According to Baozi, the period after the start of summer each year is the breeding season for magical beasts. Usually, at this time, the magical beasts gather in the center of the Crimson Forest and only slowly move to the outer edges of the Crimson Forest as winter approaches.
Humans, though known as invincible explorers, would be quite different if they were allowed to venture into the heart of the Crimson Forest...
Well, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was like throwing a meat bun to a dog.
"Baozi, let me ask you, how big is the Crimson Forest exactly?" Shi Tou suddenly remembered a crucial question. She had always thought that the Dwarf Kingdom was located in the center of the Crimson Forest, but later learned that the Dwarf Kingdom was actually located on the outer perimeter. However, after hearing what Baozi said, Shi Tou suddenly felt that the Crimson Forest might be much larger than she had imagined.
"Hehe, the Crimson Forest is mainly divided into four areas! The most important core area is a forbidden zone for humans. It is said that even ten level nine mages working together cannot break into the core area! Then there is the inner perimeter surrounding the core area. You have been to the inner perimeter before, Master. There are many magical beasts there, and there is a rule in the inner perimeter that pregnant magical beasts and magical beasts in their infancy cannot be harmed. So, when magical beasts reach the time of giving birth, they will gather in the inner perimeter!"
"And there's the outer area. The Dwarf Kingdom is located on the edge of the Crimson Forest. Although there are magical beasts there, there are relatively few during the breeding season!" Baozi chattered on, completely unaware that Shi Tou was already sweating profusely from fright.
Good heavens! Could it be that the reason I wasn't attacked by any magical beasts in the Crimson Forest was because I was lucky enough to be there during their breeding season?! In other words, if Huo Qian hadn't forced me to leave, I might have become some magical beast's excrement in a month?!
"Gaga, the outermost area is the outer edge region. The tree hole where the master lives is in the outer edge region! Generally speaking, the outer edge region is not dangerous. Although there are many wild beasts, there are very few magical beasts. The highest-ranking one is only a third-rank Crimson Flame Bird!"
Although it was meant to comfort her, Stone was still quite frightened. She belatedly realized that being alone in the Crimson Forest was actually very dangerous!
"But what does that have to do with when humans entered the Crimson Forest?" Stone swallowed hard and wiped away a bead of cold sweat as he asked.
Baozi continued his lecture: "Hehe, of course it's related! Once winter comes, the monsters' breeding season ends, and they can no longer stay in the inner area. The monsters will all come to the outer area! You know, the outer area is hundreds of times larger than the inner area. Once the monsters enter the outer area, it's time for humans to hunt them!"
hunting……
Stone suddenly had a whimsical thought: I wonder if there are any wildlife protection laws in this world?
"Hehe, more importantly, the Blood Pearl Fruit is ripe!" Baozi started shaking its folds vigorously: "Beautiful Blood Pearl Fruit, fragrant Blood Pearl Fruit, Blood Pearl Fruit that can awaken fire-type talents in humans!"
A thought struck Stone: Wasn't the Blood Pearl Fruit the reason Baozi had made him fabricate a story to come to the Crimson Forest? "Baozi, does the Blood Pearl Fruit bloom in winter?"
"Giggle, it's blooming?" Baozi stopped convulsing. "The Blood Pearl Fruit is a fruit! How can it bloom?"
⊙﹏⊙b Khan!
"Slip of the tongue! I meant that Blood Pearl Fruit only ripens in winter?"
"Hehe, yes! The Blood Pearl Fruit ripens when the first snow falls! As long as you swallow a Blood Pearl Fruit, even a fire-type trash can become a fire-type genius!" Baozi started showing off again, as if it were the fire-type genius.
Stone disagreed. She knew that anything, once mass-produced, would become worthless: "If that's the case, then there must be a lot of fire mages among humans, right?"
"Huh? Why? There are more earth magic users among humans!" Baozi looked at the stone strangely and asked, puzzled.
Earth magician? Stone suddenly remembered that Baozi was also an earth magician, and was immediately horrified: "You, you, you!" After taking several steps back, Stone asked with a look of horror, "Are you an earth magician?"
"Huh? Baozi is an earth-type magical creature!"
"Isn't that the same thing?!" Stone suddenly felt deceived. Was this bastard bun actually a human in his past life? After the human died, his soul was attached to a bun. Yes, that must be it!
If Baozi knew what Shitou was thinking right now, he'd be glaring at Shitou with a bloodshot face. Seriously?! What human would be so stupid as to possess a Baozi's body?!
╮(╯_╰)╭ This is really powerful.
"Gaga, Master! Magicians are one of the rulers of the world, while magical creatures are pets for magicians to amuse themselves. You say they are the same?!" Baozi felt that the owner of the new body was like a different person with a different brain. Not only was he becoming more and more unreliable, but he also had a lot of strange and bizarre ideas.
"Are you really not human?" Stone asked again, confirming.
If Baozi had hands, it would definitely make a ferocious table-flipping motion: "Gah! Baozi is Baozi! Baozi is the treacherous, cunning, despicable, and shameless human being! Whoever says Baozi is human, Baozi will beat them up!"
That's some serious resentment. Fine, we'll believe you're not human...
Chapter 101 The Stone Bess Family
"Hey, Master, stop thinking about all this nonsense! What you should be concerned about now is how to get through this!" Big Bun suppressed the urge to spit out the filling and earnestly advised Stone.
Stone scratched his head, puzzled, not understanding why Baozi would suddenly say that: "What? Why do you want to get away with it?"
"Hehe, Master, you don't want to impersonate a noble lady so that someone will send you to the capital, do you? Then we need to double-check your identity!" Baozi lectured in a rare serious tone.
"Didn't I already take care of the fake identity? Is there still a problem?" Stone still didn't understand what Baozi meant.
Baozi was conflicted. Before, when it heard Shi Tou give it a noble name, it thought Shi Tou knew, but now, seeing this, oh dear…
Under Baozi's lecture, Shitou finally understood what mistake she had made. No wonder the old woman and Erniu were so respectful to her; they must have thought she was a noble lady! Good heavens!
"Is it a crime to impersonate a nobleman?" Stone looked at Baozi with a fearful expression.
Baozi said with a hint of resentment, "Hehe, impersonating a nobleman is a crime, a capital offense! But Master doesn't mind!"
Stone was no longer calm: "What do you mean by 'how I am related'? Don't keep bringing up my past identity. The key point is that, apart from you... uh, and Huoqian, no one will acknowledge my identity."
"Hehe, that's not what Baozi meant! Baozi just wanted to tell Master that impersonating a nobleman with a title is a capital offense, but if Master is just impersonating a young lady from a noble family, then it's okay!" Baozi explained innocently.
Upon hearing this, Stone was immediately relieved. "Hmm, it seems the human kingdoms of this other world are quite reasonable after all. Not bad, not bad."
"Hehe, Master, the most important thing for you is to think of a reliable surname and a specific identity within the family! Also, you need to quickly learn how to use mental power. It's impossible for a noble lady not to know how to use mental power!" Baozi kindly reminded him.
Although he found Baozi's sudden kindness strange, Shi Tou still followed her advice; acquiring a noble status for himself was a harmless and beneficial thing. However, he had to be careful at all times. He couldn't let the secret slip.
"Baozi, can you help me think of a surname?" Stone knew absolutely nothing about the surnames of humans in this other world. Moreover, it had to be a noble surname. That made things even more difficult for Stone.
Ultimately, with Baozi's help, Shi Tou decided that his full name would be: Serena Beth. According to Baozi, the Beth family is an ancient family with a history of over three thousand years. He had heard of this family even before it fell into slumber. Moreover, compared to other complex noble families in the capital, the Beth family was not considered a particularly high-ranking noble family.
The Beth family, skilled in business and finance, may not be a first-rate noble family, but due to their long history, they still hold a certain position in the capital. More importantly, the Beth family has a clan rule that is very beneficial to stone.
All the children of the family, except for the eldest son of the direct line, are fostered by other families during their childhood. They then learn a skill, such as potion making, alchemy, or blacksmithing. Upon reaching adulthood, only those who pass a skill examination are allowed to return to the main family.
"Huh? If that's the case, doesn't that mean anyone can impersonate a member of the Beth family?" Stone couldn't understand this strange family rule at all.
"Hehe, no way! The Beth family has its own methods to identify whether someone is a member of their family!" Baozi announced smugly. "Wahahaha, Master must have forgotten that Master told Baozi how to impersonate someone from the Beth family before!"
"Really!" Stone's eyes lit up immediately. Not bad, not bad. If it's about impersonating someone who has never left the family, she's quite confident: "Then what member of the Beth family should I impersonate?"
Baozi hesitated for a moment, her face wrinkled, before speaking: "Hehe, too noble won't do! Too lowly won't do either! How about you pretend to be the young lady from the current clan leader's brother's family, Master?"
To be honest, it's a pretty good idea. However, Baozi didn't seem to have considered what would happen if the current clan leader didn't have any brothers. When I told Baozi about my concerns, he didn't seem to care at all.
It turns out that the Beth family has a clan rule: any member not recognized by the family loses the opportunity to rank within the family. In other words, unless the current head of the Beth family is the only male in his generation, he must have brothers, and nominally, they are all blood brothers.
After hesitating for a while, Shi Tou finally accepted this identity. In any case, it seemed that this family was the most suitable for Shi Tou to impersonate.
"But why do you want me to learn mental power? Don't I know forging? I can't speak for anything else, but when it comes to forging, I'm definitely top-notch among humans." Stone proudly raised his head.
But immediately, Baozi doused Shi Tou with cold water: "Hehe, blacksmithing is a skill, not a profession!"
Skills? Profession?
Seeing Shi Tou's expression, Bao Zi knew that she didn't understand what he meant at all, so he had no choice but to patiently explain again.
In this world, there are only two professions: magician and martial arts master.
Skills—countless skills are available for you to choose from. Of course, if you think you're a genius, you can also choose to practice countless skills at the same time.
Blinking her eyes, Stone struggled to process this information: "So, what is spiritual power?" Shouldn't it be magic? She didn't dare ask this question, afraid that if she made a mistake, Baozi would discover that its owner had been switched.
"Hehe, mental strength is a latent talent, usually innate, and there are very few methods to cultivate it! Moreover, whether it's a magician or a martial arts master, they all have mental strength. The stronger the mental strength, the smoother the path to advancement will be!"
Stone lowered her head and thought for a moment. She vaguely remembered that opening the quest in Kagaral also required mental power. After a moment of silence, she decided that since she had already come to this world, she must abide by its rules: "Okay, teach me how to use mental power!"
And so, Stone entered into a life of hardship and torment.
Could Baozi be a teacher? Well, it had never been before. So, did it understand mental power? Obviously, it did, but its level was unknown. Stone later wondered more than once if Baozi's cruelty towards her was revenge for repeatedly assaulting her anus.
However, regardless of the circumstances, the stone's spiritual power was indeed activated: "Baozi, how do you know all this?"
"Giggle, because Master fed Baozi lots and lots of things!" Baozi answered Stone's question honestly, and even added another answer: "Master is very stupid, he can never remember what the teacher taught! So Master made Baozi eat all those books, and then when it's time for the exam, Master can ask Baozi questions!"
Stone was covered in sweat. So Baozi's god-like owner used to cheat!
"Baozi, I've already activated my mental power. Didn't you say that mental power is divided into several levels? Which level do I belong to?" Shi Tou looked at Baozi nervously. Being a non-original, she was constantly worried that she would suddenly be exposed one day. Baozi had once said that mental power was related to the soul. In other words, if her mental power was too weak, she couldn't use the excuse of switching bodies to get away with it.
"Huh?!" Baozi suddenly screamed and fell silent.
Stone was genuinely frightened by the steamed bun, but she didn't dare poke it right now. After a long while, the steamed bun slowly spoke: "Giggle? Isn't it said that spiritual power follows the soul?"
One sentence was enough to make Shi Tou break out in a cold sweat. Could she really be a good-for-nothing? Oh no, is Baozi starting to doubt her?
"Hehe, Master, after your soul left your body, did something else happen?" After hesitating for a long time, Baozi asked hesitantly.
There's a chance!
Stone's mind raced: "Yes! It seems like something happened! But what happened? Let me think, let me think carefully!"
Baozi stared intently at Shitou, who was tugging hard at her hair, without saying a word.
Shi Tou was so engrossed in Bao Zi's stare that his scalp was about to explode. Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer: "Um, I don't think I remember clearly."
"Huh?! You can't remember?! How can Master not remember?!" Baozi got angry, and then it made a gesture that would make Stone vomit blood.
The bun opened its pleats. Then the filling bounced wildly across the opened skin. It was a madcap meat filling!
"Well, I really don't remember. But methods to improve mental strength are rare, though not nonexistent!" Stone said with a sheepish smile to Baozi.
But Baozi was still acting like a madman: "Gaga, how rare! Master, you know how rare a method to improve mental strength is! Since that's the case, how could you not think of this method? As long as Master remembers this method, we can make as much money as we want!"
+_+ What does that mean?!
Perhaps it was the stone's dizzy expression that provoked Baozi, who burst out cursing: "Gah! Master is so stupid! He finally managed to more than double his mental strength, but he forgot how he did it! So stupid, so stupid..." This went on in an endless loop.
Chapter 102 The Terrifying Armory
Double your mental strength...
Stone was utterly dumbfounded. Damn, is this really a perk of time travel?!
"Baozi, do you mean my mental strength has doubled, not halved?" Stone still felt this was rather unreliable, so he confirmed it again.
Seeing the steamed bun bouncing up and down decisively, Stone finally accepted the reality: "Hmm, it seems I really am a genius."
Baozi rolled her eyes without hesitation: "Hehe, Master, you'd better hurry up and learn basic magic! Otherwise, no matter how high the price you offer, those humans won't take you to the capital. They'll just rob you of all your money!"
"That's very likely," Stone nodded knowingly. "Then hurry up and teach me magic!"
"Hehe, didn't Baozi give Master the basic magic book before? Has Master forgotten again?" Baozi was horrified. It didn't care about giving it to it again, but the memory extraction that made Baozi's anus hurt!