As dawn broke, Ji Xinghuo rose from bed.
Jiangnan Caiyi had gotten up even earlier and prepared breakfast for everyone.
After breakfast, everyone shouldered their packs, which had been packed the night before, and left the villa.
Chi Zhonglin led the way up front. He wore a set of retractable elastic fiber combat clothing, with the Molten Rock Gun slung over his shoulder and a massive marching backpack on his back.
The marching backpack contained the team’s tents, sleeping bags, inflatable rafts for crossing rivers, several bundles of nano-rope totaling over a thousand meters, five hundred arrows recently purchased by Ji Xinghuo, and various other supplies and tools, weighing over 60 kilograms, nearly as heavy as his long spear.
As the only Mutant in the team with great strength, the task of carrying the backpack fell to him.
Chi Zhonglin had long since grown accustomed to this role.
Ji Xinghuo and Ren Mian walked in the middle of the group.
Ren Mian had put her bamboo hat back on and covered her face with a scarf, still dressed in a women’s combat skirt, but with an additional multi-functional belt tied around her waist this time, designed with a row of square pockets, each containing plant samples.
Every Plant Witch had such a multi-functional belt, so they could draw out plant samples and unleash their Ability during battles.
Ji Xinghuo was also fully armed.
He wore Composite Cerasteel Armor, Gale Battle Boots on his feet, Lei Chi hanging at his waist, and carried a Composite Hunting Bow and quiver, making it clear at a glance that he was a Ranger.
Jiangnan Caiyi brought up the rear, lagging a few steps behind Ji Xinghuo and Ren Mian.
She too was masked with a black scarf, with only her eyes showing, wearing black Armor that hugged her entire body, with a long and a short knife hanging from her waist. She was a stark contrast from the gentle sweetness she had exuded at home, emanating a "keep your distance" aura.
The four of them walked in silence.
Having left the villa district, they boarded a steam bus.
The passengers on the bus could tell from their appearance that they were a Hunting Team about to leave the city, and they instinctively moved away a bit.
A moment later, the four of them disembarked at the airship landing field on the east side of the city.
"We’re taking an airship?" Ji Xinghuo looked up at a steam airship slowly ascending overhead and asked in surprise.
Ren Mian nodded lightly, "The surroundings of Olympia City have been pretty much cleared, with not many valuable prey left. We have to go beyond the range of human development."
Ji Xinghuo asked, "Where to?"
"Free City," Ren Mian replied, "First to Free City, and then further west."
After about fifteen minutes, the entire team boarded the airship.
This passenger airship had a length of over two hundred meters, its most massive part being the huge gas bag at the top, with a cabin barely thirty meters in length hanging below, constructed from the lightest materials possible from the walls to the floor, resembling a thin-skinned large bus, seating over a hundred passengers inside.
"This is too unsafe."
Ji Xinghuo complained inwardly, even though the interior decoration of the airship’s cabin was quite luxurious, yet it was fraught with safety hazards everywhere.
The biggest concern was the gas bag overhead.
Although there were divided compartments inside the gas bag to prevent it from fully bursting should it be punctured, such a large target flying in the sky was far too vulnerable. Should it encounter a group of flying creatures or a powerful monster shooting from the ground, it might very well crash.
Sitting beside Ji Xinghuo, Ren Mian seemed to notice his worry and said with a laugh, "Within the range controlled by humanity, the safety of the airship is still guaranteed."
"I suggest we take a train next time. It’s slower, but safer," Chi Zhonglin, sitting in the front row, turned around and said.
Ren Mian did not heed the suggestion, "We’ll talk about it next time."
Ji Xinghuo had a vague guess - she must have a way to ensure that even if the airship fell, the entire team could land safely.
The airship quickly ascended, pushed by steam-powered propellers, flying westward.
For the first time, Ji Xinghuo was able to look down from a high altitude and truly realize how big Olympia was. With the airship’s cruising speed around 100 kilometers per hour, it took a full half an hour to fly from east to west, then crossing over the city walls, they left the city.
Outside Olympia lay an endless great forest, with two meandering rivers converging there, providing the city with ample water supply thanks to the surging rivers.
Humanity had carved out several roads through the forest, leading to other cities.
Just off the roads, there were towering trees, dozens of meters tall trees commonplace and those over a hundred meters tall not unusual, but the species were different from those on Earth.
The farther away from Olympia, the less human activity there was.
Ji Xinghuo’s eyesight allowed him to clearly see scenes thousands of kilometers away, seeing much more than others could.
In just a few minutes, he spotted at least twenty different kinds of wild beasts and birds in the forest, an ecosystem much grander and complex than Earth’s.
A canyon appeared on the land ahead, splitting the forest in half.
As the airship passed overhead, Ji Xinghuo peered down into the canyon but could not see the bottom; it was shrouded in darkness and fog, like a maze.
A bridge spanned across the canyon, and just then, a train happened to pass over it, as if soaring across a chasm.
Ji Xinghuo muttered, "Taking a train doesn’t seem very safe either."
Star Realm was not Earth, with not only more frequent natural disasters, but the greatest safety hazard coming from Star Realm’s creatures, whose destructive power was on par with natural disasters. For them, destroying a bridge or train tracks was not a difficult task.
He looked up into the distance and could not see the end of the canyon; it was likely hundreds of kilometers long.
There was no way for the train tracks to avoid it.
West of Olympia, there are six cities, most belonging to the various member states of the West Alliance. Over four hours later, after passing through two cities, the airship reached Free City over three hundred kilometers away.
Free City was nestled in a valley, its area only one-fifth of Olympia’s.
As the most important stronghold of the West Alliance in Star Realm, Free City had a population of over three million, certainly qualifying it as a large city.
After descending from the airship, Ji Xinghuo and his companions were surrounded by mostly blond-haired, blue-eyed Mutants, citizens of the West Alliance.
There were also many Mutants from other nations, so they did not stand out.
Aside from Ji Xinghuo, the other three had visited Free City multiple times and didn’t linger in the city, quickly exiting through the western gate and leaving Free City behind.
In the beginning, they were walking on the main road; the team’s speed increased, and by dusk, they had already covered over a hundred kilometers from Free City.
Along the way, they encountered many teams, all of which were out hunting, and teams kept a distance from each other to avoid misunderstandings.
One Hunting Team after another left the main road at different spots, venturing into the boundless primeval forest.
As they traveled farther from Free City, the road became narrower and the traces of civilization faded, with no other teams in sight.
The team only rested briefly to eat before continuing their march.
The days in Star Realm were too long—it wasn’t possible to camp just because it was dark. The "Silver Glow" and the reflection of the Galaxy in the sky during Star Night provided enough light, not hindering the Mutants’ progress.
Of course, Star Night was definitely more dangerous than daytime.
But the Mutants were out precisely for hunting; to some extent, they needed the opportunities that came with danger, for prey to come to them on their own.
After more than an hour into Star Night, the path carved by humans had completely disappeared.
What lay ahead was unknown territory.
Ren Mian reminded, "From now on, you need to stay fully alert at all times."
"Understood," Ji Xinghuo nodded slightly.
In a team, a Ranger’s responsibilities mainly divided into two parts: providing long-range attacks during combat and acting as the team’s "eyes," scouting dangers around the team, and warning the teammates in advance.
Often, scouting was even more critical than long-range attacking.
A team can compensate for a lack of long-range attacking ability with close combat, but if their scouting ability is deficient, they always lose the initiative, becoming passively susceptible to attacks. Sometimes the enemies approach or even surround them without their knowledge, and one wrong move can lead to the team’s demise.
A team could manage without a Ranger, but not without "eyes."
There are various means of scouting, usually through different kinds of Perception.
The Hunter’s Eagle Eye and Elephant Trunk Skill, the Evil Wind Guest’s airflow perception, the Earthwalker’s sensitivity to ground tremors, and so on.
There were also unique methods belonging to other professions.
For safety, many teams have at least two or even three types of perceptions—visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile—cross-checking each other to ensure greater security.
Ren Mian took out a transparent liquid and shared it with the team.
Ji Xinghuo followed their lead and applied the liquid under his nose.
Immediately, a pungent, strange scent rushed to his brain, seemingly extracted from some kind of plant.
A few seconds later, he found his sense of smell had become incredibly sharp.
He could detect odors from tens of meters away and roughly discern the sources of the smells and whether they were moving.
"We used to rely on this ’Smell Fly Grass’ liquid to sense the position of our prey," Ren Mian explained, "This olfactory liquid has to be reapplied every three hours. It doesn’t smell good, but it’s barely usable."
Chi Zhonglin grunted, "I’m sick of this smell."
Jiangnan Caiyi also covered her nose, slightly frowning.
"It’s all up to you now, Xinghuo," Ren Mian said with a light chuckle, "If your Perception is strong enough, we won’t have to use this awful stuff anymore."
"We’re counting on you!" Zhonglin looked forward eagerly.
Ji Xinghuo looked at his teammates and suddenly said, "This Smell Fly Grass liquid really isn’t that effective..."
"What’s wrong?" Zhonglin asked, puzzled.
But Ren Mian’s expression had already changed.
Ji Xinghuo had quickly taken down his Composite Cerasteel Hunting Bow, pulled out several arrows and held them in his palm, one arrow already nocked and the bowstring drawn, aiming in the direction above to the left.
"Monsters are coming."
"It’s a large swarm of spiders, 25, no, 28, 35 and still increasing..."
As he urgently counted to warn his teammates, Zhonglin had already unstrapped his backpack and placed it aside, grasping his long spear in front and bulking up for combat.
Jiangnan Caiyi drew her twin blades, her figure becoming transparent before she vanished in an instant.
Ren Mian pressed lightly on her chest, and suddenly her voice rang inside the minds of Ji Xinghuo and the other two, "Xinghuo, no need to speak out loud; tell us through Mind Link if there’s anything."
Ji Xinghuo nodded. He quickly adapted to this form of mental communication, speaking in his mind, "It must be Shadow Roaming Spiders."
He had read about this type of spider monster before and quickly recognized them.
Ren Mian immediately responded, taking out a plant seedling from her belt and tossing it to the ground. The seedling, initially only as long as a finger, grew to four or five meters tall within seconds, its trunk as thick as a thigh and silver-white in color. Hundreds of leaves ignited like magnesium strips, dispelling the dimness of the forest, as bright as daylight.
Ji Xinghuo wasn’t distracted by it.
Lit by the bright white light of "Fire Tree Silver Flower," he saw a huge spider exposed in view. It leaped out from the shadow behind a large tree, silently hopping to another one.
Ji Xinghuo’s arrow was shot out.