hopped on his back while he stretched, patting the silky smooth fur on his shoulders to rub on some repellent paste.

"Last night Faust said enemies were coming. Bad people intending to attack the estate and hurt the people living here, all because they want something in the forest. And I know where they are, and what they"re looking for! What say we hunt them down before they stumble across us?"

Bao snorted and nodded his head in a.s.sent, already used to Li Mei having strange inexplicable knowledge. Her knowing the location of enemies they never even laid eyes on was just par for the course.

He waited for his rider to hold on tight before shooting out of the cave at top speed, bounding down the mountain face with practiced ease. Li Mei no longer needed to secure herself to the Fera with vines even at his highest speeds, though her heart raced when Bao bounced around at strange angles.

She opened the map while Bao ran through the trees. Combined with their previous explorations and the information received from Faust, her map of the forest was extremely detailed and precise. Terrain, points of interest with travel time indicators, even dangerous areas indicated by orange splotches of color.

Faust claimed the forest was much larger than the estate on which it supposedly resided, though he refused to divulge specific details. Looking at the newly detailed map, Li Mei confirmed his claim first-hand. There was definitely weird magic spatial shenanigans afoot!

Their mountain home was near the middle of the forest on the southern side, and the hidden research facility"s entrance was marked to the northeast. At Bao"s top speed it would take half a day to reach it from their current location. Considering the overall forest size, that was quite close!

Eleven red dots labeled were spread out in a staggered line across the western side of the forest, moving toward the east. "Combing the forest looking for the facility, eh? But they"re moving kinda slow. Are they fighting every d.a.m.n thing they"re coming across?" Li Mei shook her head and let out a derisive snort. Predators weren"t stupid, and many were opportunists. The scent of blood would only attract more and more creatures looking to take advantage of the situation!

She learned that the hard way.

Li Mei picked out the group whose current travel route would put them closest to the research facility"s entrance, guiding Bao in their direction. "There"s 11 groups of enemies and they"re pretty far away," Li Mei said, leaning over his neck. "It"ll take us a couple days to reach the first one. I don"t know how many people each group has, but I"ll know how strong they are once I see them."

Actually, she was more than a little worried even if her expression was calm and composed. People sent into the forest wouldn"t be a bunch of nerdy scientists who never saw sunlight and couldn"t jog a mile, they"d be trained combatants with weapons, body armor, and probably magic!

Faust already explained that magic was a common force in society. He also mentioned there were other methods of attaining strength, though he didn"t go into detail at the time since it wasn"t relevant to their lesson.

Squads sent to infiltrate enemy territory and locate a hidden facility wouldn"t be a bunch of Rank 0 civilians. They"d likely have Cores, with Gifts and probably a myriad of spells to deal with. Special techniques and styles like body tempering techniques and her own Sky Serpent style! Unknown factors could be the difference between life and death, so a cautious approach was paramount. "We"ve never fought against people, Bao, we have to be really careful!"

Bao snorted and rolled the eye on the back of his head where she would be sure to see it. Of course he knew that! But that little human sister of his felt the need to vocalize a lot of her plans and thoughts. It was her own way of showing concern for him, so he only rolled the one eye before nodding.