Chapter 141: Stone Gaze Forest (Part 1)
The day had fallen, and the sky was filled with clouds, making the environment darker than the usual.
"Hosh. . . hosh. . . hosh. . . hosh. . . hosh. . ."
The uneven pantings were resounded in the cold night, disturbing the calm forest. Even if it was called forest, there was one distinct trait of this place, that exhibited the particularity of this place. Left and right, there were only trees. But, not a normal tree.
The texture of the tree was cold and hard, similar to a stone. Not only the trunk, but even the branch and the leaves were all cold and hard, with a greyish colour.
It was the speciality of this place, Stone Tree.
This Stone Tree was only useful as a forging material, especially bladed weapon. The hardness of this Stone Tree was only comparable with an iron, but it was a different story if it was tempered.
There were three basic irons.
Blue iron, red iron, and black iron.
Black iron was the hard and cold material, hard to break and had a long-life. This type of iron was the easiest type to temper. In fact, even Chen Lao, the vice leader of the Red Rage Bear Mercenary's saber and the weapon at the Mercenary Guild were all made from black iron. The difference between them was only the purity and density of the black iron.
Red Iron could be considered as a special type of iron because they could be mined near the high heat source like volcano or magma. This red iron had the higher density and heavier if compared with black iron, making this type of iron became the mercenary's favourite material for their weapon. The small amount of red iron in the market made the price soared, more than ten times of black iron's price.
Blue iron could be said as a unique type or iron. The special trait of this iron was the flexibility when the blue iron was tempered. But when one used Elemental on the blue iron itself, it would harden by itself. People rarely used this kind of iron as their weapon's material, but it was a popular material for their armour.
From the highest rarity, red iron, blue iron, and the one with the lowest rarity is black iron.
Even if the black iron was the one with the lowest rarity, the supply was too low which making its price soared along with the other two unique irons.
And nowadays, very rare people would have a weapon or armour with black iron's purity above 70%. 50% purity was considered as a good quality, and most mercenaries would have the one with purity of 30%.
And it Stone Tree was made into a weapon, it was harder than the one with black iron. But the downside of Stone Tree was weight. When it was tempered, not only the density of the Stone Tree increased, but also its weight. Not only that, but also the weapon made from Stone Tree was brittle and had a short life.
And because of that, no one would use this Stone Tree for their weapon or armour. It was the same as suicide and a fool's attempt.
As this place was rich of Stone Tree, this place was called with the Stone Gaze Forest.
Three shadows moved forward straight in one direction, but they were followed by a bunch of shadows.
"Damn! Those despicable bastards!" One woman cursed when she swept her gaze at the back. Those bunch of shadows kept on following the three of them.
"Don't waste on your breath! Kept running!" Another woman with messy appearance chimed in. "Those black hounds is far above what we can handle. If they catch up, I fear. . ."
The three of them were fellow townspeople that came to the city, gambling their life. The first woman was Peng Zhen, the second was Zheng Yi, while the last was a male, Zheng Zhanglie. Zheng Zhanglie and Zheng Yi was a pair of brother and sister with a very close age, the former was 23 years old, while the latter was 22 years old. Peng Zhen was their neighbour, hence she was in good relationship with the pair brother and sister.
The three of them came from Wide Rock Town. Even though it was called a town, the place was desolate of a youngster. Wide Rock Town was only a little better than the average village, but it could be considered as the worst town ever.
There was no Mercenary Guild in that town, and most of the townspeople were a farmer. With that kind of place, it was not suitable for the three of them who had a dream to become a mercenary.
Even though mercenary was a dangerous job, it was equal to the glory that they would receive. It was something like the high risk, high return. If one wanted to have a better life in a short time, they had to have the resolution, thus the three of them left the town. They must not waste their youth anymore.
And today was their examination day.
The main examination was gathering this Blood Rose Grass.
From the Guild's description, this kind of grass was abundant in this place, the Stone Gaze Forest. Not only that, but the Blood Rose Grass' colour was easy to differentiate from the surroundings, making this place filled with the exam's participant.
The three of them was included.
But, they never expected that the mercenary's examination was already this harsh. In this kind of harsh environment, some devious people even made the three of them became a bait.
Black hound, or it was the appearance of the beast that chased after them.
It was a beast that was always grouped up in a pair of male and female. If one saw a black hound, then there should be another one nearby. This black hound was a hunting beast because they would never let go of their prey.
If it was only a pair, then the three of them should be able to somewhat handle it. But it was not only a pair, but a pack! They didn't know the exact number, but they believed that there were at least ten black hounds.
It was a dire situation!
And the source of the problem was the Beast Gathering Powder which was sprayed by their fellow exam's participant. Because of this powder, those black hound would always chase after the three of them because the powder was akin to a beacon in the middle of the night.
All they could do was run, run, and run.
With their life on the stake, even the rascal Zheng Zhanglie didn't have any time to joke at all. Even after a few hours passed, their situation was the same.
"Look! Front! There is a light!" Zheng Yi was elated. After running for some time, they found other people at last. It was similar to someone's reaction when he found an oasis in the middle of a dessert.
"Run there!" Zheng Zhanglie took the lead, but Peng Zhen felt bad.
Going to the source of light's direction meant that they would bring the pack of black hound toward other people. It was considered a bad manner if some mercenary drove a bunch of beast toward another mercenary, but there was nothing that they could do.
Understanding what was going on in Peng Zhen's mind, Zheng Zhanglie softened his gaze and explained, "We will not drive these beasts toward them, but rather ask for their help. We will fend off these black hound."
Peng Zhen didn't say anything, but she went to the source of light along with Zheng Zhanglie and Zhang Yi. She understood that it was their only chance.
…
Liao Yun was sulking as she bit a meat from the rabbit's hind leg.
"Why are you still sulking?" Mingyue nibbled on her portion of rabbit's meat.
"Not enough. What is Fu Tao doing? Can't he catch something meatier than this tiny rabbit." Throwing the bone in her hand, Liao Yun lied down. "Aaah~ I'm hungry."
"If you didn't drag us around, at least there will be more meat." Mingyue pouted at Liao Yun's direction, but Liao Yun turned her back toward Mingyue.
After Mingyue, Liao Yun and Fu Tao fetched up Song Qi, they went out of the Black Iron City in no time. But they never realized that a Fierce Beast was a little rare around the Black Iron City.
And even if there was a Fierce Beast, the Black Iron Army would be dispatched.
In one part, it was good because the City Governor had a fast response, especially for those who would threaten the safety of the Black Iron City.
But for Liao Yun, it was literally the hell. There was nothing interesting, and there was nothing she could do. Many mercenaries were hunting beast like Tusked Grey Elephant, Red-Nose Monkey, Rock-Armoured Armadillo, and many more. But, they were not Fierce Beast, only a normal beast.
Those beasts could be considered a dangerous beast, but not as dangerous as Fierce Beast because they couldn't use Elemental. Hence, a beast would be a good target for 1-star mercenary.
Usually, one beast could be handled by two to five people, depending on the beast characteristic. And the beast characteristic around this place was hard-skinned, their defence was higher than the average beast. But in exchange for their increased defence, some of the beasts was slow, while some other was not fierce with their attack.
One could be considered a professional 1-star mercenary if one could fight one-on-one with a beast.
But for Liao Yun, fighting a bunch of beasts could be considered as an exciting fight. Of course, she had to find a pack of the beast before that, and that was the almost impossible feat.
Hence, they kept on moving until they arrived in the Stone Gaze Forest, a place which was filled with various Stone Tree.
Unfortunately, the sun began to set when they just went in. hence, Mingyue, Liao Yun, Fu Tao, and Song Qi spent the night in the middle of stone trees.
Their bad luck didn't end there. Without any animal, beast, or even Fierce Beast nearby, it was already a hard task to make some dinner.
Wild veggies? No one could bite on a stone. Even if they could harden their teeth using Elemental, no sane people would eat some stone. It was an idiot's choice.
Hence, this small rabbit was already their fortune.
After splitting the small rabbit into three, Liao Yun still wasn't satisfied.
Of course, Fu Tao's portion was extorted by his little ancestor. That's why, Fu Tao tried to forget his hunger by training Song Qi.
"Tsk! What a bad luck. This place is my nemesis!" Liao Yun laid down with Budha Sleeping's posture, not caring of her unelegant posture.
"So? We will go out of this place tomorrow?" Mingyue was warming her body using the bright red stone in front of her.
"Of course! There is nothing interesting here!"
Mingyue glanced in one direction and pointed her finger, "I think you got your side dish."
It was faint, but the sound grew louder, as if an alluring tones for Liao Yun's ears.
…
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone