Is that a Wisp?

Krune was in a very good mood to the point that he even saved a group of cultivators being chased down by a demon python. Of course, he didn't kill the python. After receiving their thanks, he just said that if they really wanted to thank him, just make sure to let the wisps go in the future. He was almost 100% sure that they would still try to capture a wisp if they saw one in the future. But if at least one of them decided to keep their word, then it would have already been worth his time.

Three days later, Krune had finally gotten out of Katiu Forest. He already got a map from the cultivators he saved earlier and asked them to teach him how to read it. Wisps were indeed intelligent, after all. Krune had only to learn once to understand how to do it. After that, he was bound to never forget it.

His first task was to find the road to Kaley City. Naturally, thanks to the map, it didn't take him that long. There was a village beside the road to Kaley City. After arriving there, he found out that he didn't necessarily need to go on foot. Some carriages could be rented, or he could join groups of cultivators that formed to go together.

Although the order in the country was relatively high, that was after one left the danger zones. Before passing through the immigration checkpoint, anything that happened inside the danger zones was not the country's concern. Otherwise, no one would need to sign the agreement when entering it.

To Krune's surprise, there were quite a few Foundation Establishment cultivators in the area he had arrived in. But after pondering over it a bit, he thought that it was to be expected. The main reason why he rarely saw a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator inside Katiu Forest was that the forest itself was enormous! One could see that by the fact that Krune, who had speed comparable to a 5th Stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, took over a week to leave the borders of the inner forest to reach the outside. Simply put, the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators inside Katiu Forest were just too widely spread out.

As a wisp, Krune knew that information is of vital importance, so he asked around where he could find it easily. It turns out that the Mercenary Guild was the best option. A lot of cultivators gathered there to hire or to be hired as a mercenary. After walking for a bit more, Krune spotted a five-story building in the distance. One could see the enormous board above the entrance with a crossed bow and sword mark, which was the Mercenary Guild's emblem.

Krune soon entered it and headed to the counter. There was a small queue in front of him, so he had to wait quite a few minutes. While waiting, he paid attention to the people around him, especially their auras. He could see that between every ten Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, at least one or two of them were demon beasts in their human forms.

'It seems like Gony and Casfer weren't lying. It's very normal to see demon beasts in human forms. As long as you can achieve your human form, you can walk between the humans.'

It didn't take long for his turn to come. The receptionist was surprisingly a female demon beast in her human form. He looked at her for a bit to see if he wasn't seeing things wrong, though. The girl noticed his absentmindedness while looking at her. She had received this kind of look before. Although she was beautiful, she had seen a lot of these stares while working here, so she knew that Krune wasn't looking at her because of her appearance. It was because she was a demon beast just like him. With that, she lightly smiled and spoke.

"Little guy, it's still too early to flirt at the moment. You still have a long queue behind you. Leave it for nighttime."

She simply winked at him after that.

Krune almost jumped after hearing that. He noticed that he was paying way too much attention to the female in front of him. The people behind Krune heard that and laughed hard.

"Hey brother, sister Rany already has an owner. You better stop having ideas about getting her."

"Aren't you a bit too cocky? To make us wait longer while you admire the beaut, can't you see that we also want to have a look?"

Several other people also joked with him.

And so, Krune learned a feeling he had never felt before. He learned how to feel embarrassed. Although he knew what it was to be embarrassed, this was his first time feeling it himself. The more aware he got about his situation, the redder his face got.

'Holy shit! Please let me die!'

The girl named Rany behind the counter just kept smiling as she could totally tell that this was the first time this guy left the Katiu Forest. She loved to prank those guys, and today was no different. Unfortunately for Krune, he was the target this time. Quite a few of those who were laughing knew about this as well. Some of them even fell for that prank themselves. It really felt good to see others suffering what you suffered.

"Alright, everyone. You're scaring the rookie away. Sorry, little guy. Consider this as a baptism of sorts. I've gotten a lot of first-timers like you before. Look behind you. That demon beast in human form five positions behind was just like you before. Am I right, Douly?"

She turned to a burly guy a few meters behind Krune. He was quite big and muscular. Judging by the spiritual energy around him, he was definitely a demon beast. She also gave him a wink soon after.

"Sister Rany, can we forget about that? A few years have already passed. Don't you think it's about time you let me off the hook?"

He felt quite helpless. Why did he have to be the closest old victim from the past? He had been dragged into a situation he didn't want to be in. Rany just laughed after hearing that and turned back to Krune, asking.

"Alright. What are you looking for?"

Krune felt even more hopeless than the Douly guy. Nevertheless, he composed himself quickly. Krune was a wisp, and he would not lose his temper because of that. He would simply follow the flow, although he still felt a bit awkward.

"Cough, cough. I would like to know the best way to head to Kaley City, the conditions on the way, and if I should go with a group of cultivators and demon beasts or alone."

Rany just nodded after hearing that. She received quite a few people and demon beasts in human form requiring the same information every week.

"The safest way to leave the danger zones is indeed to go together with a group. But you better pay attention to the groups that form at the exit of the village. Some of them are not really going to Kaley City. They just want to rob those who join them along the way."

Krune wasn't surprised about that since he had already thought of this possibility. He even spotted two or three who looked quite suspicious.

"In that case, how should I choose?"

She replied straight away, saying, "It's quite simple. Can you see that not a lot of people here are wearing a badge with the same emblem as the one above the entrance? Those are the Mercenary Guild's badges. Although it isn't foolproof, it's hard to find a group of robbers with a mercenary in the middle.

She pointed to one of the corners of the building and continued, "Those there are all real Mercenary Guild members. See if you can find a group that's planning to head to Kaley City, join them, and you should be pretty much safe along the way. Of course, robbers don't mind about others' status. Though, in general, mercenaries that have received their badges are stronger than those at the same cultivation level. So, the bandits on the way usually wouldn't target them unless they're very confident."

Krune nodded since it made sense. If anyone could join the Mercenary Guild, then it would lose its prestige.

"Of course, whether they will let you join their group or not will depend on your ability, but I highly advise you not to go alone. Even if you don't find a group of mercenaries, try to at least go with a normal group. That's why there's the saying there's strength in numbers, after all. As for the conditions on the way, well, it more or less depends on the number of bandits acting in that area or not. But anyone going alone would most likely be targeted."

Krune agreed with her words. Although he could fight against those at the 4th Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm in his human form, nothing can guarantee that he won't find even stronger ones. Even if he doesn't, it's unlikely that the bandits would act alone against him, and chances are that they would attack in groups.

"Thank you. Can you let me know how I join the Mercenary Guild? I believe that's the best way to prove my abilities when joining a group."

Rany wasn't surprised with that question, but Krune in front of her seemed pretty common. It's just that the little bit of hair that poked outside his hood was colored. Then again, she had come across a lot of eccentric people and demon beasts before. In the end, she simply believed that Krune probably wouldn't pass the mercenary test.

"You can apply for the test here. Also, we have a mercenary test once a week. The last one was five days ago, so the next one is after tomorrow. The admission fee is 30 low-quality Rank One Spirit Stones for Qi Condensation participants and 50 middle-quality Rank One Spirit Stones for Foundation Establishment participants. Before you think of applying though, let me give you a piece of advice. The test is very hard, and you might get seriously injured. Also, if you fail, you won't receive your spirit stones back, so think twice before actually applying."

Although she thought he didn't have the power to pass the test, she couldn't really stop him from taking the test either. The Mercenary Guild needed spirit stones to keep running, after all.

Krune didn't even hesitate for a second. 50 middle-quality Rank One Spirit Stones were nothing for him who 'paid a visit out of courtesy' to several spiritual vein lakes. He passed the spirit stone and received a token in return. After that, Rany explained to him.

"This is your token with your participant number. Tomorrow, at 10 o'clock in the morning, the test will start. We have a few puppets that can adjust to one's cultivation level. Your objective is to fight all three at the same time. There's no need to destroy them, though. As long as you can resist until their energy runs out, it'll be considered your win. Make sure you're in your peak condition. If you notice you can't resist anymore, you just need to say that you surrender. The puppets will stop attacking immediately."

Krune nodded and then left the Mercenary Guild after that. He asked around where he could stay for the night and found out that people usually stayed in places called a hotel. After arriving there, he asked how much it was to rent a room for two days to the attendant.

"It's 50 silver coins per day, 100 in total. Meals are not included. If you also want to get meals, it's 70 silver coins per day."

Krune felt a little helpless since he only had spirit stones and no other currency. Unfortunately, he couldn't pay with spirit stones. Krune understood very well that spirit stones were worth much more. He then asked where he could exchange spirit stones for copper, silver, and gold.

"Do you know the Mercenary Guild? Right in front of it, there's another building managed by the country. You can exchange spirit stones there."

Krune thanked the attendant and headed there to change his spirit stones. Around 20 minutes later, he came back. The exchange rate was one low-quality Rank One spirit stone for 10 gold coins. One gold coin was worth ten silver coins, and just like that, one silver coin was worth 10 copper coins. Krune exchanged 20 spirit stones, so the amount of money he had right now should be enough to keep his daily necessities for quite a while.

After renting a room, he went upstairs and locked himself inside. It had been over a week since the last time he cultivated, so he would take his time to do it during the next two days. He took out 100 low-quality Rank Two Spirit Stones and simply started.

---

Krune wasn't really fated with the words 'low profile.' He had no idea his six Spiritual Energy Meridians were just too powerful! There's a limit to how much spiritual energy one could take out of spirit stones at once. Because of that, the rest of the spiritual energy was being absorbed from the air. In an instant, all the spiritual energy in a hundred-meter radius disappeared! Such a thing alarmed the hotel's owner, as well as the cultivators that were cultivating in the rooms. No one could cultivate anymore.

Everyone started to gather in the lounge. After discussing over it, they concluded that all the spiritual energy in a hundred-meter radius was converging in the hostel. They then complained to the hotel owner. Someone was absorbing everything. They wanted to talk with the guy who was doing it. But anyone capable of absorbing so much spiritual energy must be at the later stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm at the very least. In other words, they were afraid of irritating that cultivator.

The reason they asked the owner to help out was that he was a late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator himself. To convince this greedy guy to leave some spiritual energy for everyone, the hotel owner brought the people together with him. When they arrived at Krune's room, the owner knocked on the door.

"Sir, please open the door. We need to talk."

He kept knocking on the door, but there was no one responding. It's not that Krune was ignoring him. It was more like because every time Krune cultivated, he immersed himself in his own world. Unless he felt a sense of danger, he wouldn't move at all.

The owner kept knocking, but no one answered. He finally lost his patience and used his own key to open the door.

When everyone entered and noticed Krune in the middle of the room, they were shocked!

They noticed that Krune was obviously only at the 1st Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Though surprisingly, not only was he absorbing all the energy in a hundred-meter radius, he was also absorbing the spiritual energy inside the Rank Two Spirit Stones around him at the maximum rate! How was he doing that? This kind of absorption power was truly unprecedented!

Krune finally noticed something strange after a while. When he opened his eyes, he almost jumped back. But then, he remembered that the hotel attendant said they would come to inform him about that.

'Is there a need to use so many people just to tell me that?'

Then again, he remembered the weird customs of the humans and decided to ignore it. Krune chose to look outside, but it was still bright. He then looked back at those people and asked.

"I know your hotel was going to inform me. Though, ain't it a bit too early for dinner time?"