When the swarm of red-furred Venubi disappeared from sight, Nava lowered both hands, and the blazing flames slowly died down. After that, Nava returned to his work, ignoring the stares of Natee and his friends who were all watching him.
"W-who are you?"
Natee's voice was different than usual. It wasn't the usual contemptuous tone, but one filled with respect and awe.
"I'm just a laborer player hired by you guys," Nawa answered curtly without turning around.
"Are you trying to make us believe that a laborer player can use a C+ level skill (Firewall) to defend against a panicked horde of professional-level monsters?"
Natee narrowed his eyes as he looked at Nawa.
Nawa sighed softly before speaking in a more serious tone.
"I've told you everything. Whether you believe it or not is up to you. More importantly, now isn't the time to be concerned with such nonsense. Don't you find anything suspicious?"
"Why are the Venubi so panicked?"
Natee seemed to snap back to reality upon hearing Nawa's words. He soon realized that the behavior of the red-furred Venubi was indicative of animals fleeing something, and there was a high probability that that something was pursuing them.
Natee decided to put Nawa's matter aside for now and consulted his friends to plan how to deal with the potential danger. After a while, they decided to move their camp to a nearby, more suitable forest. Although it wasn't comfortable, it seemed safer.
While Nawa agreed it was a good idea, it still wasn't safe enough. He took out the sacred thread he had obtained from the wizard Alfor in the Snow Forest and began to stretch it around their camp.
"What are you doing?" Natee asked when he saw what Nawa was doing.
"Hmm, nothing much. It's an item used to protect against monsters. Just stretching it around,"
Nawa replied briefly. He didn't want to explain the effect of the sacred thread in detail because its origin was difficult to explain. But it seemed Natee wasn't very interested in its effects either.
"Hmph, looks like he's mistaken in thinking we're interested in his crappy item,"
Somchai interrupted with his usual contemptuous tone.
"That cheap thread, only a few tens of copper coins a spool of, that only sends a warning signal when something touches it—do you think it's anything special? People stopped using those a long time ago. Nowadays, they use this..."
Somchai held out his hand, and suddenly a scroll about a foot wide appeared. This was a scroll of spells, a type of magical item with magical runes inscribed on it. Its effects varied depending on the type of runes inscribed.
"Look at this! This is the latest generation force field scroll from the Asashi Academy, costing over 50 silver coins!"
After saying that, Somchai unrolled the scroll and placed it on the ground. He then placed more than ten silver energy crystals on top of it. The scroll was like an engine or circuit board; it couldn't function without a power source.
The scroll that Somchai brought out had a power consumption rate of at least one silver energy crystal per hour of use, and this would double if the force field was damaged.
As Somchai channeled his mana into the scroll, the silver energy crystals piled on top of it began to absorb into the scroll as if they were ice cubes placed on a hot pan. Seconds later, a soft blue light flashed across the white surface of the scroll, forming symbols resembling runes, followed by a low, deep sound like the engine of an electric train.
"Woof woof."
With the scroll as the center, a transparent energy barrier spread out in all directions, forming a spherical dome covering an area with a radius of more than 15 meters.
"This force field has defensive power comparable to premium artifacts. Even facing the horde of Venubis before, it handled it easily. Now you can put away your crappy magic thread. That kind of rubbish is useless. Hahaha!"
Somchai spoke mockingly. Somchai hoped to humiliate Nawa, but Nawa didn't pay any attention to him, as if everything Somchai did was too ridiculous to even look at.
Compared to Somchai's, the force field created by Nawa's sacred thread was infinitely superior. Not only did it obscure those within it, but its defensive power was many times greater.
Not even a horde of Venubis, let alone Elder-level monsters, could destroy Nawa's force field. Furthermore, he didn't even need a single energy crystal.
But Ploy didn't know this. She thought Nawa was upset at being humiliated by her friend, so she tried to comfort him:
"Nawa, don't take offense at someone like that. He just likes to brag about nonsense. Thank you for considering our safety."
Nawa turned and smiled at her before speaking in a firm and serious tone:
"Listen carefully. No matter what happens, you must not leave the area of this sacred thread. As long as you are inside this thread…"
"I assure you, she'll be safe."
"What? Are you saying your thread is better than the Asashi Academy's scroll of spells? Are you so afraid of losing face that you have to resort to such a lame lie? Hahaha!"
Somchai started taunting and mocking her again. Even though Nawa didn't care, it seemed Ploy couldn't tolerate it anymore. The two began arguing loudly until Natee had to intervene.
"Enough! This isn't the time to be arguing."
Somchai glared at Natee with a furious expression, but ultimately stopped as Natee instructed. Ploy, however, completely ignored Natee's orders. When Nawa shook his head in a gesture of disapproval, she also restrained her anger.
Once everything calmed down, Nawa separated himself from the group and leaned against a tree to rest. Afterward, he summoned White Snake and attempted to connect his consciousness to White Snake's body.
Nawa had been able to do this while asleep, but this was the first time he had done it while awake.
This time, he wasn't in White Snake's body, but the system window displayed what White Snake saw and heard. It was as if White Snake was a drone equipped with a camera; Nawa could control it like an extension of his own body if he wished. Moreover, when Nawa wasn't concentrating, White Snake moved on its own, like a loyal pet.
Even on a moonless night with only starlight, through White Snake's eyes, Nawa saw everything as if it were daytime. Nawa directed White Snake towards the direction from which the swarm of Venubi were coming. To investigate what caused the panic of the pack of red-furred Venubis.
White Snake's speed was immense, and it didn't take long before he encountered a pack of wolves. They resembled the wolves he'd seen when he first teleported into The Oneness and attacked him by the river.
They looked like wolves from the human world, but their size was comparable to that of a full-grown tiger.
From what he could see, there were more than 30 of them. Nawa thought the previous pack of red-furred Venubis must have been fleeing from this pack of wolves. He noticed a wolf on a large rock, noticeably larger than the others—at least twice the size. Its fur was a gray-almost white, unlike the others.
Nawa speculated that this wolf was likely the pack leader and a rather intelligent monster. Although he couldn't understand their language, the pack seemed to be in a meeting, with all the wolves facing their leader.
Nawa wanted to know what these wolves were planning, but was helpless. Even though the player's equipment system could translate many languages in The Oneness, it couldn't translate the language of this pack of wolves.
What Nawa could do was use the player's equipment detection system.
As long as the player could clearly see the target, whether using equipment or skills, this function could be activated. Currently, Nawa could see through White Snake's eyes, so this function was also usable.
Nawa didn't hesitate; the system immediately detected the large gray wolf, even though it cost more than 1 silver coin.
"Ding!"A familiar sound rang in Nawa's head, followed by a system window.
(Gray Wolf Pack Leader: Advanced Professional Level)
(HP: 100%)
(A ferocious wolf. As it ages, its fur changes from gray to white. In a pack, there will only be one pack leader who possesses greater intelligence, cunning, and strength than other wolves.)
(Often found in forests near mountains and grasslands. When attacked or hunting, the entire pack will help each other and hunt as a team. They will attack humans first if they get too close to their territory.)
(Price: 40-60 silver coins. This price does not include its skin and fur.) (Which can be used to make wearable equipment)
Just as Nawa had predicted, the large gray wolf was indeed the leader of this wolf pack. But what he didn't expect was that it was the same type of wolf that Natee and his companions planned to hunt. They knew this because the name the system provided matched the name Natee and his companions discussed in the bar.
Nawa was extremely worried. Intelligent monsters are far more dangerous than ordinary monsters. The danger increases exponentially when they have subordinates under their command.
Even if Natee and his companions were the top students of the Asashi Academy and possessed high-quality artifacts, hunting this pack of wolves would still be extremely dangerous.
Nawa decided to summon White Snake back and planned to tell Natee and his companions about this wolf pack to make them abandon the idea of hunting them. The problem was, how would Nawa tell them? He didn't want to reveal White Snake's identity.
"Brother Nawa, you're still not asleep? Do you have something you want to talk to me about?"
Ploy asked Nawa, slightly nervous. Seeing the other person approaching with a serious expression,
"Ploy, listen to me. You have to give up the idea of hunting those wolves. It's too dangerous," Nawa said in a serious tone.
"Don't worry, Brother Nawa. Even though the gray wolves are in packs, they're only low-level Professional monsters. Even if we encounter several of them at once, we can handle them,"
Ploy said confidently, hoping to reassure him.
"What if the pack leader is a high-level Professional monster? Do you still think you can handle them?"
Nawa asked with an even more serious expression.
" But the system information says that the mountain wolves around here are only low-level Professional. Even if it's the pack leader, their strength is probably only mid-level Professional.
There's no way they could be high-level Professional, Brother Nawa. Or if there were, the system would have reported it already."
Ploy avoided answering the question directly because she knew that high-level Professional monsters were beyond their current capabilities. Their team was only Rank D in terms of strength; even a difference of just one rank was a significant difference. And the more dangerous the monster is, the higher the danger will be.
Nawa was about to continue speaking, but Ploy's friends interrupted him.
"This isn't something the support team should be commenting on,"
Nathee said, looking at Nawa with a cold gaze. He seemed displeased that Nawa had taken the liberty of talking to Ploy at this late hour.
"Natee, don't pay attention to him. He's just a frog in a well. He thinks he's incredibly strong just because he can use a little fire magic. He doesn't know how formidable we, the Four Heavenly Kings of Asashi Academy, are."
Somchai said, summoning a one-handed hammer from his dimensional storage and smashing it onto a large rock nearby.
"Boom!"A loud sound echoed. The large rock shattered into small pieces.
"This hammer is a premium-level weapon with an attack power of 55. Even if there were a high-level professional monster like you said, I could kill it." Somchai said, looking at Nawa with the same mocking gaze.
"Don't talk so much, you guys."
"Nawa is just worried about us," Ploy said.
"Worried about us, or worried about himself? He must have gotten scared and started making things up to make us give up," Somchai said.
"That's enough, Somchai. I think I warned you to stop this behavior,"
Natee was about to reprimand his friend, but suddenly a voice rang out. It was a voice so chilling it sent shivers down their spines.
"Bruuu..."