Chương 113: Praise and the Leverage Principle

"Next time you pass by here, you must come and visit." These were the last words of my grandmother, the village chief two years before me.

"it is good."

"!!"

The little girl village chief stared at Frilian in shock.

Frillie blinked.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Grandma said you would never grant such a request—" The little girl's expression was somewhat sad.

But a moment later, she suddenly clapped her hands happily, "So, it must be because I'm cuter than Grandma, right! You'll remember this promise, right! You'll definitely do it next time, right!"

Frillie smiled, a slight upturn to her lips.

"Okay, see you later then."

The little girl happily saw everyone off at the village entrance. The group waved goodbye and continued northward.

Shaun walked beside Frillie, looking at her with a mocking expression.

"Not bad, you know how to say goodbye properly."

Frillie looked away somewhat awkwardly.

"I just didn't want to disappoint the children."

Xia En didn't expose him.

"Of course, our elven mage is so kind, he certainly wouldn't let a little girl cry."

Frillie was silent for a moment.

"You said before that if you don't express your feelings, the other person won't understand."

"If I had come sooner, I could have personally responded to the dying words of the village chief two generations ago."

Xia En smiled. This slow-witted white-haired elf was slowly starting to understand.

"It's not too late to start now. Just say it all out properly from now on."

Frillie didn't answer, but after a while, she gave a soft "hmm".

For the next month, they encountered no more villages, not even hunter's huts.

Several people were walking in the vast mountains.

The snow underfoot gradually thinned, revealing glimpses of green.

Winter is almost over.

Although in the northern countries, the end of winter means that winter is just around the corner.

But at least, they won't have to deal with unpredictable blizzards anymore.

"Let's rest here for a bit, then we'll enter the [Alter Forest] and officially leave the [Swell Mountains]."

Frillie rolled up the map in her hand, a relaxed expression on her face.

Philon started gathering firewood to start a fire.

Shane took Shutark to gather some wild fruit nearby.

They are now on the edge of the Alt Forest, where there is no longer any trace of snow, and everywhere is lush with wild grass and shrubs.

"At least we can eat some fruit and wild vegetables now," Shutark exclaimed.

Xia En smiled. Ever since he ate the mushroom soup last time, he had been poisoned and collapsed on the ground.

Shutark refused all mushroom products.

Unfortunately, the food purchased from the Village of Swords consisted mainly of dried meat and large quantities of dried mushrooms that were easy to preserve—which caused Shutark to resist eating every meal for the past month.

Now I finally have a chance to change things up.

"Oh, what's this person doing here?" Shutark said.

The two pushed aside the bushes and suddenly a dark swamp appeared before them.

The swamp is not large, but it is hidden under a patch of dead branches and leaves, and you can easily slip and fall if you are not careful.

And look, that man inside, only his upper body is left, must be the unlucky guy who stepped into thin air.

"Hello adventurers, my name is Zain. It's so great to see you here. Could you please help me pull me out?"

The man in the swamp remained remarkably calm. He raised his mud-covered hand and greeted Shane and Shutark with a smile.

Xia En's eyes widened.

The man in front of me was dressed in a monk's uniform, with short brown hair loosely tied in a braid at the back of his head, a goatee on his chin, and green eyes. He had a friendly expression.

It was a monk named Zanyin!

I can't believe I ran into them here!

grunt.

While Shane was thinking, Zain sank a little further down.

Shutark was stunned for a moment, looking at Zain, then at the swamp, before finally reacting and revealing a terrified expression.

"I'll get you out of here right now!"

Just as the boy was about to step forward, Xia En grabbed him.

"Wait, Shutark. Your axe is so heavy; if you rashly step into the swamp, you'll be swallowed up too."

"But----" grunt.

Zain in the swamp was only up to his chest.

Xia En glanced around and his gaze fell on a large rock not far away.

"Don't rush, go and move that rock over here."

Shane drew a circle on the ground with his foot.

Shutark was very obedient and did as instructed immediately.

Xia En then picked through the surrounding trees and settled on one that was about the size of a bowl. He estimated its height to be about four or five meters. Hmm, that should be enough.

Under Shane's command, Shutark cut down the tree again.

Shane propped the tree trunk against the rocks to make an enormous lever, one end of which extended toward Zain in the center of the swamp.

"Now, we can save them."

Shutark was dumbfounded; how could he save him?

Zain was also confused. Was he going to be dragged out?

With a gurgle, he was now only left with his arms and shoulders above him. The situation was too critical, so he immediately hugged the tree trunk in front of him tightly.

"Can you two really compete in strength against a swamp? —"

"Don't worry, one is enough."

With that, Shane activated the [One Against Three] ability, "colluding" with Shutark three times in a row.

In an instant, the power within him surged, and his muscles suddenly gathered terrifying power, granting him three times the strength of Shutark.

Without hesitation, he took two steps and jumped up, landing firmly on the other end of the bar.

Snapped- The lever is subjected to force and falls to the ground.

啵— The swamp made a sound like a cork being pulled from a bottle, and Zain, who was clinging to a tree trunk, was pulled out of the mud.

Shutark was overjoyed.

But the boy's joy lasted only a few seconds before he saw Zain, pulled from the swamp, flung into the air by the suddenly upright tree trunk, then transform into a black shooting star, streaking across the forest— Shutark was shocked.

Xia En raised his hand, making a canopy over his eyebrows, and looked in the direction where the black meteor had fallen.

"It seems they've landed at the camp."

"What do we do now?!" Shutark exclaimed in disbelief.

"What else can we do? It's come to this. Let's go back and eat." Xia En got off the lever, brushed the leaves off his pants, and spoke calmly.

Shutark:' The two men carried a basket of small berries back to the camp.

Upon entering, they found Philonise lecturing Frillie.

Frillie stood pitifully by the campfire.

(≡person≡) Upon asking, they learned that a person who looked like mud had just fallen from the sky. Frillian simply used her magic to blow away the dirty stuff—

"Sorry, I thought someone was throwing mud at us."

1

"Nobody has a mud ball that big."

"."'

Following Frilian's resentful gaze, Shane turned to look at the tree beside him.

Sure enough, there was a mud ball that big.

At this moment, [Mudzain] was stuck in the center of the tree canopy and had already fainted.