Making money? Of course, the fastest way is to... ahem, trade in medicinal herbs.

But it does come with some risk—like when Karien is transported to the Misty Forest. There's a chance he might encounter danger.

After all, the Misty Forest is full of peril, and Karien might not be as lucky as last time.

However, Karien later discovered that the teleportation bead can absorb the magical essence of two elemental coins at once. Previously, after charging, it could teleport, but it wasn't fully charged. When fully charged, the teleportation bead can perform two teleports.

This means that after Karien teleports, if he encounters danger, he can immediately teleport back. This greatly reduces the risk.

Of course, Karien didn't teleport right away because it was already dark. He first checked on all the students before heading to bed early. After all, he hadn't slept well the past couple of days, and the few hours of sleep that morning weren’t enough.

The next day, after a good night’s sleep, Karien woke up and stretched lazily. Instinctively, he reached into his pocket to grab the teleportation bead.

But when his hand searched through his pocket, he couldn’t find it.

"What the heck!"

Karien jumped out of bed and threw the covers off, searching everywhere.

Damn, this is serious—if the teleportation bead is gone, all of Karien’s plans would fall apart.

Fortunately, he finally found it.

The round little bead must have rolled out of his pocket while he slept and ended up under the bed in his shoes.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Karien picked up the bead, but just then, a prompt echoed in his mind:

[Object 001 has been marked]

[Marked objects can be used for positioning]

[Marked objects can be teleported]

[Please input coordinates]

"Marked?" Karien paused. He then realized there was a faint silver-gray mist around one of his worn-out shoes.

Looking at the mist-covered shoe, Karien muttered, "Could it be that objects touched by the teleportation bead can be marked? And that these marked objects can be used as coordinates? Can they also be teleported to other locations?"

His eyes lit up. If this was true, then he wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of calculating coordinates anymore. Karien could place the marked objects in familiar spots and just teleport to them when needed.

"But why didn’t other objects get marked when they came into contact with the teleportation bead before?"

Frowning, Karien quickly realized the difference. When he first obtained the teleportation bead, its energy reserves were low. But last night, before going to sleep, he had used two elemental coins, fully charging the bead.

With this in mind, Karien examined the bead again and noticed that the silver-gray mist inside was slightly reduced compared to last night.

This confirmed his hypothesis.

Adopting a more cautious approach, Karien recharged the bead completely and placed it on a nearby jetpack.

One minute later, the bead began to release silver-gray mist, wrapping the jetpack in it.

When Karien picked up the bead again, another prompt appeared:

[Object 002 has been marked]

It worked!

And, compared to the shoe, the jetpack consumed more mist—about one-eighth of the bead's energy. In other words, the energy required to mark an object is related to the object's surface area.

This new discovery excited Karien. If used correctly, this ability could be incredibly powerful.

After thinking it over, Karien grabbed his shoe and threw it outside the window into the courtyard.

He then muttered, "Teleport Object 001 to Object 002."

With a swoosh, the shoe he had thrown appeared on top of the jetpack.

"It really works!"

Grinning, Karien began thinking about how to make the most of this ability. But his sharp eye noticed that after teleporting, the silver-gray mist disappeared from the shoe, while the mist still enveloped the jetpack.

This meant that using marked objects for positioning didn’t consume energy. But if a marked object was teleported, the energy surrounding it would be depleted. To use it again, it would need to be marked again.

After figuring out how the marking system worked, Karien gathered a dozen burlap sacks and marked them all.

Previously, Karien had been worried that even with a large backpack, he wouldn't be able to carry much when collecting medicinal herbs in the Misty Forest. But with the marking function, he could bring over several sacks. Once one was filled, he could teleport it back, then continue filling another, without needing to teleport back and forth himself.

With everything ready, Karien activated the teleportation.

Unlike the last time when he went to coordinates (67, 89), he shifted his position slightly to avoid encountering that shadow lizard again.

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After feeling a tearing sensation, Karien found himself in the Element-rich Misty Forest.

Fortunately, there were no other people around, and he didn’t spot any magical beasts.

He threw a marked stone on the ground, charged the teleportation bead, and observed his surroundings.

Over the past few days, Karien had re-read the "Herb Guide," gaining a deeper understanding of medicinal herbs. So now, he could recognize not just White Leaf Orchids, but many other rare herbs too.

Suppressing his excitement, Karien didn’t immediately start collecting herbs. He first strapped on his jetpack and began exploring other parts of the area.

To avoid an attack like last time, he needed to thoroughly check the area for threats.

After walking around the surrounding area for a few hundred meters, Karien only encountered a few low-level magical beasts—slimes. He didn’t see any other dangerous creatures.

This was a relief. Though slimes could pose some danger, as long as he kept his distance, they weren’t much of a threat.

After avoiding the slimes, Karien switched to "scanning mode," collecting all the valuable herbs he could find and stuffing them into the sacks.

Every time a sack was filled, he teleported it back to his room and kept going. Throughout this, he constantly monitored his surroundings to ensure no danger was approaching.

When he had filled ten sacks, a sudden explosion from the west caught his attention.

Karien stood up, ready to teleport back at a moment's notice.

Just then, a skinny young man in a dark gray combat robe sprang out from the bushes. The youth was badly injured, and when he saw Karien, his face lit up. Limping over, he called out:

"Mr. Sixteen, help me!"

"It's you again!"

"I've moved over ten kilometers away, how am I still running into you?"

Looking at the frail young man approaching him, Karien hesitated about whether to just teleport back home.

The last time he teleported to the Misty Forest, he had accidentally saved this young man. Karien remembered that his name was Horus, and he had given Karien a fifth-tier scroll.

But if it weren't for the magic "Whistling Flame Explosion" in that scroll, Karien might have been eaten by the Shadow Lizard.

Considering this, Karien didn't immediately leave but decided to watch the situation.

Of course, if anything felt off, he would teleport away in an instant.

"Stay right there!"

Karien raised his hand, signaling Horus to stop advancing.

Even though Karien had had a friendly encounter with Horus before, he wasn't going to trust him so easily—he still needed to maintain some distance.

Furrowing his brows, Karien feigned a displeased expression and asked, "What's going on?"

Seeing Karien's sour expression, Horus quickly halted and pressed his hand to his chest in a respectful manner, saying,

"Please forgive me, sir. After I escaped last time, I hid and rested for a few days. I was planning to leave the Misty Forest.

"But I didn’t expect the Hurricane Mercenary Group to track me down. On my way back, they attacked me again, and I had no choice but to return. I didn't expect to run into you here.

"Please, I beg you to help me, and I will repay you with everything I have!"

As soon as Horus finished speaking, a group of about ten people rushed out from the west. Leading them was the short man in a black robe Karien had encountered before. It was the same one who had chased Horus the last time, and now, it seemed like there were even more of them.

The leader of the Hurricane Mercenary Group, Maiko, emerged from the grass, holding a high-temperature fireball in his right hand.

Just as he was about to throw the fireball at Horus, he suddenly saw a young man in simple clothes with grayish-white curly hair standing in the distance.

It was the Saint Magic Master from last time!

Maiko was startled, and the fireball he had been preparing fizzled out.

"Stop!"

Maiko shouted loudly, halting the advance of his mercenary comrades.

One of the bald mercenaries turned around, noticing the terror on their leader’s face, and asked in confusion,

"Boss, what's wrong?"

Taking a cautious step back, Maiko looked toward the distant "Saint Magic Master" and said in a low voice,

"Do you remember the Saint Magic Master I mentioned last time?"

The mercenaries froze and looked at the young man with gray curly hair in the distance. One of them asked in confusion,

"Is that him? He looks so young?"

Normally, Saint Magic Masters were cultivated through decades of arduous training—how could one be so young?

"Don’t judge by appearance. It’s better to be cautious!"

Maiko advised his men, then turned to shout at the "Saint Magic Master" in the distance,

"Sir, we mean no offense. We are just following orders. Please don’t interfere!"

Unlike last time, Maiko didn’t run away immediately.

After returning from the last incident, Maiko had thought carefully. If Horus had the protection of a Saint Magic Master, how could he possibly have lost in the family competition?

It wouldn’t explain why he was being hunted down now.

After thinking it through, Maiko speculated that last time, when he was chasing Horus, he had accidentally intruded on the Saint Magic Master’s territory and made a lot of noise, which must have angered the person. That was likely why they intervened.

This time, Maiko had tried to avoid the area from last time and keep things low-profile.

But, to his surprise, even after traveling more than ten kilometers, they still encountered the Saint Magic Master.

Maiko thought for a moment that perhaps he could convince the Saint Magic Master to understand their position.

However, just as Maiko finished speaking, he saw the "Saint Magic Master," who had been standing far in front of them, suddenly twist and disappear from sight!

"Are you teaching me how to do things?"

A cold voice came from behind them.

Maiko and the others turned around in panic, only to find that the "Saint Magic Master" had appeared right behind them!

It was spatial magic!

Definitely spatial magic!

This time, not only Maiko but also the other mercenaries were shaken.

Some who had previously doubted the so-called Saint Magic Master were now thoroughly intimidated.

Anyone who could use spatial magic, even if not a Saint Magic Master, was certainly no ordinary person.

At least they weren’t someone the mid- to high-tier magicians like Maiko’s crew could confront.

"N…no disrespect..."

Cold sweat beaded on Maiko’s forehead as he spoke, "It’s just..."

"Just what?" Karien’s cold gaze fixed on Maiko.

On the surface, he acted aloof, but inside, his body was tense, and cold sweat was already forming on his back, his fists clenched tight.

The reason he had teleported to this spot was because Karien had previously placed a marked stone here.

He had intended to take a small risk to scare these people off.

So, using a single teleport, he appeared just behind them.

If they weren’t scared off and decided to attack him, Karien would immediately cancel everything and use his second teleport to return home.

Luckily, his intimidation tactic seemed to have worked.

Maintaining his high-and-mighty pose, he continued,

"Regardless of what mission you’re carrying out, this is my territory. I won’t allow anyone to cause trouble here.

"Leave now, and don’t let me see you again!"

The Hurricane Mercenaries exchanged looks, and finally, all their eyes turned to their leader, Maiko.

Maiko hesitated for a few seconds, then reluctantly said, "We’re leaving..."

While this defeat would severely damage the Hurricane Mercenary Group’s reputation, Maiko valued the lives of himself and his men more than completing the mission.

The group of ten or so mercenaries slowly backed away from Karien and left.

Once they were far enough, Karien silently sighed in relief but kept his expression tight as he turned to look at Horus.

Horus bowed respectfully, pulled out a bundle of items, and said gratefully,

"Thank you, sir, for saving me again. These are all my belongings. Although they may seem trivial to you, I ask that you accept them!"

Karien didn’t immediately take the items. Instead, he walked up to Horus and asked,

"Why are they chasing you?"

Unlike last time, Karien didn’t hurry to send Horus away this time.

His reason for taking the risk and saving Horus earlier had another purpose.

Although Karien had teleported to the Misty Forest twice without serious danger, this place was still perilous, and there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t run into high-level magical beasts next time.

So, Karien wanted to set up a permanent base here, to investigate and explore the Misty Forest in greater detail.

Of course, he knew he couldn’t do it alone, so he was hoping to convince Horus to stay and help him establish the base.