"Let's go down and have a chat," Jean-Pierre said.

Without waiting for a reply, he took a step off the branch. To Zachary's surprise, Jean-Pierre didn't fall. Instead, the black cloud next to him let out a soft hoot and spread its wings, transforming into a swift shadow that carried Jean-Pierre gently to the ground. Zachary had never seen a creature like that before. He wondered how Jean-Pierre was able to obtain it.

Zachary summoned Archer and held onto one leafy leg as the giant spider climbed down. Once on the ground, he walked up to Jean-Pierre and the two shook hands. Although Zachary wasn't the type to befriend people easily, Jean-Pierre wasn't exactly a stranger. They had helped each other and relied on each other. They had fought against wild beasts and the merciless jungle for the better part of a month.

"Everyone, this is Jean-Pierre... a friend, kind of," Zachary said as Heather and her gang approached.

"You don't sound very sure," Heather said while giving Jean-Pierre a suspicious look.

"Well, it's been a few months. We separated a few weeks after arriving here."

"Jean-Pierre Beaumont, nice to meet you," Jean-Pierre said, raising his palms inward to his forehead in a summoner's salute.

Heather returned it begrudgingly while Carlos and Shuhua didn't even bother. A moment of awkward silence passed as they studied each other. Heather and her gang were not familiar with Jean-Pierre which meant he was not a member of the notable groups of survivors she was familiar with.

Zachary broke the silence first, nodding his head toward the black cloud that stood behind Jean-Pierre, "What kind of owl is that?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Jean-Pierre looked very pleased at the fact, "This is a special species called the shadowless cloud. Very good at sneaking around at night and avoiding being seen.”

"You've been following us all this time?" Heather asked without a trace of friendliness.

"Yes and no. I go here and there, exploring and searching for interesting things. Imagine my surprise when Cirril told me he had found an old friend. So, I had to come and take a look. I wasn't disappointed."

“You followed me just because of that?” Zachary asked, unconvinced.

“Not quite. I didn’t want to show myself at first. You probably thought I was dead. Heck, I thought you were dead already. But seeing the situation here… I wanted to give you guys a warning.”

"We can't trust anything he says," Carlos said.

"Yeah, he could be working for the Dark Star Gang!” Shuhua chimed in, “Or the Daybreakers..."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Or one of the beast cults!" Carlos added.

"He could be a mass murderer!" Shuhua said, almost shouting.

Heather finally turned around and glared at them, “Don’t be stupid. If he wanted to, he could have killed both of you and gotten away clean. This shadowless cloud is an assassin!”

Jean-Pierre chuckled, “Brother, you sure found a smart one. I already like her more than that cat girl.”

Heather’s glare quickly turned to him, “But that doesn’t mean I will trust anything you say.”

He shrugged, "I just wanted to give you guys a warning. If you don't believe me... I can't help it."

He looked at Heather's trio and then at Zachary. He tilted his head as if thinking of an idea.

"How about this?" He asked, "You trust Zachary, right?"

"Yes," Heather replied without hesitation.

"Good, then, if he trusts me, shouldn't you also trust me?"

"But I don't trust you," Zachary interjected.

Jean-Pierre held a hand to his heart as if he had been mortally wounded, "How could you not trust your good brother? I thought we were friends!"

This didn't earn him the laugh he expected so he quickly sobered.

"Fine," He sighed, "I'll get to the point. You guys found a nice earth quintessence spring. But remember, birds die for food, summoners die for wealth. The scorpion dragon sleeping in that cave... if it wakes up, you're all going to die."

"What do you mean?" Heather asked sharply, "I've seen that thing in person, we can still get away with our preparations."

Jean-Pierre shook his head, "How many months ago was that? Things are different now. You can choose to believe me or not but the scorpion dragon is close to breaking through. And it's not just a soul path but a whole soul rank. Think about it. An expert rank scorpion dragon, do you think it will let you go? Will you be able to escape?"

A long silence followed his revelation. His words sank in slowly, marinading in the rising fear and simmering panic that each person felt. If it was an expert rank scorpion dragon, Zachary wouldn't have tried to steal its quitessences. It was far too dangerous. Even Heather wouldn't have suggested something so foolish. She cherished her life and the lives of her people.

The difference in strength between soul ranks was something that could never be trivialized. A novice rank Ensouled had almost no chance of beating an adept rank. Even a crowd of novice ranks could only serve as punching bags for the weakest adept. It was the same case for adepts compared to expert rank Ensouled. And it wasn't just an ordinary creature but a powerful scorpion dragon. If it woke up and discovered them stealing from its quintessence spring, it wouldn't let them off. All of their summons put together couldn't hope to hold it back. Wander didn't stand a chance either.

"Heather, you can't possibly believe this guy!" Carlos said. "What if he wants the spring for himself and just wants to scare us away?"

"Yeah!" Shuhua said, backing him up, "What if he's from the Blood Church?"

Ignoring them, Heather turned to Zachary for help, "What do you think? He's supposedly your friend."

Zachary pursed his lips in thought. He looked at Jean-Pierre, then at Heather and her gang, and finally toward the east and the pitch-black jungle that hid the fearsome creature. He tapped a finger against his chin, muttering to himself softly as if he were about to unravel a great mystery of the world.

He didn't want to give up on the quitessence spring just like this. They had spent so much time and effort. The ones Doro had gathered during the day were far from enough to offset the costs. They had barely four weeks to go until the republic navy was supposed to return. They also had to cross the entire jungle to reach the ocean to the west. There wasn't enough time. If he gave up here, he would have no confidence competing for the pardons. If he couldn't get a pardon, he wouldn't be able to go back. He wouldn't be able to find Yaoyao. Then... what was the point of all his struggles?

Finally, Zachary faced Jean-Pierre with a firm gaze, a fire flickering in his eyes, a desire to fight, "You seem to know a lot about this creature. So, tell me, can we kill it?"