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After dinner, Sam headed out into the wilderness and cast Undead Summoning, calling forth a massive flock of Hell Crows.
This was a low-tier summoning spell he'd bought from the Super-Dimensional Mercenary Guild's marketplace using his token.
He chose a low-level spell for one simple reason: it was meant for scouting.
And besides, he had a cheat.
He planned to let the King of Wisdom upgrade the spell later. That alone would save him a huge amount of dimensional coins.
What he completely forgot was that the King of Wisdom was basically a bug.
It didn't just upgrade skills. It could straight-up create new ones.
Which meant he could've skipped buying the spell altogether.
Unfortunately, Sam hadn't fully realized that yet. Or rather, it just hadn't crossed his mind.
And the King of Wisdom itself was an auxiliary system, the lazy type at that.
Still, after integrating part of Hell's abilities and refining the spell Sam bought, the King of Wisdom created a scouting-type undead skill: Hell Crow.
And honestly? The results were excellent.
Low energy cost, massive numbers. Perfect for reconnaissance.
The downside was that the crows had zero combat ability.
Their strengths were simple: fast flight, sharp perception, and overwhelming numbers.
Whenever a crow died, all the intel it gathered would be transmitted back to the three-eyed crow that stayed by Sam's side.
If Sam wanted information, he just had to ask it.
"You really are a strange bunch," Liu Erlong said from the side after watching all this. "You clearly used soul skills, but I didn't see any martial souls or soul rings appear."
"Some kind of hidden-type soul tool?"
"Haha," Sam rubbed the back of his head. "The world's a big place. There's a lot out there you and I don't know."
Liu Erlong nodded in agreement.
No one dared claim they knew everything. Not even gods.
"So," she said with a smile, "want to go for a stroll with me?"
She looked at Sam. "Even though we're close to the Star Dou Great Forest, it's still lively at night."
This was the first time Sam had ever been invited out by a girl. He froze for a second, then nodded after snapping back to reality.
Wow. First time going shopping with a girl. Kinda exciting, not gonna lie.
…
The Star Dou Great Forest lay south of the Heaven Dou Empire, spanning two major empires. Because of the sheer number of soul beasts, this area had the vaguest national borders.
On the map, most of the forest technically lay within the Star Luo Empire. Of course, Heaven Dou had never acknowledged that.
As one of the three major wild soul beast habitats, it was the place soul masters most longed to visit. Every trip here usually meant a breakthrough in cultivation.
But the group visiting today clearly wasn't here for that reason.
"Whoa… no matter how many times I see this, these trees still look ridiculously expensive," Wu Liuqi squinted greedily at the towering, bizarre trees.
Should he secretly cut one down and take it back?
Trees this big had to be worth a fortune.
Maybe even put one on display?
Someone would definitely pay just to look at it, right?
Ideas kept popping into his head.
No one knew how many years the Star Dou Great Forest had existed, but the moment you stepped inside, the dense canopy blocking out the sky told you everything you needed to know.
"If it weren't for the commission, this would actually be a pretty great place to visit," Sam said.
A cool breeze drifted toward him, carrying the fresh scent of plants. It was unbelievably refreshing.
He took a deep breath, and it felt like every pore in his body opened up. For the first time in ages, he felt this kind of pure comfort just from breathing.
"A tree that big? Even if you cut it down, how are you planning to carry it back?" Liu Erlong rolled her eyes at Wu Liuqi. "On your shoulders? You trying to work yourself to death?"
She was used to his wild ideas by now.
Liu Erlong had been invited along by Sam.
The outermost trees of the Star Dou Great Forest were all over twenty meters tall. The dense forest had no clear paths, shadows layered upon shadows, and you couldn't see what lay deeper inside.
On top of that, the forest was filled with countless bizarre soul beasts. No one knew whether some had mutated through spatial rifts and become terrifyingly strong.
If fighting could be avoided, Sam wanted to avoid it.
Better safe than sorry.
Everyone agreed.
"The Star Dou Great Forest isn't like those government-run soul beast reserves," Liu Erlong said seriously as she rode the undead soul beast Sam had summoned. "The soul beasts here are extremely dangerous. You could be attacked by thousand-year or even ten-thousand-year soul beasts at any time."
"So once we enter the forest, no one is to attack soul beasts lightly."
"....."