For advance/early chapters : p atreon.com/AutumnXd
"Hey, Caelan, why did you name our Adventurer Group this?" Victor couldn't help but ask on the way into the mountains.
Caelan smiled. "I saw that many game names were already taken, so I'll just pick a name for a game I'll make in the future. Nobody would know that in advance, right?"
As soon as Caelan said that, the other four instantly perked up.
Victor: "Oh? King of Fighters? The game's name is King of Fighters? I thought it was the title of someone in the game or the protagonist's surname?"
Cassius: "What type of new game is this?"
Nicole: "Is it a stage-clearing game like Squirrel War?"
Caelan: "It's similar to Street Fighter. It's a fighting game."
Victor immediately became even more excited. After all, this guy wasn't good at the previous stage-clearing games (actually, he just wasn't serious), and the only game he played well was Street Fighter. "Oh, oh, tell us more about this game. When do you plan to release it?"
Caelan: "It'll be a while. This game has a lot of characters and needs more time to polish. Also, my mental energy is still a bit lacking. Once I'm stronger, I can create more spectacular visual effects. As for detailed explanations... I think it's better to keep some anticipation."
Victor thought about it and agreed. A little anticipation wasn't a bad thing. At most, it would make him itch with curiosity, but after knowing Caelan for a long time, he was used to this kind of situation.
The group continued deeper into the mountain forest.
Due to the dense trees and rugged mountain paths, everyone's progress was very slow—especially with Caelan and Priscilla, who were somewhat of a burden, present.
Fortunately, the three stronger members of the team were all Dual Cultivation practitioners of magic and martial arts.
"Hey, Caelan, this won't do. You've only walked for three hours. How are you already so exhausted?" Victor, who was responsible for guarding the rear of the team, chuckled when he saw Caelan panting.
Cassius, who was leading the way, turned his head when he heard this. He looked at Caelan and asked with concern, "Caelan, do you want to rest for a bit?"
Caelan waved his hand. "I can still go on. But why haven't we seen a single Demonic Beast along the way, besides some wild animals?"
Cassius: "Probably still in the outer perimeter."
Victor pointed to the sky. "Isn't that a Demonic Beast?"
Caelan looked up. Although the distance was quite far, by concentrating his mental energy, he could still make it out. It was an Azure Light Falcon. The peak combat power of such a creature could probably match a Seventh Circle expert, but this one looked relatively weaker and shouldn't pose much of a threat to them.
The Azure Light Falcon was clutching a deer-like creature in its talons, likely flying back to its nest.
"Oh, there's a firelight by the roadside ahead," Priscilla, with her sharp eyes, pointed forward and said.
Everyone looked in the direction she pointed and indeed saw a firelight.
"Could someone be roasting meat?" Priscilla wondered.
Caelan focused his mental energy in that direction and replied, "No. There are people fighting over there. Their opponent is a Wind Element Demonic Beast."
Victor: "Oh? Caelan, your mental energy is quite useful."
Cassius: "Wind Element Demonic Beasts in this area—could it be Gale Wolves? Their magic cores are quite valuable, and the Adventurer's Guild has also issued related quests. But since someone else got to them first, let's just bypass them."
The five walked for another twenty minutes or so when suddenly, a sharp sound came from that direction. Caelan turned his head to look. Four fireballs flew straight into the sky, then exploded in sequence.
"Bang! Bang bang! Bang!"
Everyone was startled. "Explosion Spell."
Victor: "They're calling for help. Should we help?"
Cassius: "Caelan, you go and see what the situation is over there first."
Caelan once again gathered his mental energy and swept it over. After a moment, he said hesitantly, "There are currently four Wind Element Demonic Beasts over there... no, now there are six. Six Wind Element Demonic Beasts are attacking that team of Adventurers."
Victor: "Let's help. The Adventurers here should all be from our own country. The Holy Emperor also said that compatriots should unite, right? So we must help if we can!"
Apart from Caelan, who had lived two lives, the other four were all hot-blooded young men and women, so they naturally had no objections. Caelan had originally wanted to say that a gentleman does not stand under a crumbling wall, but seeing all of them with their blood boiling, he didn't try to dissuade them.
Anyway, most of the high-rank Demonic Beasts here had already been killed, so his group wouldn't be that unlucky, right?
Priscilla raised her staff and also fired explosion bullets in a pattern: "Bang bang bang!"
This was to tell the other party that reinforcements were on their way and to hold on.
Everyone rushed toward that direction. Caelan and Priscilla each activated an engraved runestone for a Levitation Spell, allowing Victor and Cassius to pull them forward at a run. In the middle, the other side sent out two more distress explosion spells.
On the other side, there were also three places where "bang bang bang" responses came, indicating that there were quite a few Adventurers in this mountain forest.
As they neared the location, Cassius and Victor could already feel the fluctuations from there. In terms of aura, it shouldn't pose too much of a threat to them, but to be safe, Nicole still took Caelan and Priscilla up a very tall tree.
"We'll go confirm the situation. You two wait here."
Priscilla: "Hey, hey, hey, I can fight too."
Nicole turned her head while running and said, "We'll go check the situation first. If there's no danger, I'll send a signal, and then you two can come over."
Priscilla was about to say something else when Caelan advised, "Priscilla, let's just stay here. Although you're stronger than me, it would still be very dangerous to go over there. There are already more than thirty Demonic Beasts over there now—more than enough to kill us."
"More than thirty? Did they poke a Demonic Beast nest?" Priscilla choked. Then she wondered, "Caelan, what rank is your mental energy?"
"Fourth Circle." Caelan held up four fingers.
"Fourth Circle? How can you detect the situation from so far away when I can't sense anything from this close? Is the difference between Third Circle and Fourth Circle mental energy that great?" Priscilla asked, puzzled.
Caelan stroked his chin. "Perhaps."
"No," Priscilla suddenly said. "Cassius and Victor both have at least Fifth Circle mental energy, and they couldn't detect it from that far away. It definitely isn't a mental energy problem."
What else could it be? It's just that my mental energy and mind palace are very special.
However, because he wasn't familiar with the girl yet, Caelan didn't want to tell her in such detail, so he just vaguely brushed her off. Priscilla soon realized something was amiss and didn't press the issue.
As the two were chatting idly, two strong auras of red and white flames suddenly erupted from the front. It seemed their three teammates had joined the battle.
Soon after, purple lightning flashed, and another Adventurer Group joined the battle.
Caelan was stunned. "Acquaintances."
Priscilla asked curiously, "You know someone there?"
Caelan nodded. "From the same school."
Thus, as more and more Adventurers from nearby joined in, five-element magic flashed, and the battle seemed to be very intense.
But this didn't affect Caelan, who was quietly observing from afar. He focused more mental energy on his three teammates while also answering Priscilla's questions.
After more than thirty minutes of fighting, the remaining Demonic Beasts retreated, leaving behind four corpses of their companions.
"Uh, the battle seems to be over," Caelan said.
As he spoke, a green smoke bomb exploded in the sky. This time it wasn't magic, but a simple smoke bomb.
"It's true! Nicole sent us a message saying there's no danger."
The two once again activated their engraved runestones for a Levitation Spell, then slowly jumped down from the tree and walked toward the battlefield.