Chapter 37: First Application of Stealth

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: First Application of Stealth

"Alright, you two wait here."

"Be ready to fight or flee at a moment’s notice."

Two miles wasn’t too far. After about another half an hour, the three of them left the cliff behind and arrived near the Dome Pillar.

However, despite being only two or three hundred meters away, Lu Wei stopped.

He saw smoke drifting in the air ahead.

It was faint—very hard to notice.

But it meant someone was tending a fire near the Dome Pillar.

Considering that most monsters in the Gelan Forest didn’t possess such a skill, it had to be humans.

This made it necessary to perform some advance Reconnaissance on the other party’s numbers, Power, and condition.

This was by no means an unnecessary precaution. After all, in an Adventurer’s Land, entrusting your safety to luck was the most foolish thing you could do.

Especially when encountering other Adventurers. You had to be wary of everyone with the utmost suspicion, even if they seemed perfectly friendly and righteous.

The unfortunate husband from before was a cautionary tale.

"Be careful."

With a solemn expression, Furen whispered his instructions, "If you run into trouble, call for us. I’ll come help you immediately."

"Don’t worry, there won’t be any danger."

Lu Wei was very confident; he figured no one in the entire forest could have a higher Perception than him.

"I’ll go check their setup and Power, then I’ll come back and we can decide if we’ll spend the night here."

"Maybe they’re just resting for a bit. They might be gone in a while, who knows."

"Mm."

Furen was just as confident. "If they really have ill intentions, my Sword will make them pay the price!"

’Nice! That’s the spirit!’

’Our little gang needs a heavy hitter like you!’

"I believe in you."

Lu Wei patted Furen’s shoulder in satisfaction, then nodded at Bai Ya beside them. He immediately began to channel his Magic Power, attempting to enter a state of Stealth.

With his previous practice as a foundation, plus the 1 point of Agility from his Forest Patrol Leather Armor, it was exceptionally easy this time. He succeeded on the first try.

And so, about ten seconds later...

SWOOSH~

Feeling himself blend into his surroundings, he immediately slipped silently into the dense woods and moved quickly toward the Dome Pillar.

Meanwhile, Furen and Bai Ya hid behind a large tree, their eyes straining to follow the figure that seemed to have become much more blurry.

"That’s amazing! If I wasn’t staring with all my focus, I wouldn’t be able to spot him at all!"

Seeing the effects of Stealth for the first time, Furen was astounded. "No wonder it’s a must-learn Universal Skill for Rangers and Druids. This ability is incredibly useful!"

"Mhm!"

Nodding vigorously, Bai Ya had only just learned that Lu Wei and Furen had both mastered a [Skill].

She knew exactly what that implied, so naturally, she was shocked.

But amidst her shock, there was also a hint of confusion.

"Furen, why did the captain stop?"

"No way, I saw him get pretty far. Are you sure you’re not seeing things?"

"Ah, then... what’s that over there? Isn’t that the captain?"

Bai Ya dazedly pointed at a yellowish lump about a few dozen meters away.

Furen followed her finger with a bewildered look, and then his expression turned peculiar.

"Uh, that’s a beehive..."

"Huh? I thought it was the captain..."

"Um, I can understand you not being able to see clearly, but based on basic common sense, Lu Wei shouldn’t be up in a tree, right...?"

...

...

’There’s a Dwarf.’

’They look alright, at least none of them look particularly vicious.’

’I don’t see a Magic Staff, which means there’s no Mage. Their squad’s overall Power probably isn’t too high.’

’There are no obvious signs of battle, either. They must be on a commission quest with a very specific objective, deliberately avoiding fights along the way.’

Meanwhile, in less than ten minutes, Lu Wei had stealthed his way close to the Dome Pillar.

As one of the most massive trees in the Gelan Forest, the Dome Pillar’s canopy was at least five or six football fields wide, and exceptionally tall and dense.

This prevented the surrounding trees from getting any sunlight, causing them to die off and form a relatively open clearing in the forest.

It also allowed Lu Wei to easily observe the Adventurer Squad resting by a large boulder—

In terms of personnel, there were three men and one woman.

A scruffy, middle-aged man.

A Dwarf whose age was impossible to tell due to his race’s characteristics.

A boy who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen.

And a tall, short-haired woman in her early twenties.

As for their weapons, the Dwarf used a Blacksmith’s Hammer, while the other three all used Longswords. They had no ranged firepower.

From this point alone, he could tell that this squad’s Power was likely average.

After all, both Archers and Mages were hot commodities on the team-up market, possessing great "priority in joining teams."

So they would naturally choose to join stronger teams.

Therefore, if a team lacked ranged firepower, their Power was most likely on the weaker side.

’Hm, they seem pretty safe for now.’

’The only strange thing is... why do I get the feeling that woman is the captain?’

’That doesn’t seem reasonable.’

’There’s a middle-aged man in the group who also looks very experienced.’

’So, is she the one with the most Power?’

After a few more distant glances, Lu Wei withdrew his gaze and turned to leave.

The lush green bushes swayed gently, as if brushed by a gust of wind, attracting no one’s attention.

...

...

Soon, after a brief discussion where they determined the other squad posed no threat, Lu Wei’s trio walked over brazenly.

The moment they emerged from the dense woods, the four people not far away immediately turned their heads. The youngest of them, the boy, even looked jumpy enough to draw his Sword.

But his hand was immediately pressed down by the short-haired woman next to him.

"..."

Four eyes—no, fourteen eyes—met for a moment. Lu Wei and the short-haired woman, as the captains of their respective sides, simply nodded at each other without exchanging any words.

This was the most common way Adventurers greeted each other when they met by chance.

It expressed a lack of hostile intent while also maintaining distance.

Only newbies would excitedly run over and say pointless things like "hello."

’Wary, calm, confident, and somewhere between a C and D cup...’

Although he had been spying on her for a while, he was much closer now. Lu Wei seized the opportunity to quickly observe the woman again, swiftly completing a mental profile of her.

Similarly, the woman also looked him over from head to toe.

In fact, she stared at him intently, only shifting her gaze to Furen and Bai Ya when the trio had almost reached the other side of the Dome Tree.

But her gaze lingered on the latter for less than a second.

She watched Furen for a little longer.

Three or four seconds at most... and half of that time was spent looking at the hilt of Furen’s Tessares Steel Longsword.

"She doesn’t seem very friendly."

Glancing back, Furen grumbled with some dissatisfaction, "So cold. It’s like we owe her money or something."

"It’s fine. It’s better that they’re cautious."

Lu Wei shrugged. "At least after seeing that Sword of yours, they should be warier of us."

"Really?"

Furen was stunned for a second, then instantly became smug. "Hmph, well, if I get the chance, I don’t mind showing them what Combat Skills are all about!"

"..."

’Dude, can you please not embarrass us?’

Realizing Furen was showing more and more potential to be a "Berserker," Lu Wei rubbed his forehead in resignation.

At the same time, Bai Ya, who was next to them, whispered her own observation:

"I think that big sister is their captain."

"Isn’t that obvious...? Oh, right."

Furen suddenly remembered something. "Bai Ya, we still don’t know how old you are."

"Oh, I’m nineteen."

"Huh? But you only look like you’re about eighteen."

"Ah, that doesn’t seem that strange, does it? It’s only a one-year difference..."

"That’s true... Anyway, you’re younger than both me and Lu Wei."

"I think that’s pretty obvious too..."

Exchanging remarks, Furen and Bai Ya’s conversation suddenly and inexplicably drifted off-topic.

Lu Wei had no interest in the topic of age. He just glanced back again, lost in thought.

From their brief contact just now, the other party’s vigilance seemed overly strong, a bit beyond the normal range.

After all, his side only had three people, including Bai Ya, who clearly couldn’t be counted as a fighter.

Generally speaking, that shouldn’t be enough to make a four-person squad so wary.

Most importantly, from the moment he saw her until now, the woman’s posture hadn’t changed at all. She just sat there, ramrod straight.

’So, is she injured...?’