Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu followed the crowd out of Yong’an City and arrived at the outskirts.
“How are we getting there?” Qin Yu asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.
Yong’an City was a vast distance from Salem Forest.
Did she and Luo Shangyu really have to walk the whole way?
“We can fly there,” Luo Shangyu replied, “Once we reach the outskirts, we can take off.”
The two reached a hillside.
Although an autumn breeze blew, Qin Yu felt nothing but an endless, sweltering heat.
The weather was still a bit too hot.
“We’re ready to go.” Luo Shangyu took Qin Yu’s arm, waved her staff, and channeled Atmospheric Magic.
Luo Shangyu took Qin Yu into the air, flying toward the east of the Chengji Empire.
The two glided through the sky for nearly half a day, finally arriving at the outskirts of Salem Forest just after 3:30 PM.
They landed in a clearing some distance from the forest and approached on foot.
Looking at the clusters of camps gathered around the perimeter, Qin Yu was somewhat shocked.
“Are there always this many people on the outskirts?”
“Of course. There are many monsters in the forest, so people come here from all over to hunt them.” As Luo Shangyu explained, she pulled Qin Yu toward a crowded area.
Approaching, they saw it was a shop selling camping gear.
“Do we need this stuff?” Qin Yu asked, “Are we going to be in there for a long time?”
“Obviously,” Luo Shangyu countered, “Salem Forest is massive. We’ll definitely be staying for a while.”
Qin Yu’s face brightened when she realized she wouldn’t have to return early to deal with those headache-inducing political affairs.
Luo Shangyu bought a two-person tent, and then she and Qin Yu headed toward the forest entrance.
Monster Dragons lived within Salem Forest, so a magic circle surrounded the perimeter.
It could sense any escaping monsters and alert the nearby residents and Mages to respond immediately.
Following the flow of people, Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu walked toward the entrance.
The two had to hold hands to avoid being separated by the crowd.
“Many of these people aren’t Mages, right?” Qin Yu sensed that several people around them had no magical aura at all.
“That’s right,” Luo Shangyu said, “The scenery in the forest is beautiful. Many ordinary people come here for sightseeing. They hire Mages to ensure their safety.”
While talking, the two arrived at the forest entrance.
Calling it an entrance was a stretch; it was actually just a gap in the early-warning magic circle.
Qin Yu saw two soldiers clad in armor and armed with sharp weapons guarding the entrance.
She was surprised.
“They’re actually charging a fee?”
“They shouldn’t be…” Luo Shangyu was also a bit confused by the situation.
In the blink of an eye, the people ahead entered the forest, and Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu stood before the soldiers.
Luo Shangyu reached into her pocket for coins, but she suddenly heard a soldier ask, “Names?”
“Names?” Luo Shangyu repeated in confusion.
She hadn’t quite processed the request.
“It seems like they’re registering names here…” Qin Yu whispered, tugging at the corner of Luo Shangyu’s sleeve.
Only then did Luo Shangyu snap out of it.
She looked at Qin Yu, her eyes asking: ‘Should I use our real names?’
Qin Yu shook her head, rejecting the suggestion.
As the Crown Prince monitoring the state, she was currently playing truant.
She didn’t want the entire nation to know about her secret outing.
“I’m Shang Yue,” Luo Shangyu said, quickly coming up with an alias.
She pointed at Qin Yu and said, “And she’s Yu Xi.”
The soldier looked down, wrote their names, and let them enter the forest.
As they walked through the woods, the fresh air lifted their spirits, washing away the exhaustion from their recent days of work.
“What’s our objective?” Luo Shangyu suddenly asked Qin Yu.
“To have fun?”
“Wrong!” Luo Shangyu shook her head, “We’re here to find Dragon Crystals. Those things are worth a lot of money!”
“Haha!” Qin Yu laughed, “You really are a money-grubber. We basically own the world now. How could we be short on money?”
“No, no, no. You don’t understand!” Luo Shangyu waved her hand dismissively, acting like a sage.
“Actually, compared to just taking money from the national treasury, the feeling of scouring for Dragon Crystals and slowly saving up is much more exciting.”
Qin Yu thought for a moment, ‘Isn’t this just a search, fight, and withdraw game?’
Relying on their magic, the two headed straight for the heart of the forest to hunt Monster Dragons.
“Tell me, what do you think is the fastest way for us to get rich?” Luo Shangyu suddenly asked.
“Hmm?” Qin Yu was caught off guard by the question.
“Look, what’s that?” Instead of answering, Luo Shangyu pointed at several figures hiding behind trees in the distance.
“People?”
“Right. People returning with a full load of Dragon Crystals.” Luo Shangyu wore a mischievous smirk.
“If we catch them off guard… Hehe!”
“How can you be such a scumbag!” Qin Yu poked Luo Shangyu hard.
This “looting” playstyle was something Qin Yu had been victimized by countless times in her past life.
“Hmph!” The familiar, wicked grin on Luo Shangyu’s face made Qin Yu a bit anxious.
“Don’t actually do that!”
“It was just a joke!” Luo Shangyu said, her expression turning serious.
Seeing Luo Shangyu’s serious face, Qin Yu finally let go of her suspicion.
Right then, Qin Yu felt a sudden gust of wind behind her.
“Enemy attack!” Qin Yu pulled her staff from the void, preparing to defend.
However, Luo Shangyu had already drawn her staff ahead of time.
Spinning around, she struck the figure behind them.
It was a small dragon about 10 meters long.
Luo Shangyu had killed it instantly.
A beam of sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, shining directly onto the dragon’s corpse.
The hole in the canopy above was likely caused by the creature just now.
“It looks like one of our targets—a Monster Dragon rich in spatial magic,” Luo Shangyu said as she approached the corpse.
She pulled out a dagger, intending to dissect it and retrieve the Dragon Crystal.
This was the first time Qin Yu had seen a Monster Dragon.
She wasn’t familiar with their anatomy, so she couldn’t help much.
She could only stand to the side.
While Qin Yu watched Luo Shangyu work, her own hands itching for action, a roar echoed through the forest.
“It’s a Monster Dragon!” Qin Yu’s eyes immediately lit up.
Seeing that Luo Shangyu had already killed one, Qin Yu didn’t want to be outdone.
She immediately rushed forward to find its source.
“Wait! Don’t be reckless!” Luo Shangyu tried to call her back, but Qin Yu had already vanished.
“Sigh…” Luo Shangyu sighed and increased her speed, wanting to get the crystal quickly so she could find Qin Yu.
Qin Yu sprinted through the woods toward the source of the roar she had just heard.
Just as she was becoming exhausted, she reached a clearing.
A dead Monster Dragon lay on the ground, its blood forming a river.
“What a huge dragon!” Qin Yu slowly approached.
The dragon was at least several tens of meters long.
As she observed the creature up close, a strange wind blew past her back, ruffling her hair.
She lunged to the side.
A blade imbued with spatial elements grazed her cheek, hacking deep into the Monster Dragon’s body.