"Where did you learn your deadly spell anyway?" Shyam asked curiously.
Ever since he saw her using those spells that could leave anyone heartbroken—not just that, but damage you heavily!
"It's actually just your ordinary mana speech technique. I just decided to use those words because they sound cool," she replied.
But Shyam was left even more confused and curious. He didn't know what mana speech meant, but he definitely would love to know.
And maybe… he could use those spells in the future as well.
"What's mana speech?" he asked as he stared at Ravina, his eyes wide.
A whole sea of curiosity opened before him.
He didn't like Ravina all that much—not just her, but all the women he'd met so far in his journey.
But if she had something to teach, he would gladly listen.
"It's a technique where you have to use the force of the mana through your mouth. The more control you have over your mana, the better you can use it.
With the only limitation being… you will have to choose the Air Path."
After that, they talked for a few more minutes before picking up a few quests and finally leaving the village to complete them.
Before going to Vyomsetu, Shyam wanted to be at the peak of Tier Two so that he doesn't seem weak there.
After becoming a Tier Two fighter, he could now see others' tiers as well—just by their aura!
And he missed the days when he couldn't, because even the weakest fighter here was a Tier One Sub-Stage Three.
He even saw a Tier Three person here—so the people here are definitely not weak!
"What kind of quests did you pick?" Ravina asked as she and Shyam walked below the darkened forest. The sun was covered by clouds.
"Eh, just a few killing quests and a herb collection quest," Shyam replied as he activated his Herbseer ability.
But it didn't work—no light released from his body, nor did the nearby herbs start glowing as they used to.
Suddenly, he felt like someone kicked him from behind. He quickly looked back and saw Raitha hitting him with the slime stick.
"Uhm, allow me to explain, my peasant master!
After you became a Tier Two fighter, your Herbseer ability was upgraded and renamed to Verdant Vision! These are the updated features," Raitha said as she brought out a system window containing all the new features added after the upgrade of his Herbseer skill.
"You could've told me normally, you know," Shyam murmured as he looked at the system window.
But Ravina had heard him—because she had chosen Air Affinity as her path.
She could hear things farther than normal humans.
Which meant… she will be hard to get rid of!
"Who are you talking to?" she asked as she stood behind him.
"Oh! No, no one. I just talk to myself sometimes like this," he quickly made an excuse.
Though he did speak to himself from time to time…
To curse Raitha for how she fried him without any oils sometimes!
"Oh okay! Anyway, what are we waiting for here?" Ravina asked as she looked around to see if she could sense anything abnormal.
But she didn't sense or see anything that would require them to stand in a single place like an idiot.
"You can go ahead if you want. I'm trying to find a Heat Red Flower," Shyam said as he focused on the screen in front.
[ Skill Upgrade / Herbseer → Verdant Vision ]
[ Range increased by five kilometers ]
[ Can now sense Rare, Epic herbs, grass, flowers, plant trees ]
[ Information is now a little more specific ]
"A Heat Red Flower, huh?..." Ravina mumbled.
"I think I saw a few that way yesterday when I was trying to find the Blue Eagle," Ravina said as she pointed her fingers to the way where she saw the heat red flowers.
"You did? That's awesome—let's go!" Shyam said, and then they both walked toward the area where she claimed to see the Heat Red Flower.
After only a few minutes, they reached the entrance of a small cave. The inside wasn't dark, and some red glowing flowers could be seen even from outside.
It shined bright—maybe because it was dark outside, or maybe because it was one of its properties.
But whatever the reason was, it still looked fire—like literally!
"Verdant Vision," Shyam mumbled to confirm that the flower really was a Heat Red Flower.
A faint green light spread from Shyam's body, as if a radar signal was sent to achieve information on the things around.
Suddenly, many trees, plants, and even grass started glowing. Some white, some green.
But the flowers which Ravina believed were Heat Red Flowers glowed with blue—indicating they were rare flowers.
But no system window appeared on any of the plants or grass, unlike the other times when he used the Herbseer ability.
Before, he used to get information on top of the plant or herb. This time… they just glowed.
Shyam still walked to the Heat Red Flower. Despite no information, they glowed blue, which meant they were rare.
Even if they weren't Heat Red Flowers, they were still rare—and rare means expensive.
No wonder the quest would reward ten silver coins for each Heat Red Flower.
Suddenly, the moment Shyam touched the flower, a blue system window popped up.
It had the name of the flower written on it, along with its rarity.
"So I gotta touch it to see its rarity now?" he mumbled.
Before, the information just popped up even if he didn't look at them—just by using the Herbseer ability.
This new upgrade was both good and bad.
Good because now he wouldn't be overwhelmed with unnecessary information, and his eyes could rest peacefully.
Bad because if there came a time when he couldn't touch the plant or herb he needed, he wouldn't get its information.
Low possibility, sure—but a possibility.
But oh well…
To get something, one must lose something at the same time.
Shyam held the Heat Red Flower right from the root, and just when he was about to pick it up—
An arrow passed just an inch from his fingers.
Shyam quickly let go of the stem and ducked back to see who attacked him.
Surprisingly, three people stood at the entrance:
A woman with a bow—probably the one who shot the arrow—and two men with swords standing there like they would kill him just for touching the flower.
Ravina rushed beside Shyam, seeing them block the entrance, but she—as expected—wasn't scared a bit.
Rather, it seemed she wished for a fight.
To show these people what happens when someone challenges her.
"Hey, that was dangerous, you know!" Shyam said.
"Well, if you're scared, then give up that flower and go back to your mom. Maybe even cry about it," one of the men replied as he raised his sword as if getting ready to attack at any moment.
"Give up? We were the first to see it! I don't like to play with lives," Shyam replied as he tightened his grip on his sword.
He couldn't just give up and go back to the village after doing so much to reach Tier 2, right?
Not to mention—they were the ones in the wrong here.
He didn't find it problematic to injure them.
Though he wouldn't want to kill them either. For that, they had done nothing.
Not to mention, from the moment Golakar gave him the title { Assistant Pathforger } and a badge with it, he—for some reason—felt as though killing, even the evil, should not be done unless absolutely necessary.
But they didn't listen to any of it.
As if Shyam's words meant nothing to them as long as they got what they needed.
"We don't wanna play with lives either. Not when we can have fun with this beautiful young lady as much as we feel like after we take you down!" the other man shouted as he dashed toward Shyam.
Doing so revealed his mana, after which Shyam figured out that man's tier—at the peak of Tier One.
Shyam raised his sword, ready to defend Ravina.
But how could she stay calm when this man disrespected her in a way no one ever dared to?
Before Shyam could react to the sudden attack, Ravina dashed toward the man and sliced through his hand.
The man screamed in pain as his hand fell off.
She had chopped it down—and now pointed her sword at his neck.
The man fell to the ground, screaming for help so loud even the birds ran off.
"No… no way!" the other man mumbled, then hid behind the woman with the bow.
"Please kill this woman!" he shouted.
The woman loaded her bow, pushed the arrow back, aiming straight at Ravina, and then woosh—she released it with all her strength.
But then suddenly—
A big slime suddenly spawned out of nowhere and absorbed the arrow inside it like it was the slime's afternoon snack.
"What the fuck!" the woman shouted as she quickly put the bow back onto her back and ran so fast she disappeared in just a few moments.
The other man did the same—and left their teammate behind like he didn't matter in the first place.
"Pathetic," Ravina muttered as she spit on the man whose hand she chopped off.
He fainted just moments after his hand was cut off.
Blood still flooded the dry dirt, making it red.
"And... what should we do with him now?" Shyam whispered.
His hands shook—both with shock and fear.
He just wished she would never point her sword at him… or else he might actually die.
He now had two things to fear—and both from Ravina:
One was her unreal spell.
The other was her sword skill.
"Cut off his tongue so he never speaks bad of women.
And then cut off his di—no wait, that's going too far," Ravina replied softly, as if she didn't just talk about cutting off a man's treasure.
After that, she just casually chopped off the man's tongue.
The intense pain woke him up, but that same pain made him faint again.
Shyam closed his eyes and just went to pick up the Heat Red Flower.
---
Ch-40