The cool evening breeze was passing through the grasslands and moving the silver fur of the Windrunner Strider.
Lian was sitting on the saddle and moving through the vast plains of the Ruined Realm at a steady speed, almost a few minutes had passed since he had set out.
During all this time, the book of treasure had not remained still, the further he went, the stronger the book’s reaction became, the golden point on the map kept getting brighter, at first it was just a small mark.
But now it was like a small star floating on the screen, this had made even Lian a little expectant.
He could sell that plant itself for several hundred thousand to several million dollars, and if his guess about the threat level was right, he might find one or several powerful monsters there.
Their corpses would also have their own value, and besides that, he could finally get a significant amount of stats points.
And the plant itself also had many uses, aside from selling it, he could use it himself, the more affinity with mana one has, the less mana one has to pay per minute for each skill to remain active.
For other awakened ones, its uses were even greater, the more their affinity with mana is, the easier and faster it is for them to absorb mana points from mana crystals.
Finally, the Windrunner Strider crossed over a short hill.
Lian fixed his gaze forward, and for a moment his eyebrows went up.
He expected to see something different, maybe an ancient ruin, maybe a forgotten temple, maybe a secret cave, but what was in front of him... was just a plain.
A vast plain, tall grass spread as far as the eye could see, green waves were moving with the wind.
But right in the center of that plain... something was shining.
A golden plant, a plant that seemed to be made of sunlight, its leaves reflected light like polished metal.
Golden veins were flowing on its stem.
Even though the sun was slowly going toward the horizon, the plant was still shining like a small torch in the middle of the plain.
The book’s notification appeared.
[ Sunheart Bloom ]
[ Rank: A ]
Lian’s eyes narrowed slightly, so this was it, he had finally found the plant he had come for.
But almost immediately he noticed the main problem, and the reason why the threat level was Medium.
A few meters from the plant... a monster was standing, a gigantic monster, its height was close to six meters.
Its body looked like a rhinoceros, but no rhinoceros in the normal world had such an appearance, natural armor plates had grown all over its body.
Its skin was dark gray, the massive horn on its head was almost as long as a war spear, every time it breathed, lava vapor came out of its nose, it could shoot lava balls through its mouth!
And more importantly... the system notification.
[ Lava Behemoth ]
[ Rank: Normal ]
[ Level: 27 ]
Lian frowned at that moment, this was the highest level he had seen until today, even the Dreadmaw had a lower level than this monster... although it was definitely stronger, but it was seven levels lower.
And this monster had passed its first evolution, it is true that he had fought monsters in the simulator that were level 25 and had passed their first evolution.
But this is level 27 and real! It is not a simulator.
Just the presence of that creature was enough to activate the sense of danger in his being.
But something was strange, the monster was not standing still, it was fighting.
Lian turned his gaze and only then noticed other people, five people, a full group, three warriors, one healer and one mage.
The ground around them was shouting the state of the battle, the grass was burned, several craters had been created in the ground, and traces of blood could be seen on the monster’s armor and on the awakened ones’ armors.
It was clear this fight had not just started, it had been going on for a long time.
One of the warriors attacked from the left, his sword landed on the monster’s armor and orange sparks spread in the air.
But not much damage was done, the monster turned its body with a short roar, its massive tail moved like a heavy whip.
The warrior had to throw himself back to survive.
At that moment... thunder split the sky.
Lian’s eyes went toward the mage, and for a moment he focused completely on him.
A tall boy, a fit body, golden hair, light green eyes, but what caught the most attention...
It was the lightning element... his lightning was different from Lian’s lightning, very different, more controlled, cleaner and more deadly, as if he had focused on this same element for years.
He raised his hand, a magic circle formed, and the next moment a spear of dense lightning shot toward the monster.
A strong explosion occurred.
The monster stepped back a few steps but this was not the end, the mage immediately cast the next spell.
Chains of lightning formed between several different points and trapped the monster’s body between them, for a moment its movement slowed down, but the power of that creature was too high.
With a roar, it tore the chains apart.
Lian had involuntarily become interested, this was the first time he saw someone controlling the lightning element at such a level.
In fact, until now, apart from himself, he had not seen another awakened one who used lightning, and he himself uses lightning to strengthen and make his punches more deadly.
But this boy was a mage and his way of using lightning was completely different, and he was clearly the strongest member of this group too.
It was as if he was the core of the group and the rest were all his supporters.
But suddenly he felt a strange feeling, the face of that boy... was familiar, very familiar, for a few seconds he tried to remember.
Then he suddenly stopped.
Wait... he had seen this face before, in the news, on posters, on public screens in cities, because this face strongly resembled the President.
The golden-haired boy was almost strangely similar to the country’s President, the same hair, the same eyes, the same face shape.
"Could he be his son?" Lian thought to himself, there is not much information about the President’s son.
Everyone knows he has a son, but his identity has never been officially announced, even who the boy’s mother is is not known.
Whatever it was, the resemblance did not seem coincidental, but very soon he focused on the battle again.
And the more he looked... the more he realized this group was not weak, not weak at all, a level twenty-seven monster was no joke.
But they were still alive, still fighting, they had still managed to wound it.
This meant their power was beyond normal awakened ones, even Lian, if he wanted to stand alone against that monster right now, was not sure he could win.
Fighting? Definitely. Surviving? Definitely. But being able to kill that monster alone? No, he has the ability to kill normal level 25 monsters.
But killing a level 27 monster with his current stats is not possible, the gap is significantly large, at least alone he cannot kill one.
But with the help of a group like this group, there should be no problem and he should be able to successfully kill that monster.
"I still have a long way to go to improve," he laughed quietly.
The battle was not going well, the monster was wounded, but the group was also not in a good condition, one of the warriors was bleeding from the shoulder.
The healer was casting spells repeatedly, but his face was getting whiter by the moment, his mana reserve was almost depleted.
Even the lightning mage was not attacking like before, the battle had entered a war of attrition, and if it continued like this, the losing side was clear from now.
Lian placed his hand on the saddle.
Should he help? Should he wait? Or let both sides weaken and then take the plant?
Logically... there was no reason to interfere, naturally he would not let them die, but he had not decided yet.
At that same moment, one of the warriors suddenly noticed his presence.
A girl, fiery red hair, light armor and a large sword in her hand, a very large sword, her eyes immediately locked onto Lian.
She stared for a few moments and then shouted angrily.
"Hey!" Her voice echoed throughout the plain.
Lian blinked, did this girl call him?
"Either help or get lost, you freeloading bastard!" The girl shouted again.
At that same moment, all the members of the group turned their gazes toward him.
The lightning mage, the other two warriors, even the healer, and worse of all... the Lava Behemoth also turned its massive head toward him.
The monster’s yellow eyes fixed on Lian.
For a few seconds... the entire battlefield fell into silence, and Lian understood that he could no longer just be a spectator.
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( The Lava Behemoth’s Visualization )