Emperal felt a chill down his spine when he felt the gaze of the woman and immediately ducked below and backed up.

Despite his attempt, Liret still managed to see his hair colour and eyes before fainting.

"Fuck my luck!"

Emperal couldn’t help but be annoyed when he saw this. Great. He just got a new, fresh enemy behind his tail...for absolutely no reason!

"Calm down, Emperal. I will naturally become stronger as time goes on, no need to stress over something I can’t control yet."

There was also the option of killing them there itself. But he wasn’t sure about the gas effects. What if they woke up mid-sleep and attacked him together?

Even with his enhanced strength and abilities, he would have a hard time killing them.

Ignoring the sleeping beautas and the beauty, Emperal’s gaze shifted towards the newcomer.

Calder was grinning ear to ear when he saw this. Standing up, he puffed the dirt off his clothes and walked forward arrogantly.

"Hahaha! This is what happens when you face the mighty Calder! Gods, I’m a genius."

Calder nodded repeatedly to himself, his slim posture further merging with his persona.

Emperal cringed when he heard that. Shaking his head, he took a step forward and jumped down.

Instantly erasing half the distance between them. Calder’s eyes widened when he saw this. Snapping his head back, he saw a black-haired, silver-edged youth walk towards him with a confident posture.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Calder immediately took a fighting stance; his eyes glowed. Probing the boy, his brows raised lightly when he felt it was just a Stage Two Verth Wielder.

His posture relaxed slightly. The corner of Emperal’s lips curved ever so lightly when he saw this.

"Alright, let’s not kid ourselves here. I saw what you just did. No need to play dumb."

Emperal spoke, still walking towards the four.

"W-What? I don’t know what you are talking about!" Calder panicked a bit when he heard those words. Despite his cunning snake nature, there was just something...very off about the young man in front of him.

And after seeing his confident posture, he didn’t dare act rashly.

Emperal shook his head when he heard those words. "Alright, enough of this bullshit. Because of you, this woman has marked me as her enemy. Now, what if something happens to me?"

"S-So you were the one she had locked onto at the last moment! No wonder." Calder suddenly realized. It was as he had said, at the last moment, instead of marking him, the woman had caught someone entirely different.

An ugly, forced smile spread across his face as he scratched his head. "Eh, I think we have some misunderstanding here, young man. Anyways, I’m sure that wasn’t the only reason you approached me here?"

Calder spoke, rubbing his hands. He cautiously walked forward and approached Emperal but maintained a safe distance.

"It’s nothing, I was just wondering why you took such a risk for a Verth Wielding boar’s core. Also, before that, let’s go to a safer place."

Saying that, he picked up the boar and started walking in a random direction. Calder gritted his teeth when he saw his ’hard-earned’ prize being taken away, but nonetheless, he followed Emperal.

A few minutes later, both individuals reached a sufficient distance away from their previous location.

"Now, speak."

Emperal’s staunch voice echoed, forcing Calder to look at him.

"I guess I have no choice here."

With a sigh, he opened his mouth to speak.

"A few days ago, on the borders of Aelvorn and Draventhar, there was a mine discovered, filled with Verth so dense that it practically quadruples the speed of cultivation by just sitting there!"

Calder spoke excitedly, his eyes shining when he mentioned the mine.

"Is he talking about the Verth Spring?" Emperal spoke inwardly.

"Yes, but they don’t know it’s a Verth Spring. If they did, there was no way it would be this peaceful. I’m sure a huge war would break out if the news were to spread."

The Infernal Dragon replied almost immediately, and its words made the Emperor nod his head.

"I see, that’s good to know."

"...Continue."

"After the discovery, many cultivators had arrived there to reap the benefits. But...most of them were killed." Calder sighed when he spoke the last part.

"Hmm?" Emperal raised his brows when he heard that. "Is it someone from the Dragon Lord’s side or the forces of the Elven Queen?"

He couldn’t help but ask. If it were from either of them, let alone taking the spring, even hoping to get it would become infinitely more difficult.

"No, it’s probably even worse than that. Two of the major bandit groups of the borders had occupied it, and unless given a fee, that is, the core of a Stage 1 Verth Wielding beast and higher, they won’t even let you near it. Whoever has tried has been killed because of it."

Calder concluded that he couldn’t help but massage his forehead in annoyance. Although it wasn’t a problem for the high-level cultivators to obtain a core of that level, it was the other way around for the low-level cultivators.

"Speaking of high-level cultivators, what’s the cultivation of the bandit leaders there?" Emperal asked, although he was sure it would be fairly high, given the iron grip they had maintained over the leakage of information.

"It’s...Stage 2 Verth Shaper. Both of them." Calder pulled his hair in annoyance; he couldn’t believe his luck.

Hearing his words, Emperal sucked in a cold breath and swallowed his saliva.

"Yep, there goes my plan about ambushing them."

Comparing his strength to theirs was equal to comparing a mouse to a saber-toothed tiger! Yes, the difference was abysmal.

But...

"Alright, let’s go hunt another Stage 2 Verth Wielder."

Suddenly, Emperal spoke, surprising Calder. His eyes widened in shock when he heard those words.

"W-What? Didn’t you just hear what I said!?"

"I did, and stop gawking. I want you to accompany me till the Verth mine. There, we go our separate ways. Until then, if you dare run...I myself will put this beast core inside you—somewhere you will definitely not like."