Chapter Ten : Entering Mistwood

After paying a deposit of 50 gold coins to EeDeChi, the Adventurer's Guild acted as a notary for them, signing a contract with magical imprints. Barrett became EeDeChi's guide, responsible for safely leading her out of Mistwood and to Golden Sheaf City.

The contract was accompanied by an unbreakable curse. If Barrett tore up the contract and shirked his duties as a guide, the Third Tier magic "Blood Curse" would follow him for the rest of his life.

It was a sunny and beautiful morning in Montell City. Following Barrett's prepared list of supplies, EeDeChi and he each went to the market in the city and the weapons shop opened by the Adventurer's Guild to purchase supplies.

Since witnessing EeDeChi's formidable strength in defeating Wood, Barrett was very confident in her abilities.

It wasn't until noon when the two met as agreed that Barrett sadly discovered that his fellow elite adventurer, who was one level higher than him in Orichalcum rank, had been swindled into a fool by an unscrupulous merchant.

"The luminous potion you bought..." Barrett picked up a delicate glass bottle engraved with the image of an owl, seemingly filled with a bottle of deep blue potion.

He unscrewed the bottle cap and poured all the potion into another transparent small bottle, only to find that the potion was just a faint light blue, while the original exquisite owl glass bottle remained deep blue.

"You've been fooled! This glass bottle was just dyed deep blue, and the luminous potion inside is all inferior light blue." Barrett shook his head, then picked up a coil of steel wire and pulled it hard, causing the entire coil of wire to scatter and fall apart.

"This double-stranded wire is fake too, and this healing potion is actually green! It's obviously fake. And this steel multi-blade dagger is magically plated steel, and this glowstone, and this... and this... and this..."

As Barrett spoke, he tossed the things EeDeChi had bought outside the package like garbage.

With her large-sized heavy sword on her back, EeDeChi squatted on the ground with a blush on her face, burying her head in her arms and feeling too embarrassed to lift it up.

Actually, it's not entirely her fault. Our EeDeChi, although she is a Orichalcum level High-tier adventurer, has only been in this world for just over two months.

In terms of killing high-level monsters and enemies, she can indeed be called Orichalcum level, but in terms of adventurer experience, she is probably not even as good as the lowest Copper level.

After all, Copper level adventurers are natives of this world, unlike EeDeChi, who is a newcomer, and apart from language, she doesn't understand anything else.

Moreover, the merchants selling things in Montell City all have almost the same Justice Value, to be precise, they are all equally low. EeDeChi couldn't tell which one was an honest merchant and which one was a dishonest one.

Barrett picked up a bottle of pale yellow vitality potion and watched as the pale yellow substance in the potion gradually settled into a lump in the bottle, shaking his head inwardly.

He decided to teach this adventurer who was one level higher than him some basic knowledge: "As someone with no discernment like you, try not to buy things from the big tents of Gyxiya in the future. Eight out of ten Gyxiya are dishonest merchants, and the other two are thieves and fortune-tellers. How to distinguish Gyxiya? Those big tents with the yellow seven-star logo are Gyxiya. Of course, some Gyxiya don't even hang logos on their big tents. At this time, you have to observe carefully, whether the big tent has a high, red flowy top or whether the guy selling things has a rolled tongue accent from the City Alliance in the north..."

Barrett talked on and on, saying one thing after another. He found that his adventure experience and knowledge were so rich that it was almost impossible to impart them all to EeDeChi in a short time, and at the same time, he felt a trace of pride in his heart.

This "elite" adventurer of Orichalcum rank, no matter how terrifying her combat power is, she still has to listen to my guidance obediently.

EeDeChi stood up, steadied the huge sword on her back, cleared her throat, and said, "After all, I am your employer, that is, your direct leader. When you talk to your leader, you should pay attention to it a little bit, otherwise it won't be easy to get along with in the future. As a leader, I only need to give general directions, as for the specific methods, of course, it's up to you to execute."

WHAT? Barrett looked puzzled. He didn't fully understand what EeDeChi was saying, but the tone and demeanor when she spoke were somewhat similar to those of the noble gentlemen in Montell City.

"Alright, Leader, any instructions for us as we head into Mistwood?" Barrett chuckled inwardly as he asked.

"My only instruction is that we're going through Mistwood, got it?" EeDeChi replied, poker-faced.

"Understood, Leader," Barrett thought to himself, rolling his eyes internally. What kind of instruction is that? Isn't it obvious?

However, EeDeChi's words reminded him that she did spend 150 gold coins to hire him. Considering the gold coins, he didn't continue to argue about this topic.

Obviously, EeDeChi couldn't grow into an elite adventurer who wouldn't be swindled in a short time, so Barrett took care of all the tasks of purchasing supplies for the journey to Mistwood, while EeDeChi just followed him to pack the purchased goods into the spatial ring.

Barrett also had a spatial leather bag, but its capacity was very small, only enough to hold a few cubic things, compared to the nearly hundred cubic storage space of the spatial ring, it was completely outmatched.

With the skilled elite adventurer Barrett handling everything, the supplies for the journey to Mistwood were quickly prepared. Food, clean magical distilled water, healing potions, vitality potions, short-term magic-charged night lights, and various weapons and equipment were all readily available.

EeDeChi bought herself a thermos cup fixed with Second Tier magic "Comprehensive Isolation," and then soaked dried chrysanthemums and lycium chinensis in the magic thermos cup.

When Barrett asked if she was making magic potions, EeDeChi told him that this was "health preservation," a kind of potion that could prolong human life.

Although Barrett didn't understand what "health preservation" meant, when he heard that it could prolong life, he decided to buy a thermos cup himself in the future and soak some too, imitating it.

Time rushed by in a flurry of activity. On the following morning, while the morning star still twinkled faintly in the sky, EeDeChi and Barrett traversed the slumbering adventurer camp outside the forest and ventured onto a rugged path worn down by decades of adventurer footprints, stepping into Mistwood.

According to Barrett's explanation, the white mist in Mistwood seemed to be born from the breath of the earth. During the morning and noon, Mistwood "breathed in," causing the surrounding mist to be minimal. However, in the evening or deep night, Mistwood "breathed out," and at this time, white mist would emerge from seemingly nowhere, blanketing every corner of the forest as if it were shrouded in thick white gauze.

Of course, the timing and duration of Mistwood's "breathing" varied with different seasons and climates. Experienced adventurers could determine the best time to explore Mistwood when the mist was minimal.

In Barrett's experience, the moment the sun rose above the horizon was the best time to enter Mistwood, with minimal mist and sufficient light. However, he didn't want to run into familiar adventurer companions who might mock him with his new nickname, "Imperial Chief Eunuch," so he set out early.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly. After all, Barrett was a veteran adventurer who had traversed Mistwood nearly sixty times. For him, navigating Mistwood was as easy as eating and drinking. Leading the way, he skillfully avoided frost wolf dens, dodged holes covered with rotting leaves, and bypassed traps set by other human adventurers.

They continued to delve deeper, and the overgrown grassy path beneath their feet grew narrower until it disappeared completely.

Every few tens of meters, Barrett stopped to identify the direction, using his machete to chop through protruding branches and waist-high thorny bushes. Behind him, EeDeChi stumbled every four or five steps, tripping over clumps of wild grass. Barrett had to exert more effort to clear the way, allowing his employer to move faster.

Looking up through the canopy, the sky had darkened completely, or rather, there was no sky at all now.

Due to lack of logging, every tree in Mistwood had grown into large trees with trunks thick enough to be hugged by two people. The dense canopy completely blocked out the entire sky, with branches and leaves vigorously seizing sunlight, unwilling to leave a trace of brightness for the ground.

This was a situation elite adventurers had long anticipated. Barrett took out a magical lantern filled with mana to illuminate the surroundings, dispersing the dimness. EeDeChi, with her hair tousled by branches, followed closely behind him.

After trekking for quite some time, the seasoned adventurer pulled out a silver pocket watch to check the time, confirming that the moment for Mistwood's "exhalation" and the rather unpleasant night were imminent. They stopped in their tracks, seeking a dry spot to make camp and prepare for the night.

There was no dry spot in sight; the ground was layered with centuries-old decomposed leaf litter, damp and moldy, harboring various small creatures. It seemed there was no suitable camping ground.

However, this didn't stump Barrett. He had learned how to build tree houses in the elven kingdom of Sylania in the southern part of the Slane Theocracy. Once, a elven adventurer companion had claimed his tree house was even better than that of a ten-year-old elf. Barrett couldn't tell if the elf's remark was sarcastic or complimentary.

He never got the chance to ask later, because in subsequent adventures, that elven companion was swallowed whole by a mature red dragon.

...

EeDeChi and Barrett worked hard together. After EeDeChi accidentally felled the third inhabitable sturdy oak tree, Barrett had no choice but to go solo, constructing two crude yet sturdy tree shelters among the branches.

Initially, Barrett suspected that EeDeChi might have deliberately used this method to shift blame and shirk labor duties, but after observing carefully, he was convinced that this girl, with strength greater than an ogre, although quirky in personality, was not someone who played petty tricks.

EeDeChi could only sit leisurely on a fallen tree trunk, occasionally sipping the "health-preserving" potion of wolfberries and dried chrysanthemums from her magical insulated cup, watching Barrett wield his axe and work hard.