"Do you remember your first war?"

  "Pah! That's probably the only one I can remember after all these years."

  "How was it?"

  "And why in the 7th hell are you asking me that?"

  "Your thousands of years older than me, I think it would be helpful to get advice from you before we have to go out there."

  "Advice? You don't need advice from an old tool like me. Just swing your spear! Heads will role and bodies will burn for as long as you keep swinging your spear!"

  -???

  “We need to leave, the monsters are two strong for what you too can handle. Lirian, clear a path to the exit of the forest. Irene and Micah follow him and don’t fall behind.”

  It was a good thing we hadn’t entered all that deep into the forest just yet, which was a troubling thought by itself. We barely entered and were already being surrounded by Qi Refinement opponents? Unless these are the only things in the forest, then there would be a chance to find something stronger the further we went in.

  Which brings the question, once we make it out, should I return with Micah and Irene? Or should I continue exploring…we’ll see.

  Anyway, Lirian’s spear was the exact same one as Frian’s and he wielded it just as expertly as his brother.

  Two of the branch monsters came from running from the front and Lirian didn’t look the least bit surprised as he brandished his spear in his right hand, and very quickly the two branch monsters were bisected at the waist.

  Wow…

  It was almost as if he was wielding a sword instead of a spear.

  I really have a lot of work to do.

  Anyway, we kept moving and we were attacked a few more times but between my flames and the swiftness of Lirian’s spear, Irene and Micah remained unharmed.

  Though what was interesting was the behavior of the branch monsters. They didn’t follow us out of the forest.

  “They….they…aren’t coming out…”

  “Yeah…it’s weird…right...”

  “Yes, it’s odd. Hm? Why are you both panting so hard? We didn’t run very far.”

  “I…don’t…know.”

  “Same…here.”

  Both Micah and Irene were slouched over as they desperately tried to catch their breaths. I watched them silently for a couple of seconds.

  This was weird. Very weird. Neither of them should be this tired from what we just did, not at their level of strength. Yet here they were, panting like they ran a marathon.

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  It took a few more moments for them to feel better, and even as they sat there mostly recovered, they were still physically tired, just no longer panting.

  So, they definitely can’t continue.

  “Lirian, pick Micah up were running back.”

  Before Micah could protest, Lirian quickly picked him up and slung him over his back, and I did the same with Irene, who apart from a surprised yelp, didn’t do anything to resist.

  It had taken us a full day pretty much to make it here, but both Lirian and I were able to run a little faster and took about half the time to make it back to the City, the sky was still dark by the time we arrived.

  Once we got there, it was a short jog to Greja’s shop, and thankfully she was in. I know the higher the cultivation the less you needed to sleep, but It feels like she quite literally never sleeps.

  Anyway, I wanted to ask her about the condition of these two. We had local medical facilities at this point, but they were learning everything the same as the rest of us, they were mainly good at helping out with cuts, bruises and other injuries we had before all of this, but the more fantasy like things made no sense to anybody.

  I could be overreacting, but I wanted to do be sure. If Greja said they just needed more cardio, then fine.

  We sat them down in the shop and quickly explained to Greja what happened.

  She thought for a moment before she frowned.

  “I see…that forest would likely be a death sentence for anyone beneath Qi Refinement. It is good you got them out when you did, Death Qi is likely the cause of their issue, and it’s fatal for most individuals that can’t protect themselves with Qi. They will be fine, if it was higher concentration of Death Qi then even you would’ve faced issues and they would’ve likely died.”

  Both Irene and Micah looked as if they had just seen ghosts. No pun intended.

  “We could’ve died…?”

  Irene seemed the most shocked about it.

  “Yes, you really could’ve of. This is the reality of exploring a planet after a Tutorial. You are the first ones to find both riches and danger. The people after you might not have the same opportunities, but they would also know to avoid a forest like the one you just ran into.”

  We took in the words she said for a moment, and after both Micah and Irene collected themselves, I was ready to help them go home until…

  “City Lord, please wait a moment.”

  The tone of Greja’s voice was a bit serious.

  “Lirian, help them out, then grab your brother and wait for me at the gate.”

  “Yes Patriarch.”

  After they left, I looked towards Greja.

  “This could be bigger than you realize. From what I know, Death Qi covering a forest like that, isn’t something that is normally common. Not without the presence of something to release it. Something like a Dungeon for example. Which could pose a problem for you and this City. If not cleared regularly the Death Qi would only continue to increase, which could then spread beyond the borders of the forest.”

  “Wait how would clearing it regularly help with something like that?”

  “Your familiar with the fact Dungeons have cooldowns, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “It is essentially a full reset of the Dungeon, which in this case would pause the release of the Death Qi and reset the built up levels of it inside the Dungeon.”

  “…I see. How often would we need to clear it?”

  “Give me a moment.”

  I watched as she turned her head towards the direction of the south and then barely a few seconds later she looked back towards me and responded.

  “Alright, there is in fact a Dungeon deep in that forest, and it roughly needs to be cleared once every 7 or so days, but twice in that span to be safe.”

  I looked at her blankly for a moment, before nodding and saying thank you. That was a lot of information that would be a great help for the City. I’m sure in the future the clearing of this Dungeon will be popular request for adventures since the request itself will be sponsored by the government…actually, now that I’m thinking about it, perhaps it would be good to ban entry into it for anyone not approved by the government.

  But we don’t own it so how can I ban it?

  Well, can’t I just say I do? I can just claim the land for the City…but then we’d need to put guards there and we are nowhere near ready for that. Ah, I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, the responsibility of clearing the Dungeon will fall to myself and the boys. Good thing I was already planning on going back.

  I had already thanked Greja but as I turned to leave, she stopped me once more.

  “There was something else.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Even though a Dungeon has been confirmed to be present, one that is attuned to Death Qi could mean other things at play.”

  She was confusing me now.

  “Like what?”

  “The Undead.”

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