"What on earth is going on?" Fang Hong unscrewed the cap of his water bottle, poured out the water, and splashed a handful of it on his face to help wake up. He shook his wet hair and asked as he walked, "Did you see anyone coming, Tata?"

Both of them walked forward. Fang Hong stepped unevenly on the rugged surface of the forest, occasionally having to duck under arching tree roots covered with iron wire ferns and coriander, and a string of Moonlight Aster hung down from above, which he casually picked and stuffed into the pocket of his robe.

Tata sat on his shoulder and gently shook her head.

"Not?"

"Then what is it?"

Centaurs believed that dried Aster had magic powers, and later alchemists discovered that Aster powder could serve as high-quality material for magic catalysts, which could be used to cultivate magic solutions.

Soaking a Core Crystal in the magic solution for over eight hours allowed it to fully absorb the floating Ether Magic Power. Without the Magic Guided Reactor, Fang Hong could only resort to such primitive methods to charge the Core Crystal—fortunately, his basic alchemy lessons in Kapuka were solid, and he still remembered these emergency measures.

Eteliria was rich in resources, and the entire world was filled with Ether Magic Power, with various strange raw materials readily available. Fang Hong looked up to see crystals floating around in the forest—these were Primordial Crystals, one of the reasons the Floating Continent stayed afloat.

There must have been a natural Primordial Crystal mining area here, but it wasn't worth much, only the higher-quality Primordial Crystals were valuable enough to be made into Core Crystals. Those high-quality Primordial Crystals were mostly buried deep underground, and such surface mining areas that had already been discovered by people were nothing more than a scenic view.

The ground here inclined slightly to the south, and the sound of rushing water came from ahead. Parting the bushes, they saw a stream of pale purple water rushing down beneath sharp white rocks.

The pale purple color was a reflection of the forest's dimness and the crystals' glow.

Tata looked across the stream, then finally spoke, "I saw people camping over there."

"On the other side of the stream?"

Miss Fairy nodded gently.

"Let's go and have a look." Fang Hong was eager to encounter travelers to ask how far it was to Elpaxin and how to get there.

But first, he went down to the stream to refill his water bottle and took a few sips of the cool and sweet spring water. There were beautiful glowing plants growing by the stream and white fish swimming beneath the water, like silverlight shuttle.

He instructed Walker to raise its Blade Feet and strike down, splashing water about, but caught nothing.

The fish, sensing the disturbance in the water, scattered in all directions.

"It's Silver Trout," Fang Hong sighed and shook his head, "What a pity; their flesh is very good."

He patted his stomach, which growled in response.

Tata nodded. "Indeed, in Osh, Silver Trout are a typical dish on the tables of nobles."

"Is that so?" Fang Hong looked back and asked.

"Because the many rivers in Osh do not naturally have Silver Trout, they are transported to Osh via the Istania-Fasha Route. To ensure their survival, these ships carry water tanks and bulky oxygen-making equipment, and a live wild Silver Trout can sell for a fortune in Osh. Some nobles even use warships—the 'Silver Trout Route' thus got its name," Tata replied indifferently.

Fang Hong listened with longing, "It would be great if we could run that route sometime."

"Transporting Silver Trout requires a special business permit." Tata dashed his hopes with a single sentence.

But Fang Hong knew how the locals in Colin cooked Silver Trout.

One method was to brush the trout fillets with oil mixed with celery and fennel leaves, then roast them until golden brown, served with lemon and pepper salt. The outside was crispy, the inside soft, and the flavor rich and multi-layered.

Just thinking about it made Fang Hong's mouth water uncontrollably; he was quite a foodie. But fantasizing only made his hunger more acute, so he rubbed his belly, stood up, and looked around, choosing a ford to wade across the stream.

'Sword Hong' Walker remained in alert mode ahead of them.

In this mode, the Walker was completely managed by the system; Fang Hong didn't even need to operate, though in this mode it only had a single marching pattern. Of course, if it had a scouting module installed, the system would also occasionally stop to scan the surroundings.

Only in places where the terrain was a little more complicated, and the system was helpless, did Fang Hong take over. Walker climbed and scampered over rocks in his hands, and he didn't use the system at all—because Fang Hong found that this helped him practice his operating skills.

Soon they reached the spot Tata had mentioned.

There were indeed signs of a camp in the forest.

Dry leaves had been swept aside to reveal the soft humus below. Someone had used stones to build a temporary stove on the soft soil, much more professionally than Fang Hong could imagine, showing their vastly different skills in survival.

Beside figuring out the traces of three tents, two small and one large, Fang Hong estimated that there must have been at least five people. There were no droppings from beasts of burden in the camp, or they had been dealt with—if considering that other more obvious traces had not been dealt with, this possibility seemed unlikely.

An image of an exploring team composed of several members took shape in Fang Hong's mind, but he knew nothing about the composition, the mission of the team, nor did he possess professional tracking skills; he had only reached this conclusion through analysis.

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