Chapter 146: The Secret Has Been Discovered

Chapter 146 -142: The Secret Has Been Discovered

In less than half an hour, the four of them arrived at their campsite for the night.

A massive, naturally formed cavern.

The entrance alone was seven or eight meters high, and the space inside was massive—roughly the size of a soccer field.

The reason it was called the Fluorescent Cave was that its walls were covered in glowing mosses and fungi, which were said to be incredibly beautiful.

However, it wasn’t dark yet, so their glow wasn’t visible.

SQUISH!

SQUISH! SQUISH! SQUISH!

“This is awesome!”

On one side of the cavern, Furen was locked in a solo battle with four or five giant bats. He swung his Longsword with vigor, letting out a stream of strange cries.

Meanwhile, Lu Wei and the other two pointedly ignored him, busy with their own tasks on the opposite side of the cavern.

Bai Ya was building a campfire to prepare dinner.

Mirana had gone out to gather firewood.

Hess was clinging to the cave wall, absorbing a clump of faintly glowing moss.

No one had any intention of helping him.

This wasn’t because the Mushroom Squad had some sort of “bullying problem,” but simply because giant bats were just that weak of a monster.

Though they were large and could fly, their method of attack was no different from that of an ordinary bat.

It wasn’t like they were some kind of “bat-folk” who could use weapons.

So, a group of fewer than ten posed almost no threat to Adventurers.

Besides, Furen was no rookie anymore. He had been through countless battles and, if nothing else, had accumulated plenty of combat Experience.

He was more than capable of handling a few giant bats.

“Captain, are you really not going to eat the giant bats?”

Bai Ya returned to Lu Wei’s side, carrying a pile of small rocks. She asked again, a hint of regret in her voice:

“According to the *Forest Cuisine Guide*, giant bat meat is very firm and tastes quite good.”

“I’m not eating it.”

Lu Wei was resolute. “Those things are disgusting, not to mention they’re riddled with viruses.”

“Hmm? What’s a virus?”

“They’re invisible parasites. If you eat them, you’ll get sick.”

“Really? But the book doesn’t say anything about that.”

“You can’t always trust what you read in books.”

Lu Wei waved dismissively. “In any case, let’s just have mushroom soup tonight.”

“Alright… In that case, go find some fruit from a Big Fluff Tree.”

“We’re out of bread and crackers, so we don’t have a main starch.”

“There was a Big Fluff Tree bearing fruit on the way here.”

“It’s to the east. You should be able to spot it if you look carefully.”

Bai Ya crouched down and continued arranging the campfire, issuing her command to Lu Wei.

As the chef, she held absolute authority over the Mushroom Squad when it came to mealtimes, free to order around anyone—including the captain, Lu Wei.

“Okay, I’m on it.”

Lu Wei agreed, grabbing the large Crossbow they’d confiscated from the Bandit Group and a few Crossbow Arrows before heading out of the cavern.

Just then, he ran into Mirana, who was returning with the firewood.

She was dragging a small tree, about three or four meters long and as thick as a dinner bowl. Once chopped up, it would be enough to burn all night.

“…”

The two of them met each other’s gaze but said nothing, simply brushing past one another.

Such encounters had not been uncommon over the past few days, but this time there seemed to be a subtle, hard-to-describe shift in the air.

Needless to say, it all stemmed from Mirana’s earlier question about the Divine Blessing.

Lu Wei’s initial reaction had been surprise, not confusion, which had undoubtedly confirmed her suspicions.

And Lu Wei knew it.

But that certainly didn’t mean he was going to admit he could appraise a Divine Blessing.

After all, this was completely different from helping Sebas appraise a few strange trinkets.

The latter merely suggested he had a high degree of Scholarship.

‘The former, however, meant I was using a cheat.’

‘If word got out, I’d definitely be abducted by some powerhouse who appeared out of nowhere and turned into a “human money printer,” stripped of my freedom.’

‘I might even get sliced up for experiments.’

Obviously, Lu Wei didn’t want to be sliced up.

So not only could he not admit it, but he also couldn’t make money by appraising Divine Blessings for people.

Even if it was an incredibly lucrative business opportunity.

‘Sigh, it sucks knowing there’s a fortune to be made and not being able to touch it.’

…

…

Lu Wei didn’t dwell on the matter with Mirana for too long.

‘Besides, no one would believe me even if I told them.’

So he soon put the matter out of his mind. After backtracking along their path for a bit, he finally found the Big Fluff Tree Bai Ya had mentioned.

It was a species of tree that hadn’t existed in his previous life. It looked a bit like a willow but was much taller, with longer leaves.

Most importantly, the tree’s fruit was very large and packed with starch.

You could eat it just by roasting it over a fire. The taste wasn’t great, but it was at least filling.

It was a bit like breadfruit.

CLICK.

After loading a Crossbow Arrow into its slot, Lu Wei looked up and took aim at a brown fruit hanging about ten meters up.

He squeezed the trigger. With a THWANG of the bowstring, the Crossbow Arrow shot straight toward the fruit.

It hit the target dead-on.

THWACK!

The large fruit broke from its stem and fell into a cluster of bushes.

But Lu Wei wasn’t in a hurry to retrieve it. Instead, he fired off three more arrows in quick succession.

Two out of the three hit their mark; one went wide.

Furthermore, one of the arrows had so much force that it pierced straight through the fruit and flew off to who-knows-where.

Lu Wei, of course, found this unacceptable.

After all, in town, you couldn’t even sell these Big Fluff Tree fruits for a single copper coin, while a Crossbow Arrow with a Fine Steel Arrowhead cost more than ten copper coins.

Losing two arrows meant losing nearly 30 copper coins!

While 30 copper coins was practically nothing to him now, refusing to take a loss was a matter of principle for a Crafty Merchant!

‘Never pass up a small profit, and never accept a small loss!’

‘Find them!’

Acting on his principle of never taking a loss, Lu Wei first placed the three fruits he’d shot down at the base of the tree, then embarked on the “long journey” of finding his lost Crossbow Arrows.

After ten minutes of searching, he hadn’t found his arrows, but he did “find” two furtive-looking goblins.

‘No doubt they were drawn by my Divine Blessing again.’

POP! POP!

When it came to Little Greenskins, Lu Wei felt no pressure whatsoever these days.

He didn’t even bother drawing Confession, effortlessly killing them with two Light-guided Arrows.

That’s right. To raise his Light-guided Arrow’s Level, he made a point of practicing with it whenever he encountered enemies alone.

Sometimes, when he was bored on night watch, he would even “set off fireworks” into the sky with it.

And because of this, his Light-guided Arrow had already gone from Level 0 to Level 1 two days ago.

Its Casting Range and mark Duration had both increased slightly.

The Magic Power required for both Casting and detonation had decreased by a smidgen.

At first glance, it was barely any change, but the difference would become more obvious after a few more Levels.

However…

[Light-guided Arrow Lv1 (29/100)]

‘Level 0 to Level 1 required 20 casts, and Level 1 to 2 requires 100 casts.’

‘Does that mean Level 2 to 3 will take 500?’

‘Jeez, that’s a lot.’

Shaking his head, Lu Wei wondered when he’d ever reach Level 3. He decided to check the two goblin corpses to see if he could scrounge up a few copper coins.

But just then, he suddenly heard a rustling sound from behind.

Lu Wei instantly drew Confession and spun around.

Only to freeze in place.

A few meters behind him, a fluffy white Fur Ball was staring at him, its eyes wide with utter shock.

“…”

Beneath the orange-red sunset, the man and the ball stared blankly at each other for several seconds.

Then, Lu Wei lunged forward, snatching Hess up and warning him fiercely:

“Whatever you just saw, you’re not telling anyone!”

“You hear me?!”