Chapter 15: Encounter

He spent several hours, sprinting carefully through the tree-dotted greenery, jumping from one branch of a tree to another just like a ninja whilst perceiving the information provided by the several sets of magic resonating eyes roaming around the greenery, each on an individual path, and although the information was comprehensible, it was a hard task to control so many eyes for a long time and proved to be mentally taxing for Vincent.

It was slowly and steadily putting a strain on his brain and he calculated that an hour later, he will be assaulted with slight dizziness – the most basic side effect resulted from the overuse of this magic technique.

Nevertheless, it was pretty useful in the wilderness, as Vincent was alerted of danger beforehand multiple times, and he managed to hide behind a boulder, outcropping, and tree trunk just in time as massive beasts with thick hides and terrifying auras moved past.

Apart from the massive beasts that he hid from, the magic resonating eyes also transmitted him the location of some bountiful magic herbs and magic plants. However, they were either guarded by large flocks of mutated sheep or a small group of scaled panthers, which in the case of Vincent were not only extremely hard to kill but impossible to survive against.

"Although all of them are low-level beasts, I will be the one to suffer from initiating the battle as they are in a group while I am all alone. Furthermore, my current skill set isn't good against a large number of beasts. But it's never too late for an adventurer to take his treasures. One day, once I am powerful enough, I will return to take these treasures," Vincent said as his eyes were masked with layers of greedy currents.

Truth is, the treasures guarded by the beasts were too tempting, but realistically, Vincent calculated that he will either die or be severely injured if he were to fetch the treasure. Hence, Vincent chose not to engage large or small groups of beasts as he'll most likely be overwhelmed due to his lack of area of effect skills.

He comforted himself by thinking that if he wanted their treasures, he could always come back for them later when he is powerful enough. Furthermore, the magic herbs and magic plants will naturally respawn as magic power was prevalent on this island. The existence of magic power gives birth to natural treasures, after all.

Furthermore, right now, Vincent's main focus was on finding the treasure that could help Leila. Besides that, he wanted to kill a beast to complete his heritage mission, and he also wanted to pick up Purple Poison Grass to complete his first mission as an adventurer.

Luckily for him, along the way, he discovered several Purple Poison Grass. They were left unguarded as Vincent didn't see even a single beast or monster around them. It was just like how it was written in the textbooks. These grasses are inedible and thus, even the beasts and monsters don't share a hint of interest in this magic herb.

After being informed that these grasses with crystalline purplish leaves will not poison him as long as he follows certain procedures while plucking them, Vincent walked up to them.

Purple Poison Grasses were also a type of magical herb. They possessed a natural defensive system. A poisonous cloud will puff outwards from the crystalline leaves as soon as they're threatened.

'According to Blood Evolution System, these grasses are used in the melting of iron, creating poison, or used as an ingredient in many unusual yet effective tonics, and as long as I pull these grasses from their nodes, they won't puff out poisonous clouds and I won't be poisoned' Vincent thought as he carefully plucked several Purple Poison Grass from the ground before storing them in a wooden box placed within his backpack while walking forward through the tree-dotted area.

Nearly an hour passed by as Vincent collected more than the necessary amount of Purple Poison grass.

'The Adventure Association mission has finally been completed. Sadly, I still haven't found a lonesome beast that I could defeat easily," Vincent thought as he heads deeper inside the island.

He didn't encounter any beasts as the area he was currently in was mostly filled with purple poisonous grasses, and thus, it was largely vacant of beasts and monsters. There were a few insidious and poisonous snakes hiding under bushes, but his magic resonating eyes alerted him of this danger hidden in the serene, and Vincent took to the trees, jumping from one to another, as he headed further north.

The eyes were slithering through the grasses, some were devoured by the snakes, some evaporated into magic power as Vincent lost control of them, while one of the eyes carefully passed through a small opening between a pair of large trees, and then all of a sudden, it began to resonate wildly.

At that moment, Vincent chanced upon a magic herb brimming with life force and the contour of a somewhat magnificent beast before his magical eyes met its demise under the hooves of that very beast.

Vincent's lips thinned into a smile. He was happy because he has finally found a lonesome beast. But that was just part of the reason for his happiness. The main reason was that he only needed to kill a single beast to activate the Life Spell Matrix and assimilate with his family heirloom both of which are clouded in a layer of mystery. He has been really fascinating about this moment for a very long time.

After killing the beast, not only would he complete the heritage mission, but he would also procure the item necessary to help Leila.

'It's killing two birds with one stone.' Vincent thought as he thought of the paths covered by his magic resonating eye.

The magic resonating eye traveled 99 meters to the south of his location when it was suddenly squashed to death. Vincent quickly sprinted towards that place, and soon, he made it to his destination.

He carefully hid behind one of the large trees. Then from his concealed position, Vincent's head popped out from behind the tree trunk as he furtively stole a glance of the hulking beast through the small opening between the two large trees.

The beasts didn't notice him, however, as trees were dotted everywhere around the clearing, greatly obscuring its vision.

The beast was three and a half meter tall monster with the body of an elephant and darkish red hide. Its thick limbs and broad body posed an all-powerful and imposing aura. A pair of tusk stretched out of each corner of its mouth, while several pairs of firm horns protruded out of its head, glistening under the moonlight ever so often.

When Vincent glanced at it again, he used the inspect spell matrix of the blood evolution system.

[Name: Red-Tusk Elephant

Rank: Low-level beast

Hp: 100/100

Ability: Flame

Strength: 100

Agility: 10

Constitution: 120

Stamina: 22

Intelligence: 7]

'A powerful creature with excellent defense, powerful strength, and the ability to spew out a fiery blast from its mouth. Consume the purified version of its flesh as to gain fire ability cells without harmful mutation,' a monotone voice rang out in his head.

As Vincent went through the analyzed information, he noticed that although this beast possessed excellent strength and was very strong, it was exceedingly slow and low on stamina, mostly because of its size. Plus, its intelligence was similar to that of a young boy.