Surprise

David was waiting outside the city gate, looking at the scenery from time to time.

Dozens of people were lined up before the city and were waiting for their chance to enter.

Some of the youthful ones once glanced in his direction from time to time.

David was dressed in a navy blue suit with the logo of a river flowing down a mountain embroidered on the back of it. Although everyone was supposed to wear a crappy- looking robe provided by the sect, David didn't care.

In the past month, his hair had grown long enough to be tied in a ponytail coupled with a light beard on his face made him look extremely handsome.

Last night, he received a message instructing him to wait outside the city gate. Someone was supposed to come here and join him.

Now that he could finally utilize mana, he was able to access the contents inside the storage ring without any issue.

There was enough space inside the ring to fit a couple of human bodies and still have some space left to spare.

David found a badge that represented his identity, a communication talisman, and roughly 5,000 spirit stones.

In the past ten days, David hadn't been sitting idle but he was pushing his body to its limits and had managed to reach rank 8 Body Refining Realm, just inches away from the Rank 9.

Moreover, he noticed one more thing: his control over mana was so fine that he barely released any fluctuations.

From his experiment in the city, and especially on animals who were highly sensitive to mana, he was able to conclude that if he wanted no one would be able to know about his cultivation level.

And one more thing, the speed at which he was progressing had left him speechless.

He couldn't believe it. David was afraid that he would suddenly wake up and all of this would disappear as if it were a dream.

At this rate, he was going to reach the Foundation Building Realm within a month.

Although David had no idea how to break through to the next realm.

"Here you are."

Suddenly, David heard a voice that he found to be a little familiar. Turning his head, David's eyes landed on two people coming in his direction.

One was the surprisingly luxuriously dressed boy from before, and the other was a girl whom David hadn't met before.

Both of them were dressed in navy blue robes with the symbol of the river engraved on their backs.

The girl had long legs that stretched to infinity, coupled with her angelic face and shining red hair that made her look really mesmerizing.

From what David could tell, the girl was at the Body Refining Realm Rank seven, and luxuriously youth dress was also at the Body Refining Realm Rank two.

David was surprised; he didn't think the guy was this talented, given the fact he had to bribe his way to get in.

"Hello! I am David Wellwisher. Nice to meet you."

David smiled and politely greeted both of them.

"I am Leon Curtis." The luxuriously dressed youth proudly declared, emphasizing his surname a little more.

Leon looked at both of them one by one for their reactions.

David didn't seem to react to his name, as if he hadn't heard about it.

Leon shook his head and ignored the country bumpkin, and looked at the girl beside him. i

Indeed, the eyes of the girl flashed for a moment and quickly reverted to their original state.

Anyways, who didn't know about the Curtis family?

Ahem!

Except David, as a family that managed the Curtis trading hall spanning across the Blackthorn Empire they were really famous.

"Sophie Fate. You can call me senior sister, Sophie."

"I will be leading you on this mission."

Sophie announced in an authoritative voice that demanded respect.

David heard her words and nodded.

She seemed to be trying especially hard to sound imposing. If not for her slightly shaking figure, David would have been convinced.

On the other hand, Leon had a thoughtful expression on his face. He seemed to have heard about the surname before.

"Hmmm! Father mentioned something about getting closer to the Fate guy."

Leon vaguely remembered some details his father had mentioned when he was about to leave his home.

"Okay, if everyone is ready, let's leave. We are already running late."

With those words she took the lead and started to run, her pace was neither too fast nor slow.

David had no trouble keeping up with her. He had a feeling that if he wanted, he could easily leave her behind.

Moreover, he wasn't even using his movement technique.

Compared to the laid-back attitude of David, it was clear from Leon's face that he was having trouble keeping up.

Sophie also looked at him from the corner of her eye and wanted to stop, but suddenly she remembered something and didn't bother decreasing her speed.

In just five minutes, Leon's face turned red like a tomato, his chest violently heaving up and down.

It appeared that he would collapse at any moment.

At this moment, a green colored pill appeared in Leon's and without hesitating, he threw it into his mouth and swallowed it.

Surprisingly, after swallowing the pill, he was able to persist for ten more minutes.

At this moment, David decided to slow down; otherwise it would be awkward, someone with higher cultivation than him was having trouble keeping up with him.

In these twenty minutes, they had left Deadwood City behind them.

Although David had lived in Deadwood City for a long time, even then he had never come this far.

Right now, the three of them were surrounded by Deadwood trees as far as his eyes could see.

Thousands of trees stood there like empty husks devoid of all life, without a single sign of greenery.

The ground beneath David's feet was filled with cracks as if it hadn't rained for a long time.

Moreover, He had never seen such trees before.

Curious, David walked near one of the trees and extended his hands towards it.

"Idiot, stop!"

Sophie suddenly yelled and rushed in David's direction.

However, it was too late.

As soon as David moved his hand towards the tree, it suddenly seemed to come to life.

Swish!

David heard the sound of something cutting the air at high speed rapidly coming in his direction.