Lem’s simulated self hugged the entire pile of items. As it made contact along his burned arms, his eyes began to tear up, but he ignored the pain, gently lifting it up while making sure that nothing fell.

He quickly began walking back through the forest, leaving the pond behind him.

Even in his injured state, his reflexes were sufficient to secure the entire pile without accidentally dropping anything.

When he reached his campsite, he put the pile down next to the two jade slips.

Now it was time to properly take account of what he had retrieved.

In his haste, he had not looked inside of any of the pouches or studied any of the small objects he was collecting. His only focus had been taking everything he could in as safe and quick a manner as possible.

He felt a small thrill run through his body.

Who knew what was inside of the pouches! He just might find an item of crucial importance!

Lem was just as excited as his simulated self.

Even if he disagreed with the risks that had been taken, he could not argue with the results.

The harvest tree had not killed his simulated self, and his immediate needs had been met.

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Not only had he brought back the jade slip of the [Mountain Sitting Technique], but he now had food in the form of beast-part containers, an abundant supply of water, and a few dozen mysterious spiritual crystals.

This was without taking into account the random objects he had put in the pouches, and whatever else had happened to be in the pouches before.

Of the items that had been within reach, he had taken almost everything outside of the most damaged and useless looking objects.

Lem’s simulated self began by separating out the waterskins. There were six of them. Five were more than half full, and one was mostly empty.

There were seven containers with beast parts inside of them. Lem’s simulated self did not know enough of beast anatomy to distinguish between the organs of the wolf and of the tyrant sloth, but to his eye, it all looked edible.

Lem counted ten pouches, two of which were slightly larger than the others.

To prepare an area of forest floor for sorting, Lem’s simulated self moved his knife away beside the water skin and swept the leaves aside.

He picked up the first pouch and turned it over, dumping its contents over the ground. A number of spiritual crystals fell out, along with some stones and minerals of various colors and a few golden coins.

He separated out the spiritual crystals before picking up another pouch and turning it over. In addition to the spiritual crystals that he had stuffed in it, an assortment of papers and letters fell out.

The third pouch was slightly larger. It had a single glove and a black cloak.

The fourth pouch had more papers, but they were strange and yellow. Slipped in between them was a small burnt white sheet.

Lem’s simulated self examined the sheet and quickly realized that it was an incomplete alchemy recipe. It was useless, since he had no prior understanding of alchemy. He set it aside, and picked up the fifth pouch.

He dumped it over causally, but he quickly grew serious when he saw a glint of green.

He quickly brushed aside the spiritual crystals, and uncovered the object.

Another jade slip!