Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

At this moment, if one looked around Cecilia’s surrounding environment even slightly—

They would discover that this woodland clearing did not contain only the corpse of this single Giant Wolf.

Scattered throughout the crooked bushes lay the remains of roughly seven or eight more of its kind.

These had all been casually dealt with by Lance while clearing the path earlier.

【Biological Codex: Monster · Giant Wolf】

【Current Research Progress: LV1 (11/20)】

“You did extremely well. Your spell timing was perfect.”

Lance’s steady voice came from behind her.

Hearing this approving praise, Cecilia instantly felt the gloom that had built up in her heart from nervousness completely swept away.

The pointed ears hidden beneath her silver hair twitched twice somewhat uncontrollably.

A pleasantly numb sensation spread from the roots of her ears.

The next moment—

The girl turned around and jogged over to Lance. Skillfully, she extended her fair hand toward him, wanting to perform their exclusive celebratory high-five.

Only by using this perfectly justified excuse for celebration—

Could she slightly ease the intense longing for intimate contact with her senior that constantly surged from deep within her Half-Elf body, here in this forest hidden from outside eyes.

“Smack.”

Their palms struck crisply together in midair.

The instant their skin touched—

Cecilia immediately felt a brief electric numbness spread through the back of her neck.

This pleasure that directly reached her nerves nearly made her narrow her eyes in comfort.

Fortunately, however, today’s physical stimulation was at least far milder than the uncontrollable intensity from the night before yesterday.

She could barely maintain the calm expression on her face.

After the battle ended, the two continued advancing according to the map’s directions.

The scattered monsters they encountered along the way were all effortlessly dealt with through the extremely coordinated teamwork between Lance and Cecilia.

Without exaggeration—

There was basically no monster group left in the outer region of Copper Creek Forest capable of posing any substantial threat to their hardcore two-person team.

Just as they stepped across the thick layer of fallen leaves and successfully passed through the final dense pine forest—

Their vision suddenly opened up.

The scene before them directly shocked the completely unprepared Cecilia into stopping in her tracks.

Looking at the scenery before him, even Lance could not help but sigh inwardly.

So this was the place Toby the shield guard had spoken about yesterday—the perfect place to bring a girl for a confession.

He truly had not expected that deep within this forest overflowing with danger—

There would actually be such a beautiful secret realm hidden away, so unreal it almost seemed fake.

Spread before them was a gently sloping hillside.

A boundless sea of brilliant flowers bloomed here.

Large stretches of purple wild irises swayed gracefully in the breeze.

Clusters of pale yellow evening primroses decorated the edges, releasing waves of faint elegant fragrance.

There were also bellflowers resembling tiny blue bells that appeared especially vibrant and delicate beneath the sunlight.

Wildflowers of every imaginable color grew wildly across this uninhabited slope.

Groups of colorful butterflies danced among the blossoms, while clear birdsong occasionally drifted over from distant treetops.

There was no bloodshed here. No slaughter.

Everything was so beautiful it resembled a dreamlike scene existing only within fairy tales.

“So beautiful!”

Cecilia clasped her hands before her chest as the countless blossoms filling the mountains reflected within her crimson eyes. She sincerely exclaimed in admiration.

“Yeah, this really is a rare good place.”

Looking at the sea of flowers, Lance directly removed the pack from his back with a reverse motion.

He pulled out a transparent imprint crystal from the wide pouch.

Faced with such breathtaking natural beauty, even Lance could not resist wanting to preserve this moment.

He raised the crystal and adjusted the angle.

Soon, accompanied by a faint humming sound—

This brilliant sea of flowers, along with the astonished Half-Elf girl standing amidst the blossoms and the black-haired youth beside her holding the crystal with a smile—

Were all perfectly frozen within the thin crystal sheet.

After the brief amazement passed—

They did not forget what they had actually come to this dangerous forest to do today.

Cecilia quickly put away her playful thoughts.

She closed her eyes and began mobilizing the mana within her body, using the professional detection spell she had learned at Violet Academy to sense the abnormal fluctuations around them.

Not long afterward, she successfully locked onto the mana radiation point hidden within the sea of flowers.

The object was concealed beneath the cover of a gentle earthen slope.

When the two approached for a closer inspection, they discovered that the scene before them matched the diagrams described in the academy textbooks exactly.

This was a dark purple crystal cluster existing in a half-mineral, half-organic state.

Its surface was not smooth. Instead, it was covered with a complex network resembling human blood vessels.

Even stranger—

This crystal cluster was not motionless.

The interior of the crystal was filled with violent Chaotic Aether, and the purple energy slowly expanded and contracted within the crystal shell at a rhythm resembling a living heartbeat.

These mana radiation points all originated from the Underground Dungeon.

Whenever the will of the Underground Dungeon experienced violent fluctuations, the frenzied Chaotic Aether would spread upward along the natural leylines, eventually forming dangerous energy nodes like these on the forest surface.

As extension vessels of the chaotic will of the God Zelos, these nodes continuously emitted a special type of radiation into their surroundings.

Ordinary people could not sense this radiation, but if the monsters within the forest were exposed to these fluctuations for extended periods, they would fall into violent frenzy states, causing their overall aggression to rise sharply.

Fortunately, these nodes currently existed only in the initial stage where they had just emerged from the ground.

If professional spellcasters were not promptly arranged to manually process them, then once these crystals exerted long-term influence over nearby lifeforms, it could trigger horrifying monster siege disasters.

And if one wished to safely process these nodes, they absolutely could not simply smash them apart with brute force.

Intense physical impact would instantly trigger a mana martyrdom explosion, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

At times like this, professional spellcasters such as Cecilia were needed. Using mental power, they would carefully probe inside and slowly organize the chaotic Aether within.

The violent energy would be restored into an ordered state once more, much like patiently untangling a messy bundle of yarn. It was an extremely exhausting and delicate task.

“Senior, I’ve already found the target.”

Cecilia turned around and softly called out toward Lance, who was observing the terrain not far away.

“Then I’ll start organizing the Chaotic Aether inside now.”

At this moment, Lance was searching along the edge of the flower field for a safe area suitable for setting up waterproof cloth and placing sleeping pads.

Hearing the girl’s call, Lance turned around and gave an affirmative response.

“Alright. Focus on the processing. Leave the surrounding security to me.”

After receiving Lance’s assurance—

Cecilia took a deep breath and began concentrating fully, guiding strands of mana little by little into the dark purple crystal cluster.

Meanwhile, Lance finally found the perfect campsite between two sturdy trees, with a wide field of vision and shelter from the wind.

With practiced movements, he quickly fastened windproof ropes and erected the large oilcloth into a sturdy Semi-Open Shelter, then laid the two sleeping pads side by side upon the dry grass.

During the several hours Cecilia focused on her work—

A few blind low-rank monsters and wandering Gnolls were inevitably attracted by the humans.

However, they did not even manage to approach within ten meters of the earthen slope before being cleanly eliminated by Lance guarding the perimeter.

【Biological Codex: Monster · Gnoll】

【Current Research Progress: LV3 (2/100)】

The sun in the sky gradually sank westward, and the light within the forest slowly dimmed.

By the time Lance had lit a warm orange campfire in front of the campsite using dry branches—

Cecilia, who had worked continuously for a long time, finally stopped her guidance spell and let out a long sigh of relief.

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