Early that morning, Constance led the tall, blue-maned Gale Horse to the gates of the Inquisition Sanctuary, waiting for Qu Weichen to set out.
Qu Weichen was fourteen and had never learned to ride a horse, so naturally, Constance would have to take her along.
Of course, once they reached the outskirts of Beastcall Mountain, Constance wouldn’t interfere much—unless they ran into an especially powerful magical beast, she wouldn’t step in.
After all, a trial should look like a real trial.
Qu Weichen had prepared all sorts of things—not just what she’d thought of before, but also insect repellent, frozen beast meat to attract magical beasts, and so on.
Out of her six storage slots, one held the Source Lang Card, and the other five were all filled with daggers.
After all, weapons in a spatial ring took longer to retrieve than those in storage slots, especially now that her ring was getting crowded and she had to dig around to find anything.
“Sorry I’m late!” Qu Weichen ran over in a hurry—even today, she hadn’t skipped her morning training.
She’d just taken a quick shower and changed clothes, which might have delayed her a bit.
“No, I just got here early to wait for you.” Constance didn’t mind.
A towering giant riding a majestic Gale Horse was already a striking sight.
If Constance were wearing armor instead of her usual clothes, she’d look just like a general heading off to war.
“Come on.” Constance reached out her hand to pull Qu Weichen up onto the horse.
Qu Weichen paused, then grabbed that broad hand.
With a tug from Constance, she was pulled up onto the Gale Horse.
“Did you look at the illustrated guide yesterday? Do you know what kind of magical beast this is?”
[Magical Beast Mount]: How can a necromancer not have a mount? Go catch a magical beast to ride!
Reward: Skill Point_1
Qu Weichen was startled by the sudden achievement, but still answered Constance’s question: “Gale Horse, a wind-element magical beast.
It runs extremely fast and has a gentle temperament.
It’s one of the most popular mounts.”
She really didn’t get how the system calculated achievements—just sitting on a magical beast counted? Well, the reward was only a skill point, so that made sense.
With the Gale Horse, it was still half a day’s journey from Uvino to Beastcall Mountain.
They’d had breakfast in Uvino, but lunch was still a problem.
Constance took her to a camp near the outskirts of Beastcall Mountain.
Calling it a camp was generous—it was just a fenced-off area with a few tents, a bonfire, and a cooking pot.
The food was all kinds of magical beast meat: a juicy, tender piece the size of a palm cost two hundred Source Lang, while the old, tough, gamey stuff was fifty Source Lang a piece.
You picked your own meat, and if you wanted it stir-fried with wild veggies and mushrooms, that was an extra hundred Source Lang for the cooking fee—outrageously expensive.
“It’s so expensive, does anyone actually eat here?” Qu Weichen whispered.
“There’s always someone who forgot to bring rations, or who comes out of Beastcall Mountain with little to show for it and nothing left to eat.
They always have business.” Constance explained, then called out, “Two bowls of wild veggie and mushroom soup! How many pieces of meat do you want?”
“I brought plenty of rations.” Qu Weichen said.
She thought for a moment, then, instead of letting Constance order for her, went over herself and bought five pieces of the pricier magical beast meat, asking them to grill it.
“Captain, let me pay.
You’ve helped me so much, and I can’t repay you any other way right now.”
“Kids always get special privileges.” Constance waved her hand.
“Five pieces isn’t even enough for a snack.
You don’t have enough Source Lang on you to cover one of my meals, so just keep it for yourself.”
“Hurry up and eat.
Once we’re in the mountains, you won’t be able to buy anything even if you want to.”
Qu Weichen didn’t argue.
In the end, she took two pieces of meat, eating them with her own hard bread and the wild veggie soup.
The bread was so hard it could break your teeth, but soaked in the soup, it tasted pretty good.
Constance didn’t refuse the three pieces Qu Weichen gave her, but she also ordered ten portions of the cheap meat and ten of the expensive, eating almost a piece with every bite, like she was snacking, and even paired it with the big flatbread Qu Weichen bought.
In the end, she downed three more bowls of wild veggie soup and finally let out a satisfied burp.
Qu Weichen: Giants really are terrifying!
“Don’t high-level magical beasts ever come to the outskirts of Beastcall Mountain?” Back on the horse, Qu Weichen and Constance entered the Beastcall Mountain area together.
“High-level magical beasts are territorial and usually don’t come out.” Constance said.
“But don’t worry, if magical beasts cause trouble, someone will come deal with it.” The human royal family had four great generals, after all.
They didn’t need to guard the passageways anymore, so if there was any unrest, it was their job to handle it.
The Inquisition Sanctuary focused on undead disturbances, but they’d take care of magical beasts too.
In other places with magical beast forests, the nearby races would have their own ways of keeping things under control.
Qu Weichen nodded.
The Gale Horse galloped freely, the scenery on both sides flying by.
The weather was great today, warm sunlight shining down.
Even with the wind blowing past, it wasn’t too cold—just refreshing.
[Beastcall Mountain of the Magical Beast Forest]: Come to Beastcall Mountain! Here you’ll find gentle winds and blue skies, free magical beasts, and all the danger and opportunity you could want.
Come on, come adventure!
Reward: Skill Point_1
So now she was officially entering Beastcall Mountain? Qu Weichen watched the scenery fly by, breathing in the free air—it really did feel different from Uvino.
Host: Qu Weichen
Class: Necromancer
Skill Points: 5
Potential Points: 1
She could learn [Skeleton Archer] now! [Blindness Curse] needed seven skill points—she could save up, but blindness was different from Slow and Misfortune, which were harder to notice.
If that curse took effect… even an idiot would know something was wrong.
After thinking it over, Qu Weichen decided to learn [Skeleton Archer].
She was a necromancer, after all—she should at least be able to summon an intelligent undead creature.
Slow and Misfortune… with those odds, they’d be enough for now.
[Skeleton Archer Summon]: Summon a skeleton archer to fight for you.
(Max archers: 2)
Skill cooldown: 5 minutes
Constance pulled the Gale Horse to a stop and looked around.
“Here’s good.
You’re on your own now.”
Qu Weichen got off as told.
She had plenty of experience catching rabbits, and her hunting skill was two stars.
She just took out a dagger, checked her surroundings, and when she looked back, she saw Constance squeeze the horse’s sides and take off in a flash, disappearing from sight.
Qu Weichen: …
She knew Constance was probably still watching her from nearby, but… did she really have to put on this act in front of her? She wasn’t a little kid—she wasn’t going to freeze up and panic just because Constance ran off.
[You never know, what if she really left?] Number Nine said on purpose.
Qu Weichen rolled up her sleeves.
“Then it’s time for me to show off my wilderness survival skills!”
She crouched down, felt the dirt, figured out her direction, and headed toward the area with the thickest plants.
She needed to find a water source—there were always magical beasts nearby.
If she could find a cave, even better—there’d probably be magical beasts nesting inside.
If she couldn’t find anything… she’d just gather some twigs and leaves, pick some wild fruit, and when she caught a magical beast, test it for poison to see if it was edible.
Adventure always starts with exploration.
Meanwhile, Constance hadn’t gone far.
The Gale Horse was well-trained and wouldn’t run off even if left under a tree.
She climbed up a tree to watch Qu Weichen from a distance.
Seeing Qu Weichen calm and getting right to work, she couldn’t help but smile.
“My disciple really is impressive.” She jumped down, got back on her horse, and patted her old partner.
“Come on, follow quietly.
Not too close, not too far.
Hide your presence.”
The Gale Horse snorted lazily, flicked its tail in annoyance, and carefully followed, controlling the wind element around it to mask its presence as Constance wanted.
She didn’t need to be too close or even see Qu Weichen—she just needed to make sure no dangerous high-level magical beasts came near.
Qu Weichen kept track of her path as she walked.
When she found a rabbit hole, she put her skills to use and caught two rabbits.
She wasn’t an ordinary person anymore—catching rabbits was easy.
Once she spotted them, they couldn’t escape her grasp.
Unfortunately, all she found along the way were rabbits.
Qu Weichen wiped her sweat.
As soon as she stopped, the rabbits in the sack on her back started struggling again.
After a moment’s thought, she asked in her mind, “Jiu’er, can you give me a map?”
[…Don’t call me that, thanks.] Number Nine said.
[If you give me a map, I can look at it.]
“Jiu Bao, then you should know where the river is, where the caves are, where the magical beasts are, and where’s good for camping, right?”
[…Please, just call me Number Nine.] Number Nine never expected that just leaving the city would make Qu Weichen relax enough to joke around.
But that was a good thing, even if it made it uncomfortable.
If it weren’t a system, it’d have goosebumps all over.
[Based on my analysis, if you head west—your right hand side—keep going straight, there should be a stream or something.
Of course, I can’t guarantee it.]
“Thanks!” Qu Weichen thanked it in her mind, then headed right with more confidence, carrying the two rabbits without feeling tired.
After walking for over an hour, not only did she not find a stream, but fog started to rise in the forest.
Looking ahead, she realized she could climb up the mountain from here.
“Clearly, I haven’t mixed up left and right.” Qu Weichen stated calmly in her mind.
[Weren’t you looking for a cave anyway? This is close enough.] Number Nine mumbled, adding a few mechanical “hahaha”s to lighten the mood.
Of course, it didn’t help—they both just felt awkward.
Qu Weichen gave in.
She circled the slope for a while, climbed up, wandered for half an hour, and finally found a cave entrance.
After all that, she was exhausted.
Holding the sack, she planned to rest in the cave, roast some rabbit, drink some water, mark the cave, and then go out to look for a water source.
But before she could step inside, she saw a pair of green lights flash in the darkness.
Then a second pair of green lights.
Qu Weichen: “…”
[Well, isn’t that a coincidence? There really are magical beasts in the cave!] Number Nine said cheerfully, even playing a “ba ba ba” horn sound to liven up the tense atmosphere.
The two cave owners clearly weren’t amused.
They dug their claws into the ground, let out a furious roar, and charged at Qu Weichen.
