The edge of the Rumput Forest starts in about an hour of walking to the east from Aero Forest.
The vast Rumput Forest spreads from the East Gate to almost the North Gate. The land looks more lively than Aero Forest, with more wild plants and wildflowers to be seen.
A few hours later, inside Rumput Forest, Lupa perked her ears and informed Vincent and Ester to stop. "I can hear footsteps!" She warned.
Lupa turned her head, and her arms began to change. She grinned and exclaimed, "Four steps, four legs. Small heavy thumps, meaty animal. My regrown claws are ready."
"Wait!" Vincent exclaimed before Lupa ignored his plea to stop. Lupa rushed for the small heavy animal she detected without any care. However, it might be because she heard no one else around them, so her impulse to hunt couldn't be stopped.
*Skweee!!!*
A moment later, a loud pig-like squealing in agony for nothing but a mere second signaled Lupa's successful hunt. She eagerly appeared from behind the tree and threw a four-foot-long wild boar.
*Thud*
Vincent looked at the wild boar, and as Lupa mentioned, it had a lot of meat. "Hah... think before you attack next time." He shook his head and sighed.
"You are a predator that stalks your prey and ambush when the time is right. What if it was a Magical or Demonic Beast?" Vincent wanted to make Lupa understand the danger it involves when attacking on impulse. He wants her to keep calm and think before her legs run to engage.
"Vincent is right. I became worried about you that I didn't have the time to take out my equipment and ready my spells. What if you got hurt or worse... poisoned." Ester added.
"But, but..." Lupa lowered her ears and unhappily nodded. Even her hidden tail lowered and didn't move an inch.
[1x Wild Boar Corpse (Common Quality) gained.]
Vincent stored the wild boar after he decided it would be the best plan at hand. Skinning takes time and making a pool of blood by bleeding the boar could attract hostile animals or worse.
Lupa wanted Vincent and Ester to praise her for the kill and great hunt. Even by a little bit. The spoiled Lupa quickly rushed from where she came and returned with a fistful of mushrooms.
"The boar was eating this. They looked tasty, so I killed the boar quickly before it ate them. I... I would have waited if not." Lupa tried to place the guilt on the wild boar. Even her ears waved in confusion as if she didn't know what to invent.
Vincent chuckled at the easy to discern ploy. He focused his eyes and used Inspection on the mushrooms.
[Name] Ponp Mushroom
[Condition] Fresh
[Description] A common mushroom that grows in a moldy environment. However, if plucked, it spoils in an hour and becomes poisonous.
Vincent felt it would be better to store them in his Soul Dimensional Storage as the items inside have their time practically frozen.
[7x Ponp Mushroom (Common Quality) gained.]
[I'm back from rewatching all the quests on the quest board. Ponp Mushroom is one of the needed items for a quest, and it gives twenty copper coins for each fresh one.]
"Twenty copper coins? Hahaha. It's fantastic, Lupa. You just found one hundred and forty copper coins worth of mushrooms." Vincent praised the unhappy Lupa. As soon as her ears heard a compliment, her mood shifted to one full of joy, as if she was never scolded.
Ester looked at Vincent and then at Lupa. Ester couldn't believe how not only they gained a lot of meat, but they also made money. "Great find, wolf sister." She decided to praise.
Two hours of walking later, no mushroom or animal entered their sights. Vincent followed the map to where it indicated a safe resting spot. Not long after, they arrive at where the map showed.
The relaxing sound of a river reached their ears. A large open field with colorful wildflowers ranging from yellow, white, blue, and red greeted their vision.
The sunlight shone warmly on these flowers, and like a mirror, the river glistened in the sun. If a picture could be taken, any onlooker would think it was a picture of heaven.
"How bout we rest here for now? I want to enjoy this view." Vincent suggested.
It took less than a blink of an eye for Ester and Lupa to agree and go in different directions. Lupa wanted to fish while Ester wanted to dance in such a beautiful place.
Vincent sat on a rock and closed his eye. Then he asked.
-Kazumi, how much Soul Power do I have?-
[Eighty. But why do you ask?]
-How about we upgrade Inspection together?-
Kazumi was surprised by Vincent's determination. She thought he wanted to wait more days to try his luck. Such a gamble might use all his points and still not reach an upgrade.
[Then let's give it a try. I have made multiple simulations of how we should focus on to reveal more stats.]
Vincent raised a confident smirk and decided to start. Supporting him was a being that he could lean on when the process gets tricky. He closed his eyes and began to focus on the will to use Soul Power for his desire to upgrade Inspection.
[Wish to mutate an ability has been detected.]
[Mutation of Inspection is starting...]
[Mutation is successful.]
[Inspection has mutated into Inspection (Addons)]
[Will you spend 20sp to mutate Inspection (Addons)?]
[Accept -20sp] [Decline]
Vincent grinned and uttered, "Accept!"
[-20sp to mutate Inspection (Addons). 60sp Remaining.]
[An addon based on the Host's comprehension is mutating and is getting a bonus.]
[Inspection (Addons) has mutated the addon Third Eye.]
[Third eye mastery is forty percent. Sixty percent remaining until use.]
*Huff, huff*
Vincent heavily breathed, and the Hero mark on his side stopped burning after it lit for a few seconds. Inspection ability got upgraded, yet Vincent felt exhausted from the first step of the upgrade.
Sweat trickling from his forehead displayed the strain his body suffered, yet his eyes burned with the will to continue. He wanted to continue with no intention to give up.
Kazumi became worried and asked to know how he was feeling. Vincent simply nodded and wiped the sweat away, trying to act calm and composed.
Vincent summoned a piece of Mud Crab Meat and took a large bite. His body felt a surge of stamina flowing in his veins, and the energy to continue returning.
[Wish to mutate an ability has been detected.]
[Will you spend 20sp to mutate Inspection (Addons)?]
[Accept -20sp] [Decline]
Vincent grunted, "Accept."
[-20sp to mutate Inspection (Addons). 40sp Remaining.]
[Addon Third eye mastery became sixty percent. Forty percent remaining until use.]
Vincent flowed with the momentum to keep going and grunted, "Accept..."
[-20sp to mutate Inspection (Addons). 20sp Remaining.]
[Addon Third eye mastery became eighty percent. Twenty percent remaining until use.]
[Please stop and continue later. It might become easier for your body.]
Vincent, however, grunted the final push while ignoring Kazumi's words., "... *huff*...accept."
[-20sp to mutate Inspection (Addons). 0sp Remaining.]
[Addon Third eye mastery became hundred percent.]
[Host has learned Inspection (Addons) Third Eye]
[Third Eye description.]
[The Third Eye opens the mind's eye of the user with both passive and active benefits. It allows the user to become more observant of what is in the user's view. Hostile or friendly intent will become easier to perceive.]
[Mutation of the Third Eye allows the user to notice, perceive, and see souls.]
[Mutation of the Third Eye allows the user to perceive all status on the target when Inspection (Addons) becomes active.]
Repeat after another, Vincent grit his teeth and forced the last ounce of strength in his body to master the first Addon for Inspection.
*Thud*
Vincent fainted and fell to the ground from exhaustion. The Soul Hero and Mutation classes took too much energy out of his body to combine and create something new.
Lupa was about to catch a fish when she heard someone or something falling on the flowers not too far from her. She turned her gaze back and didn't see Vincent anymore.
"Ester, where is Vincent?" Lupa urgently asked.
Ester was enthusiastically dancing at the time. Butterflies approached Ester as if mesmerized while fluttering their wings in joy.
The beautiful wildflowers were dancing along with the shooting breeze, and the butterflies were approaching Ester as she danced. The sight felt mysterious and mesmerizing, as if the dance her mother thought her enchanted everything nearby.
Ester was in a trance. But when she heard Lupa worryingly ask about Vincent, her entire being stopped flowing along with nature in harmony.
Ester looked around and soon spotted Vincent lying on the ground covered by wildflowers. Not a second later, time slowed down to a halt, and Kazumi appeared in her Soul Domain.
Kazumi explained what happened to Vincent. She informed how he fainted because of the process to upgrade his Inspection ability and that there should be no cause for alarm.
Kazumi then left to inform Lupa next.
Ester and Lupa took turns watching over Vincent while doing something to pass the time. Two hours passed like this before Vincent opened his eyes.
"Umm... this is a soft pillow. " Vincent mumbled before his vision became clear, and a pair of crimson eyes worryingly looked at him from above.
"How do you feel? " Ester promptly asked.
"I feel fine enough to walk back home. Then go for a good sleep." Vincent slowly tried to pull himself up when his body suddenly became lighter, and getting up was easier than walking.
"Do you need more help?" Lupa asked after she helped Vincent to stand up.
Lupa then frowned and brooded, "You feel better because resting on my lap gave you more energy. Sister Ester's lap slightly helped after my enormous con, contr... contribution."
[Thank god your neck didn't break. The two of them had a competition on who has the softest lap. When you wake up, the lap owner would be pronounced the winner.]