Conor was displeased to hear Frederick's words. "We won't benefit from having these two dragging us down!"

Frederick turned and looked at Conor unhappily, saying loudly, "It's not the time to be stubborn. Even if they're not strong enough, anything that happens will be their problem. It's not like we're splitting up the resources. There's no reason not to have a few more."

Conor raised an eyebrow, somewhat accepting Frederick's point of view. Just like Frederick said, it was not like they were fighting over profit. They were not splitting up any spirit crystals, so one more person just meant one more scapegoat.

If there was any danger, they would not need to care about those two.

After Conor thought about it, he nodded at Frederick.

Conor thus turned around and grabbed Fane's arm, but the latter merely pushed his hand away. "I'm not joining your group. I'm just cooperating with you," he spoke, his tone apathetic. Nheless, it clearly showed them where he stood. He did not want them to think that they were doing him a favor. In Fane's eyes, it was just a choice.

Frederick raised his eyebrows slightly and knew he would not be easy to deal with. However, he had to accept anyone with the situation as it was. After all, things were getting even more dangerous the longer they stayed. They had common enemies and needed to bolster their own strength. Frederick nodded vigorously, agreeing with Fane.

With that, Frederick's small group of four turned into seven. Of course, to some of them, their group only had five members while the other two were useless.Content is property of .

Fane did not care about their thoughts. They were just cooperating, after all.

He pulled Alfred away and lowered his voice, saying, "As long as you have the chance, make sure to try and recover so you can face the dangers ahead."

Alfred nodded, feeling incredibly grateful. If he was to put himself in Fane's shoes, he might have left the other two behind. After all, his life was the most important.

However, Fane did not do this, and it showed his moral compass. Knowing this, Alfred's respect for Fane grew.

The seven of them headed east, but they did not actually know wherez they were going. They just knew that they could not remain in the same place in case they ended up being trapped.

Time slowly ticked away, and four hours had passed in a flash.

Frederick frowned as he constantly swept his senses around, worried about anything that might happen. He then reached out and motioned for them to stop, turning to look at the other six. "The forest is dense here, so we'll have a lot of cover, and it's a good place to rest. Astong as we're careful, we won't get ambushed. Let's rest here for now and continue forward after a bit."

Fane looked around and noted that it was indeed a vast sea of trees. Just two hours ago, they had traversed the gravel before they arrived at a densely packed forest, one with gargantuan trees that obstructed one's sight.