The Glorious Transcendent-Chapter 63: Two second-rank essences.

"So that’s what kept you from responding," Leader Ling Shao said, his sharp gray eyes looking at Kogan.

During the entire battle, Ling Shao had been communicating with his team—except for Kogan, who never replied. That’s why he checked on him first.

With difficulty, Kogan showed a bitter smile on his face.

"Move aside, I’ll heal him," Leader Ling Shao said in an audible voice.

"Oh... Leader..." Mei Lan trembled at Ling Shao’s sudden appearance—she hadn’t felt his presence.

He crouched down and extended one hand toward Kogan’s chest.

A bright white light shone and began to flow into Kogan’s body.

After several minutes, his wounds started to heal—from the torn lung to the broken ribs, to the external injuries.

Mei Lan had spent 30 essence on him before collapsing from dizziness and exhaustion, and now Ling Shao had added more than two thousand essence—a massive amount.

And even with all that, his injuries would not heal completely.

Anyone who gets injured in the team works together with their partner to heal each other’s wounds.

And in cases of severe injuries, the squad leader steps in to treat them, being the highest-paid member, and also because he receives compensation from the supply storage.

After the battle ended and all the wolves had been eliminated,

the team members gathered around Kogan, who was catching his breath on the ground.

"This is exactly what happens to you here when you’re deaf."

"His survival is a miracle in itself."

The team members spoke, commenting on Kogan’s condition.

Some felt pity, others thanked the heavens for having all their senses, and some simply didn’t care—injuries on the battlefield were a normal thing.

In these missions, the team relies primarily on the sense of hearing,

since seeing over long distances is impossible in this darkness.

Even the wolves’ color blends perfectly with the night, to the point that if one stands still, you could walk right past it without even noticing.

"Just a single wolf brought you to this state," Ling Shao mocked Kogan’s condition.

"It pounced on me from behind, and I didn’t sense it," Kogan was lying on the ground.

"That’s obvious. Also, a question came to mind," Ling Shao sheathed his sword.

"What is it?" Kogan opened his eyes.

"The wolves’ behavior today was strange. It felt like an anomaly—something I’ve never encountered before. And coincidentally, it happened today, the same day I brought you," he looked at Kogan with sharp eyes.

Kogan remained silent.

"Let me guess... it must be because of that dead man who healed you." Ling Shao turned his body, then continued, "We’re leaving. We’ve obtained a decent amount of loot."

After the battle and recovering a large amount of essence, Ling Shao decided to return to the city.

If they changed locations and used the same strategy, they could obtain more essence again.

But this time, Kogan was seriously injured, which is why they turned back.

’This man...’ Kogan cast a deep glance at Ling Shao.

Kogan had a saying: as long as it doesn’t involve money and power, I’ll be fine.

But this man in front of him possessed both—and more.

***

The team moved through the trees, heading back to the place where they had left their goats.

These goats weren’t among the wolves’ meals, as they were considered essence-less, and so the wolves didn’t sense them.

"How much did you get, Leader?" Wen Jun asked.

"Sixty," Ling Shao replied.

"Hoho, amazing! I got three," Wen Jun smiled.

"And I got two," Lang Luo added.

"Same here, two," Sayako Rin said.

"Looks like that deaf guy brings good luck. You should bring him next time, Leader," Bu Hao turned his head toward Kogan.

"But don’t forget, if he keeps getting injured, healing him will eat into our loot," Ji Shun said reminding.

The team chatted among themselves.

They didn’t know that Kogan was at the First Rank, and therefore, healing him had cost several times more than what they earned tonight.

Ling Shao wasn’t obliged to explain that to them—how could mere ordinary people understand such a thing?

Even if they were at the First Rank, they were nothing compared to the Second Rank.

If the leader were to be stingy with healing his men, then who would risk their lives to carry out missions?

Even if the treatment cost a thousand essence, it could still be compensated—just a bit more effort, and they could even double it.

But what couldn’t be replaced were talented individuals, and even rarer than that were loyal ones.

Kogan and Mei Lan lagged behind the others due to his slow pace.

His breathing was still heavy; he might not be able to join any mission for a while.

Mei Lan kept watching him, afraid he might collapse at any moment. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Despite the intense pain and difficulty breathing, his thoughts were focused on what he had gained.

’Two more Second Rank essences,’ Kogan sensed within himself.

Looking from a higher perspective, the wolves’ attack seemed very organized—and also well-disguised.

The largest number of wolves surrounded Ling Shao. Despite sensing his immense power, they kept lunging at him one after another, as if trying to distract him.

The rest of the team—each had one or two wolves, enough to keep them under pressure all night.

These wolves were First Rank, roughly the size of regular wolves or slightly larger, but faster and physically stronger.

As for the one that attacked Kogan, its height matched that of an adult man—it was the size of a horse.

Even more, there were two of them.

Two Second Rank wolves!

With crushing bite force and sharp intelligence, they could threaten even Ling Shao.

Second Rank beasts led First Rank beasts beneath them, organizing attacks on squads.

It could be said that to hunt a single Second Rank beast, one had to deal with an entire army of First Rank beasts.

When Wang Tu allied with Fu Ren and two other sinners known as Ning Luo and Wang Yi, they decided to target Second Rank beasts in order to obtain higher-grade essence—after all, who doesn’t want higher-ranked essence?

But they were very cautious. These wolves weren’t on their list.

These wolves were known for their cunning and intelligence, making it very difficult to trap them.

Besides, the four of them didn’t trust each other much, so they chose to hunt other beasts—perhaps stronger, but at least less clever than wolves.

The reason Kogan survived the attack from those two wolves was surely his strength—and the wolves themselves.

The reason they targeted him specifically was unknown to Kogan for now, but it seemed those wolves underestimated him and his endurance.

That bite—had it struck a regular First Rank person, it would have torn them apart instantly and killed them.

But Kogan withstood it, and that surprised the wolves. They realized the person in front of them was a threat, so they tried to kill him as fast as possible.

The first wolf lunged at him from the front, but Kogan reinforced his arm and threw the axe, catching the wolf off guard.

The second wolf decided to cling onto him and never let go, continuing to apply pressure with its jaws on Kogan’s chest.

And that’s when a bit of Kogan’s luck showed—when Mei Lan appeared.

Mei Lan fired the arrow, and the wolf decided to use that opportunity to make Kogan take the hit, weakening him further.

But it ended up being Kogan who benefited from that arrow.

A question came to Kogan’s mind:

’These beasts are strong, yet they give the same essence as sheep and rabbits.’

’Seems like not everything that’s hard to get is valuable.’

Sheep and rabbits each gave one essence, which was acceptable given that they posed no threat.

But these wolves were extremely dangerous, so why not just hunt sheep and rabbits, which were relatively easier and posed no threat—especially since they had the same value?

The answer was, first: necessity.

If they stopped hunting these predators, they would spread everywhere, threatening other teams’ missions.

And second: their numbers. In each mission, thirty to fifty essences could be retrieved—and sometimes even more.