Chapter 43 Xuna’s Journey (Part 2)

Xuna couldn't make heads or tails of the place she was at, for the dense foliage prevented her from gazing at the sky. Moreover, the tree growth expanded into the lake, preventing any open space for her to stand and stare at the sky.

At least, by relying on the stars that she could make out in the nighttime, she might be able to figure out the direction of her home. As a spy, she was capable of this.

But, the only area that wasn't covered by the tree foliage was above the lake. And that wasn't feasible to approach due to the terrifying school of fish living within.

Moreover, she couldn't even go deeper into the forest, for after a couple dozen metres, it got dangerously dark.

At least, around the shore, the sunlight managed to seep in thanks to the reflection from the lake.

'Wait, can't I use my rocket to fly away?' Thinking as such, Xuna jumped up as she grabbed her rocket tightly, watching it fly over the lake as countless fish jumped out. But, they weren't able to reach her due to the thrust from her rocket keeping them at bay.

Following that, she flew high up, going beyond the tree foliage to immediately curse in response, "Where the heck is this?"

After all, for as far as her eye could see, there was only a green stretch of expanse, unending. It was apparent that she had been dropped in the middle of a vast jungle. "I have to leave this place?"

She definitely didn't have enough Nacre to fly through the sky. At Stage 2, her Nacre would run out within a minute of using her rocket at full power. And considering the distance she had to travel, she wouldn't be able to manage it.

Moreover, she failed to spot any hill or the like where she could stop as a checkpoint to stock on supplies and recover her Nacre.

In the capital city, thanks to it being turned into a Safe Zone, there was Nacre in the air, allowing her to replenish her Nacre reserves quickly. But now, the only way to do that was to eat food and allow her body to digest and convert it into Nacre. This was a slow process.

'So, I should first procure food supplies, at least enough to last the journey.' She thought, looking around to sigh in relief, 'At least, I won't have to worry about food and water thanks to this lake.'

Even though the school of fish was terrifying, she could catch them for food.

Besides, there was already the snake nearby for her to eat first, for it was limp from losing a lot of blood. Xuna first blew up its head using her gun before grabbing its body.

Her eyes then lit up as she observed a banana leaf growing nearby, ripping it out as she made an impromptu basket out of it. She tied it to her gun that she switched to its rocket state, for its barrel was the longest in this form.

Following that, she gently extended the snake's body over the lake, watching its blood drip into the lake when immediately, dozens of fish jumped out of the water.

Her other hand flashed as she used the basket to catch the fishes, unleashing a thrust with her rocket as they flew deeper inland, slamming into a tree before sliding to its bottom, twitching there. Unfortunately, due to the tree roots blocking them, they wouldn't wriggle their way into the lake.

Xuna repeated the same action for a few minutes before sighing in relief, having gotten a large haul, "This will last me for a while."

She arrived before the pile of fishes, staring at them as she waited until they all stopped twitching. She then bent forward, intending to pick up one of them to skin when suddenly, a stinger popped out from within the pile, stinging her hand, "Ahh!"

Xuna flinched in shock, noticing that a scorpion had been hiding within the pile, waiting for her to approach the caught fish to ambush her.

"Dammit!" She was flustered, for scorpion bites were deadly. But immediately after, she felt an urge to run, doing so as she sprinted deeper into the forest, stumbling upon a shrub whose smell automatically caused her to calm down.

Feeling an urge to eat it, she plucked a leaf and munched on it, sensing the burning sensation in her body be mildly controlled. "So, this is the antidote?"

Typically in nature, the area a poisonous creature or plant lived was also where the plant or grass forming its antidote lived too.

Thinking as such, she gobbled up more of the leaves before the burning sensation calmed down, surprised at its effectiveness. Moreover, she felt strangely invigorated, causing her to wonder what was up.

Though, after recalling Rhizen's words, she nodded in response, "If there is a chance it might benefit me, it would definitely happen."

Before, she wasn't sure about this. So, even if something happened to her benefit, she wasn't sure of that and ended up missing the opportunity. After all, as a spy, she had to be careful every step of her life.

But now that she had been trained to grab hold of the opportunities when they appear, she did exactly that.

'That scorpion…' She thought, gradually approaching the pile of fish as she grabbed hold of a vine, extending her hand to the pile once again. Her heart thumped in tension as she was aware that the scorpion would sting her. She was afraid as doubt set in her mind on whether or not the leaves she ingested would work again in neutralising the poison.

What if she was a step late in ingesting them? What if the neutralisation effect was only temporary? Despite everything, scorpions caused an innate fear in humans, especially since most scorpion bites resulted in death.

At most, few were lucky enough to chance upon an antidote that actually worked. So, she was nervous. But, upon recalling the fact that Rhizen was observing her, she became braver, 'Master might save me if I were to fail.'

Moreover, Rhizen's words constantly reminded her to be more confident in her abilities as her outstretched hand grabbed hold of a fish at the top of the pile.

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And just like before, the stinger popped out of the pile and stabbed into her hand. But this time, she didn't retract her hand in reflex, prepared mentally as her other hand grabbed hold of the stinger and yanked it out.

"What the fuck!" She couldn't help but curse in response, for the scorpion…wasn't like the others that she had seen. It was…damn ugly, terrifying even, sporting five eyes on a bulged-out exoskeleton.

Its stinger was way too long, almost spanning fifty centimetres in length while its body was as large as her feet.

Xuna almost dropped it due to its monstrous appearance but reigned in her disgust, coupled with fear as she threw the vine. Just as the scorpion struggled to escape, the vine coincidentally wound around it; Xuna took advantage of that, expertly tying it up into a bundle to prevent it from escaping.

She wrapped another set of vine around its pincers to prevent it from clipping the vine to free itself. Finally, she wrapped its tail into a bundle, only allowing its stinger to peak out.

And due to the weight of the vine constricting it, the scorpion was unable to move its tail any longer.

Xuna made her way to the shrub and ate its leaves until the burning sensation in her body vanished. She then nodded, able to sense that she was feeling fresher than before, as if she hadn't been tired in the first place.

Since she had been training to evade Rhizen's feathers before, her body was already exhausted, and the mental toll of being dropped into the lake further exhausted her. But now, she felt as if she had just taken a nap.

She was then surprised to see the stinger wound on her hand already beginning to scab, breaking into a grin as she stared at the grotesque-looking scorpion, causing it to flinch this time instead, "Interesting."

She then picked up a fish and broke off the sharp teeth of one of them, using it like a blade to cut open its body, beginning to work on it as she had already begun to adapt to the place.

Seated on the branch of the same tree was a housefly, observing her actions all along. It was Rhizen, unable to conceal his surprise as he observed the changes in her luck.

'Miraculous substances exist in nature. And the right combination to bring out their effects takes decades, if not centuries of research. But, thanks to Coincidental Luck, she skipped all that and chanced upon it while trying to save herself.' Rhizen thought. Until now, he was the only one taking advantage of it.

But now that he saw someone else repeat the same, he understood just how absurd this power was. Maybe this weird scorpion species might go extinct by the time humans reach this forest area or maybe due to climatic changes, it might evolve and lose its current properties that reacted with the leaves to result in such a benefit.

There were billions of variables in nature that constantly were in a state of change. New ones appeared while old ones vanished. Only by stumbling upon them at the right place at the right time would one take advantage of it.

Such medicine wouldn't even have an effect on Rhizen, considering the level of power he had attained. So, he might not even notice this even with the aid of Coincidental Luck, for it gave him no benefit. But, due to how weak Xuna was, the chances of her finding them were guaranteed, especially since…

Rhizen stared at Xuna's luck values, noticing that one of the Klock's heads had its mouth open, ravenously drinking a luck stream pouring into it.

And the source was none other than himself. He was supplying her with endless Coincidental Luck that he harnessed from nature by using Xuna herself as a catalyst. This was so that she would be able to use her Coincidental Luck to chance upon as many benefits as possible without ever expending it.

Not only would she get used to using Coincidental Luck, but she would also become damn strong in the process, 'And that's how a champion is born.'