1015 Disguise 1

"Lover?" Hillco smiled, revealing a hint of stubbornness. That was not what she wanted; she had her own pursuits and dreams.

"Everyone faces a lot of choices in life, and every choice would perhaps turn into a completely different path." Bainster exhaled sharply, and continued, "I wish you could stay. I can see that Senior Brother Garen belongs to the type of person who generally doesn't care about anyone else, but if you could really get into his heart, he would be accountable to you no matter what."

"Accountable?" Hillco shook her head. "I like him, but all he has is pity for me. Only pity…"

"Or you could just choose me. We're old acquaintances anyway, so let's not hand over the advantage to an outsider…" Bainster chuckled.

"You can forget it! Watch it, I'll tell Victor's sister!" Hillco shot back at him. "Then again, it's not as though we won't keep in touch anymore after I leave. Technology is so advanced now that there are still ways of staying in contact even if we travel to where the Finite people are. What's there to be worried about?"

"That's true. The decision depends on you, then. I'll help you say something to Senior Brother." Bainster shrugged.

He managed to change the slightly melancholic atmosphere to become completely impassive now. Hillco glared at him.

"Enough, I'll go pack up and book the teleportation ticket." 

"Go then, leave and return early. I believe that you will come back, sooner or later." Bainster had a damn look on his face that was just asking to be beaten up.

"Go to hell!" Hillco grunted. Completely devoid of any sadness, she left speedily on her electronic chair.

******************

Planet Scarlet Snow.

In the dense pinewood forest.

Garen's body was suspended slightly in midair. There was a mysterious shapeless force field surrounding him, lifting him up in suspension.

Five beams of crimson circled continuously by his side, swimming around him ceaselessly, like fishes. They looked radiant and bright.

A pile of Red Peacock Stones was placed next to him; these were some of the ores that Princess Aine had shipped to him previously. One by one, the essence of the Peacock Stones was being absorbed by Garen in a steady stream; at a speed that the naked eye could perceive, their glow was being dimmed continuously, like red crystals being filled slowly by various types of rust.

"Absorbing these Red Peacock Stones, my Peacock form is finally beginning to astir…" Seeing that the seventh level of his Hellfrost Peacock Technique has finally progressed in percentage, Garen heaved a huge sigh of relief.

He had now absorbed approximately a hundred or so stones. The rate, which had originally been 5%, had turned into 15%.

"The environment here isn't too bad either. It's suitable for secluded practice. Too bad I can't continue absorbing Peacock Stones here until an upgrade, otherwise there might an upgrade of a certain power." Garen's heart was at peace.

It had been five or six years since his arrival on Planet Scarlet Snow. Back then from being a Level Three Energy Machinist, he had now grown to become a Level Five Energy Machinist. He could even cross into the next level and battle at the New-Moon Level.

This rate of growth was already very fast for an ordinary person, but it was normal for a genius.

However, no matter what kind of a genius one was, progress would immediately slow down at the resonance stage and be blocked for a very long period of time. Such as in the case of Carthage, he has been stuck on this level for three years already. It was a pity that he had yet to breakthrough to the inherited level.

He was not the only one; many geniuses were the same. Just like the Blackboard Region back then, which encountered the same plight; top-level geniuses had been blocked at the resonance level for countless of years. Some had been stuck for up to a few dozen years, even.

To an Energy Machinist, this level was the crux for the condensation of their core. The quality of the condensation would directly affect the strength stages of the subsequent Inherited Level, and the possibility of advancement in the future.

Right now, Garen was about to face the threshold of this crux.

Deep in his thoughts, Garen absorbed the Red Peacock Stones around him without ceasing. One after another, the Red Peacock Stones were absorbed continuously, turning into white ash that dissipated.

After an unknown period of time, the twins had boiled water and cooked their meal in the camp nearby. Done with their meal, they were about to duck into their respective tents to rest.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a sharp whistle rang out in the distance, as though something had pierced through the air, shooting over to them directly from afar.

The sound approached fast near to the large area of pinewood next to where Garen and the others were situated.

All of a sudden, a beam of black light pierced through the air over their heads, drawing out a black line, before quickly disappearing into the distant sky.

Garen opened his eyes to glance at the black light. Without any expression, he closed his eyes quietly to continue his practice.

However, not long after the black light has passed, there came faint noises of people walking through the pinewood forest.

"Glory, watch out behind you!" A man's deep voice said.

Smack! It sounded as though some insect had been smacked dead in an instant, with a faint, struggling hum. In the midst of that was the somewhat panicked but quiet exclamation of a girl, who was apparently startled.

"Trap insects, Level Three mutated organisms, be careful." The voice of the man sounded out again.

One of the twins, Little Two, stood up and moved forward in alert to block Garen.

After a short while, a small team slowly walked out from the pinewood forest in front of them. They were dressed in the same black uniforms, with special communication headsets on their heads. They held a black truncheon each in their hands, seemingly to push aside things such as venomous insects and plants.

Garen's body descended. He opened his eyes sweeping his gaze over the troop. The leader was a strong lad with bright eyes and a tall and powerful built. His face was deep set with persistence, giving off a dependable vibe.

Other than a physically delicate girl with her red hair tied up in a ponytail, the others all had calm faces and walked in an unusually proficient and skilled manner. It was obvious that they were veterans in traversing jungles.

The moment the two parties met, the leader was clearly shocked, as though he had never imagined that they would encounter people so coincidentally, in such a place. 

It had to be noted that this was the habitat of the legendary Level Five mutated organisms. The dangerous living things here could be Level Five at most, and it was not impossible that there might be those of higher levels, even. It would be extremely difficult to go so deeply into this forest safely without a veteran like him to lead the team.

He was Yannen, a mercenary who had mingled around in the nearby Hammer City. Naturally, he possessed good discernment, and so with one look, he could tell that Garen and the twins were a typical combination for a wealthy family's young master; this was a young master who had brought with him two girls with good fighting skills who could also warm his bed for him, and had come out for a sightseeing tour. There were many like him. Only, young masters who dared to come to a Level Five danger zone were unusually rare.

"I am Yannen from the Winter Thunder Mercenary Troop. I don't know why the three of you have stationed yourselves here, but the insect tide is coming very soon. This place will probably become very dangerous." Yannen frowned as he advised. Seeing that Garen and the other two were rather young, and missing the sight of Garen's floating body just now, he merely regarded them as a small team who were out for a vacation.

Garen observed the team. There were three men and three women, and with the red-haired girl in the ponytail, who was being protected, altogether there were seven of them. Other than their charge, the rest looked very professional.

Only, he did not know why this group of people had chosen to travel on foot instead of going through this region in a flying ship. Were they looking for something in this piece of pinewood forest?

"As you please," he smiled, stretching his hand to point at a path to the side, where they could go through. Little Two had already shown them the direction to leave the area.

Garen knew what the insect tide was, of course. This was merely a swarm of Level Two mutant insects which, perhaps, posed a bit of a threat to other people, but to him, all he had to do was spread his glow and radiation, and all the insects that came would die. Such low-level swarms did not even qualify to come near him.

He was not the only one; any Level Five Energy Machinist would not be smothered to death by such low-level swarms. The Scarlet Snow Sect's Chilled Area Attack had always been unusually famous.

Little Two was slightly curious, watching this group of people. The protected girl looked to be somewhat worn out. She did not look too good, as though she had not taken a rest in a long while, and her eyes were red and puffy. It was clear that she had been crying for a long time.

"Please." She pointed at the path they had made, letting the small team pass through.

Yannen sighed again, and led his team around the camp, passing by. He had only wanted to alert them out of kindness. Right before they walked past the camp, his good guy instinct was activated again, and he turned his head to ask once more.

"A queen insect has appeared in the insect tide this time, the threat could be greater than the average insect tide. You must be careful."

"Let's go, big uncle, we don't have a lot of time to waste!" The girl being protected in the team urged hastily. "Just give them a piece of insect repelling medicine."

"Insect repelling medicine?" Garen had not expected that this group of people encountered by accident would have such good hearts.

Indeed, the team leader immediately stretched his hand to toss out a round, black pill, which landed right in front of Garen and was caught swiftly by Little One.

"Young brother, you had better go soon. Once the insect tide behind us comes, even if you're not afraid of it, you would be stuck here for at least a few days." Yannen could not help but advise them again.

"Thank you for your concern, I will take note." Garen nodded and smiled.

The protected girl in the team was still urging them on continuously.

"Let them be if they don't want to go, let's hurry, big uncle. If they're not scared, then what are you worried about? How many times have we done this along the way, you wanting to inform each and every one of them has caused us to cover such a short distance over five days!"

"When we're out and about, we should advise and help one another. You help a person today, and after some time, perhaps you would be the one helped." One of the mercenaries in the team, a young lady, replied calmly.

"You mercenaries are a troublesome lot!" The red-haired girl with the ponytail clamored loudly in impatience.

The team of people walked on and were soon far away, slowly disappearing into the pinewood forest.

Garen drew his gaze away and got Little One to examine the composition of the medicine pill carefully.

"It is entirely insect repellant. There are no problems with it." Little One put the pill down and nodded at Garen.

"You are free to do what you want now, just don't wander off too far from the area," Garen said lightly.

"Alright."

The two girls responded respectfully and continued to stay on guard by Garen's side for another hour or two. However, being the young ladies they were, they could not stand it anymore. Placing some alarms in the area, they went their separate ways on a relaxing walk.

After they had been assigned to Garen, they had completely detached themselves from their previous familiar lives, entering a living environment that was entirely strange to them; so much so that they had always behaved in a subservient manner, void of any personality. They were no different from robots that carried out instructions.

Allowing them to wander off in the nearby surroundings was a way for Garen to relieve them of their boredom.