"Drip! Drip!"
Dew fell from above, splintering into countless droplets upon Gauss’ forehead.
In the early morning of the Jade Forest, the air was chilly, making Gauss shiver as he hovered between wakefulness and sleep.
Groggily opening his eyes, he was about to roll out of bed as usual, only to find his limbs immobile.
After a brief moment of confusion, his brain awoke from its slumber.
"Oh right, I’m in a sleeping bag in the tree," Gauss turned his head to look down.
He was at least a dozen meters above the ground.
Fortunately, he had fastened the ropes tightly in advance, otherwise, if he’d fallen out of sleep and hadn’t remembered to cast Armor, he might have broken a leg if not worse.
But despite this potential hazard, sleeping in the tree was the safest place he could think of to spend the night in the forest.
At the very least, a night had passed.
Other than the stiffness from being restrained, there was no danger.
He unzipped the sleeping bag and threw it to the ground, then nimbly climbed down the large tree.
Landing on the ground, Gauss stretched his limbs in place.
In the Jade Forest, the morning mist was dim, and every breath felt like it replenished the body with moisture.
After a brief rest, he hoisted his backpack and loot sack, and began to follow the mental map, retracing his path back.
It would take at least half a day to get out.
Progress through the forest was slow, and with too much weight, Gauss had to stop from time to time to rest, maintaining enough strength to prevent any unexpected events.
So he felt it was optimistic to think he could exit the Jade Forest by noon.
As it turned out, this was indeed the case, as Gauss continued with frequent pauses.
After roughly 3 hours, he had only traveled a little over half the way from the goblin village to the Jade Forest entrance.
The Jade Forest was truly vast. He couldn’t help but marvel.
It’s noteworthy that the goblin village was situated in the outer area of the Jade Forest, not too deep inside.
If someone truly wanted to traverse the Jade Forest, Gauss thought that even lightly packed, without encountering any crises, falling ill, or suffering fatigue, walking time would still exceed several weeks or even longer.
Who knows how many low-level creatures, elite creatures are lurking in this immense forest...
No wonder the kingdom needed to establish dozens of small and large towns outside the Jade Forest, aiming to build the first line of defense.
If a powerful creature rallied numerous low-level creatures and elite creatures to start a war, the network formed by these towns could withstand initially, buying time for the regular army to assemble.
Gauss shook his head.
Throwing the thought out of his mind.
He’s just an ordinary Level 1 little Magic Envoy, such matters are not his to ponder. His immediate task is to complete his commission, earn resources, learn spells, and grow stronger.
After another hour of walking, dealing with several clueless, suicidal slimes along the way.
Suddenly.
A "rustle" came from beside Gauss.
Walking on the path, he set down his package, picked up the Unbreakable Staff, and gazed into the lush forest.
An animal’s presence?
Gauss raised his staff, magic pulsating at the tip.
As the sound drew nearer, a wolf’s head emerged from the forest, and he was just about to cast magic when he heard a woman’s voice.
"No, no, no! Don’t shoot, buddy!"
As the giant wolf leaped through the brush, he noticed a disheveled woman sitting on the wolf’s back.
And coincidentally, he had met her before.
It was the blue-haired woman from the carriage ride, who should have teamed up with the white-haired mage carrying the suitcase after they got off.
But compared to her quiet and graceful demeanor on the carriage, she seemed much more bedraggled now.
Although a bit confused, Gauss refrained from casting spells for the time being, taking several steps back to distance himself from the woman and the wolf.
Though they had ridden the same carriage, they were strangers before this; meeting now in the wilderness automatically warranted caution.
The wolf was impressively large, standing at nearly ninety centimeters high at the shoulders, its glossy silver-gray fur, and fangs jutting out from its lips at an angle, as it bared its teeth in intimidation at Gauss.
The woman sitting on its back patted twice, then leaned close to the big wolf’s ear, opening her mouth to make strange tones, calling out "Oh oh" twice, and only then did the big wolf calm down.
"Druid?"
Gauss observed the woman’s actions and secretly guessed in his heart.
Druid is also a relatively common profession, their abilities focus on natural magic, animal companions, and environmental adaptation.
Apart from mastering some simple spells, the most unique aspect of a Druid is that they have a loyal animal friend, usually a wolf, eagle, badger, horse, snake, etc. With slightly higher levels, a Druid can also transform into an animal.
Furthermore, most of them also master animal communication skills, allowing them basic interaction with animals.
"Hello, we meet again."
The woman turned over and jumped down from the big wolf.
"My name is Aaliyah King, you can call me Aaliyah, and you?"
"Gauss."
"You should also be preparing to leave the forest, right? Would you like to join me?" Aaliyah invited.
Gauss scrutinized her.
Although he was covered in grime from killing a large number of goblins and hadn’t had time to clean up, Aaliyah wasn’t much better off either, looking disheveled, reeking of a sour smell, with hair clumped into dried strands due to blood.
Disregarding her invitation, Gauss cautiously retorted.
"If I remember correctly, before you went in, didn’t you have a teammate with you? The white-haired boy carrying a suitcase and somewhat short?"
"Don’t mention it, that guy, I temporarily teamed up with him at the Adventurer’s Guild. Wanting to accommodate his frail physique, I even took the initiative to propose taking a carriage here."
"We came in to search for a relic, but who knew we’d be ambushed by an ogre and its minions. Initially, I worried about him, but he said nothing and tore open a scroll to teleport away." Aaliyah said angrily. "Luckily, I seized the opportunity, used the Entanglement Technique to temporarily trap them, and with my wolf companion’s speed, I managed to break through and shake them off."
"Otherwise, I’d have been in serious trouble because of him." Aaliyah seemed to recall the events from the day before, grumbling with resentment. "Mages indeed are unreliable folks."
Gauss: ?
Though his profession was Magic Envoy, outsiders often saw him as similar to a mage, and he felt somewhat inexplicably attacked.
"Sorry, I didn’t mean you." Aaliyah quickly clarified. "I meant that many mages I’ve encountered are not very reliable."
"Forget it, I won’t explain anymore. Would you like to travel together? We can watch each other’s backs, and my wolf companion can help carry your luggage."
Gauss glanced over at her.
She indeed looked quite disheveled, and there was no luggage from the young mage.
"Alright, let’s go together." Gauss nodded in agreement.
The reason for agreeing wasn’t that he completely trusted her.
Although her demeanor and actions appeared natural, it couldn’t be ruled out as a performance.
Agreeing was just his way of thinking that if she deliberately arranged to encounter him with ulterior motives, he’d rather have her in his sight constantly than an enemy hidden in the shadows and acting swiftly.
After all, it’s easier to dodge an open attack than a hidden arrow.
"Alright, should my wolf help carry your luggage?"
"I’d appreciate that."
Since she mentioned it, Gauss didn’t hold back and placed his pack on the wolf, tying it securely.
The pack wasn’t as valuable as his pile of spoils and was fairly heavy, just enough to add some weight to the wolf.
The two didn’t exchange much along the way.
Occasionally encountering monsters launching attacks, they cooperated to easily defeat the enemies.
The perpetually cautious Gauss slowly relaxed.
In a few brief battles, he hadn’t exposed his excellent melee skills, only revealing a small part of his spell abilities.
Earlier, he deliberately left a gap; if the opponent had bad intentions, based on the stereotype of casters’ weak bodies, she should have directed the wolf to pounce and tear him apart.
However, the opponent remained well-behaved, although physically and mentally exhausted, she still frequently used the Entanglement Technique, controlling plants to bind the monsters for him.
Moreover, from his observation, she indeed wasn’t weak, likely a Level 1 Druid. Besides her tall animal wolf companion, she also mastered control series skills and could wield a wooden staff in melee combat.
A control specialization professional?
Truth be told, though he had purposely held back earlier, her assistance in binding enemies made it much easier for him to kill them.
Gauss pondered silently, walking quietly, frequently glancing at his companion.
No, he needed to observe more.