Chapter 105 - 103: An Inauspicious Start

Chapter 105: Chapter 103: An Inauspicious Start

The next morning.

A thin mist shrouded the Dome Tree like a veil of gauze. The morning light pierced through the fog, dyeing the dewdrops on the blades of grass a crystalline gold.

After a hot breakfast, Lu Wei and his three companions set off for the Lost Basin like warriors heading to battle, sent off by the cheers of the others.

"Theodore, I’m leaving this place in your hands!"

Looking back, Lu Wei waved at Theodore, his voice filled with anticipation.

After all, as long as nothing went wrong, the place would look completely different by the time he returned.

In his past life, he was just an ordinary corporate drone. After transmigrating, he had suddenly become a big boss... To have reached such heights with his very first business venture made Lu Wei marvel at his own commercial Talent.

But he couldn’t celebrate too soon.

Strictly speaking, he hadn’t made any money from the general store yet; in fact, he was still a long way from even recouping his initial investment. Other than the sword, Confession, at his hip, all the earnings from his last two adventures had been invested into the Golden Sword Hu Commercial Complex.

And it still wasn’t enough.

’The funding for the second phase of construction isn’t secured yet.’

’I need to get at least 15 gold coins’ worth of loot in the next half-month.’

’That’ll probably be difficult if I keep avoiding fights. I’ll need to take on one or two manageable-risk battles when I’m confident of winning.’

’I’ll see if a good opportunity comes up once we’re deeper in the forest.’

With these thoughts in mind, Lu Wei waved goodbye to Theodore one last time, then turned and hurried to catch up with Furen and the others waiting for him up ahead.

The weather was clear and the sky was cloudless—a great day for an adventure!

"Let’s go, time to move out!"

...

...

RUMBLE~

As it turned out, they had celebrated too soon.

Not long after the four of them left Dome Pillar, and before it was even noon, a patch of dark clouds appeared out of nowhere and suddenly covered the sky.

Immediately after, a torrential downpour began to fall violently, instantly engulfing the entire forest.

This was the first rainstorm Lu Wei had encountered since he transmigrated.

Although all four of them had waterproof cloaks and had put them on at the first opportunity, a thin cloak was clearly not much use against a storm of this intensity.

The downpour not only greatly slowed their advance, but worse, it created a perfect field of interference, completely nullifying the "warning" effect of Lu Wei’s high Perception.

The roar of the rain completely masked any unusual sounds in the woods, and the dense curtain of water severely obstructed their vision.

Under these conditions, forget about sensing danger in advance; it would be difficult enough to react the instant an enemy launched a sneak attack.

Fortunately, goblins and Kobolds also seemed to rest on rainy days, so the group hadn’t run into any yet.

For now, there had only been a few minor incidents.

"Ah!"

Deep in the dense woods, Bai Ya suddenly screamed.

At the same time, a flash of a black sword streaked past her, lopping the head off a snake coiled on a branch, its color almost identical to the tree bark.

PLOP~

The fist-sized snake head fell into a puddle, sending up a splash.

Lu Wei immediately kicked it far away.

Even a disembodied snake head could be dangerous; his past life was full of short videos with countless examples of this.

"Ah, I didn’t even see it there."

Bai Ya patted her chest, still shaken. "Its color was just too similar to the tree trunk."

’It’s not like you would have noticed it anyway.’

"So, can you tell what species it is?" Lu Wei asked as he pulled the still-writhing snake’s body down from the tree.

"Let me see... It’s a forest python."

Bai Ya leaned in to look at the patterns on the snake’s body. "It’s not venomous, but they can grow to be very large. This one is probably just a juvenile."

"Mm, then we’ll take it for lunch."

Lu Wei coiled the snake’s body like a rope. "I hear snake meat is delicious. I’ve never had it before."

"It is edible, but can we even have lunch in this weather?"

Bai Ya looked puzzled, rainwater dripping in streams from the edge of her hood.

"Well..."

Looking up at the still-overcast sky, Lu Wei had no idea when the rain would stop.

The recent incident had served as a reminder that they needed to find a place to take shelter from the rain as soon as possible.

If they continued to press on through the forest in the rain, they would most likely run into even bigger trouble.

’No, we can’t possibly turn back, can we?’

’Retreating right after we set out... no matter how you look at it, that’s not a good omen.’

’But around here...’

"We can go to Moon Creek Forest," Mirana, who was wearing a black cloak, suddenly suggested. "It’s a detour, but it’s not far from here. We can wait for the rain to stop there."

"...Alright."

Lu Wei tossed the still-squirming "lunch" to Furen. "Then let’s go to Moon Creek Forest to rest for a bit."

Having made their decision, the four of them immediately changed direction and headed southwest.

But when they arrived at Moon Creek Forest an hour later, they found the place had been fucking flooded by the swollen creek, turning it into a small lake.

After all, it was originally a creek bed, so it was pretty normal for this to happen when a heavy rain caused the water to surge.

But this meant it was now impossible to set up camp and rest.

Fortunately, Lu Wei had a backup plan.

"Let’s go to that Goblin Nest."

He looked at Mirana. Considering that Bai Ya and Furen were both rather clueless, she was the only one he could discuss problems with now.

"Mm, that should be fine," Mirana thought for a moment. "It’s only been a few days, so it shouldn’t have been occupied by a new goblin tribe yet. But we should still do some reconnaissance first, just in case."

"Of course. Let’s head over there first."

Lu Wei nodded and led the other three as they once again changed direction, heading straight for the Goblin Nest, which wasn’t far from the woods.

The journey, which should have taken ten-odd minutes, ended up taking half an hour.

By the time the four of them reached the large rock where he and Mirana had scouted the enemy last time, the hand on his pocket watch was already pointing to twelve o’clock.

That’s right, Lu Wei had prepared quite thoroughly this time, even bringing a watch.

It wasn’t quite like the watches from his past life, though; it had no minute or second hand, only an hour hand.

In addition, he had also brought the Monocular Telescope he’d never managed to sell.

"Looks clear..."

After observing from behind the rock for a moment, Lu Wei handed the telescope to Bai Ya to put away, then took off his backpack and quickly entered Stealth mode.

"But to be safe, I’ll go check it out first. You all wait for me here."

"Be careful!"

Bai Ya hugged his bag tightly, looking a little nervous.

After all, this was her first time seeing a monster nest... Even though the monsters inside had already been killed by Lu Wei and Mirana, the pitch-black, short entrance was still quite frightening.

Furen, on the other hand, was much more excited. He immediately volunteered, "I’ll go with you! I can help if something happens!"

"No need. You’ll have your chance to shine later."

Lu Wei rolled his eyes and didn’t waste any more words on him. He slipped away from the large rock and used the tree trunks as cover to quickly approach the cave entrance.

The WHOOSH of the rain washed over his ears, and every step he took kicked up a spray of water droplets.

With two powerful Skills like Force Field and Light-guided Arrow, Lu Wei wasn’t nervous at all.

Even if there were two Leader Level Goblins inside the cave, he was fully capable of taking on both of them by himself.

In fact, he was almost hoping the nest had already been occupied by a new goblin tribe, so he could start things off with a victory.

As it turned out, however, there were no goblins.

Instead, there was...

"Hm?"

Having slipped into the entrance, Lu Wei had only taken a few steps before he suddenly stopped.

Because in the cavern at the end of the tunnel, there seemed to be the faint flicker of firelight.

Low Level goblin tribes don’t know how to make fire. Only large tribes with goblins that have undergone an Intelligence mutation—commonly known as Greenskin Sages—would possibly use flame.

So...

’Is it other Adventurers?’