Chapter Seven After the Ordeal

  Mais sat awkwardly by the bonfire, his chubby face revealing helplessness and depression. He wanted to vent his anger but didn't know who to direct it at. On the other side of the bonfire, Rode leaned quietly against a tree trunk, eyes closed in contemplation. Lijie silently prepared food, her expression calm, but her red-rimmed eyes told another story.

  It's unclear whether it was good fortune or bad, but the fat merchant ended up being the only lucky one among the three, aside from Rod and Lizzie. As a merchant who often traveled outside, he had some life-saving magical tools on him. During the previous airship crash, the protective pendant in his hand had demonstrated its excellent stabilizing function, making the fat merchant the least injured of the three - Rod's previous injuries hadn't fully healed yet, and after this intense battle, plus the fall, it was a double whammy. Lizzie wasn't much better off either; previously, she hadn't noticed her own injuries due to tension, but only after everything had ended did everyone realize that not only had her right arm been dislocated, but she had also hurt her foot. The fat merchant, aside from some external scrapes and a dazed head, was otherwise fine.

  If it were an ordinary person, this injury would have been enough to keep them in bed for several months. Fortunately, Lijie is a full-time spiritual master, and healing techniques are her specialty. Under Lijie's treatment, the injuries of the three people all improved, but Luo De still needed some time to recover fully. However, this was already good news for him, considering his original injury, plus the intense battle he had been through, would have left him at least disabled if not dead. Now, Luo De's limbs were intact, and apart from being less agile due to his injuries, everything else seemed normal, which surprised Lijie greatly. After all, since they rescued Luo De, she had been in charge of taking care of him, so she was very familiar with his injuries. But even she hadn't expected that Luo De's body would be so strong.

  Not only did Liche not think of it, but even Rode himself was secretly surprised. Although he had already sensed in the battle that this body might not be calculated according to human attributes, he still didn't expect it to be so abnormal. Having suffered such severe injuries and gone through such intense battles, and then being flung to the ground with great force, he could still move... Could his mixed blood possibly be that of a barbarian?

  But there was one thing that Rod didn't say out loud, he knew his own body well because he understood its properties, although he still didn't know what it was, anyway it wasn't a pure human. But the behavior of that blonde girl was very strange, according to reason, she was a frail-bodied girl and a non-combat profession spirit master, generally speaking in this situation would be stable death, being able to live and jump around was due to her body properties not being human, so how could she survive and jump around? It couldn't possibly be luck.

  It wasn't until Rodd realized the golden glint hidden in Lize's beautiful azure eyes that he suddenly understood - it seemed this young lady was able to survive not just because of good luck.

  "Is... Mr. Rhodes?"

  Mays rubbed his hands together, and a hint of a pleased smile appeared on his chubby face.

  "What do you think we should do next?"

  After rescuing Maes, the three of them searched the wreckage of the airship again, but they didn't find any other survivors. To prevent their companions' bodies from becoming food for the beasts in the forest, Lige suggested cremating them. Although Maes was heartbroken about his valuable cargo, looking at the small face of the golden-haired youth and Rode's indifferent attitude, he had to change his mind. With a painful expression, he watched as they set fire to the airship, burning it to ashes - it seemed like he was the one who was most heavily injured. Although the guardian pendant that he had bought at a high price did indeed save his life, it had suffered too much impact damage and was now completely shattered, turning into a piece of scrap metal. From this, it could be seen that Maes' losses were not small either.

  After that, the crowd rested in the forest for a day. Although they didn't encounter any trouble, after being attacked by the wind snakes, the fat merchant had become a nervous wreck. Previously, he had sworn that the wind snakes were just low-probability events and not worth worrying about, but now he had completely changed his mind. Those previous rumors of low probability now seemed to have 100% accuracy in the eyes of the fat merchant!

  They say that this route is prone to encountering wind snakes, and we actually encountered them! And I also heard that the Silver Moon Forest has man-eating wolves, terrifying strange birds, will we encounter these too?!

  Once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of a rope.

  As he thought of these things, the fat merchant's forehead was covered in sweat. Although he was a decent businessman, he had no experience with adventure. Now, looking at the dense thickets and trees surrounding the forest, the fat merchant's legs trembled involuntarily. The casual mentions of poisonous snakes in the wild grass and ferocious wolves by his guards earlier now vividly floated in the fat merchant's mind, making him extremely nervous.

  In addition, his only lifesaving treasure had become useless, so in this situation, the fat merchant could only reluctantly choose to rely on others.

  He didn't have any intention of relying on Lijie, firstly because he had already met this girl before when he was hiring people, and with Meis's discerning eye, it was clear that this girl was obedient and pleasant to be around, but she didn't have much initiative. Moreover, she was a non-combat profession, so if something really happened, she probably wouldn't even be able to help herself. Therefore, in the end, Meis still decided to rely on Rode. Although he himself couldn't fight, Rode's previous performance had been truly eye-catching, showing that he had outstanding abilities. Although it was unknown how much difference there was between this young man's experience as an adventurer and those mercenaries, it shouldn't be too great, right?

  As for Lijie, she seemed still immersed in the pain of losing her companion and didn't care about such things.

  "Don't worry, Mr. Mais."

  Looking at the plump merchant's tense expression, Rode shook his head. Although the other was a bit rough, he didn't dislike this plump merchant. After all, if it wasn't for this plump merchant ordering the boat to stop, he probably wouldn't have been saved either. So, towards him, Rode still had some good feelings.

  "I'm very familiar with this Silver Moon Forest. In the area we're currently in, it's unlikely that we'll encounter anything particularly hazardous, so you can rest easy."

  Rod's words were not empty, in the game, the northern plains of Paphield had always been a gathering place for new players, so Rod naturally knew the distribution range of monsters here like the back of his hand. In the plain area, the most threatening was the wind snake group, and their large numbers were a nightmare for many close combat professions and non-solo brushing professions. However, in the Silver Moon Forest, the most threatening was the silver wolf, but unlike the wind snakes that relied on numbers to win, the silver wolves mostly acted alone, making them easier to deal with. Moreover, after killing the Wind Snake Lord, Rod gained 3000 experience points and leveled up to level 8. The newbie zone had a level cap of 10, so as long as it wasn't a rare elite lord or something, Rod thought he could still walk around freely in this area, unless he was like those newbies who didn't look at the map and ran blindly into some damned monster den - but for someone known as "The Walking Library", that possibility was basically zero.

  "It's fine this way, it's fine this way."

  Upon hearing Rod's response, Mais let out a long sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. He then involuntarily yawned, for he had been so tense that he hadn't slept well since that day, even mistaking the wind blowing through the trees for wolf howls. Now, having made up his mind, he felt much more at ease, and the fat merchant no longer worried about anything, curling up by the fire and closing his eyes contentedly.

  With this in mind, the fat businessman narrowed his eyes and soon fell into a deep sleep.

  After making sure the fat merchant had fallen asleep, Rod, who had been quietly sitting by the fire, finally stood up and walked into the depths of the forest.