"A Level 13 beast? You've got to be kidding me."
Someone gritted their teeth, their expression shifting in disbelief.
"You think I'm joking?"
The middle-aged guide fixed his gaze on the speaker, his voice cold.
"Commander-level beasts emit a dark force field that affects all living beings within a certain radius.
You were just now affected by the Level 13 beast's force field, which caused your loss of control."
Hearing this, many faces below turned pale with horror.
Merely the influence of a force field had caused so many Level 12 elites to attack each other, nearly sparking an internal conflict.
Level 12 and Level 13 were only one rank apart—could the gap truly be that vast?
At that moment, the round-faced fat man standing beside the middle-aged guide spoke up,
"It's not as exaggerated as you imagine. The primary reason lies within yourselves. If, after obtaining the beast crystal core, you hadn't swallowed it directly but instead waited until returning to base to learn the special secret technique before absorbing it, the impact wouldn't have been so severe..."
Hearing this, the crowd finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Someone caught the phrasing in the chubby man's words and blurted out, "If absorbing the crystal core requires a special secret technique, why didn't you mention it earlier? Why didn't you teach it to us sooner?"
"Exactly! Then we wouldn't have wasted our energy fighting each other..."
Hearing the murmurs of discontent below, the chubby man sneered coldly.
"Our job was only to escort you back to base. I'm not your father—why should I freely impart secret techniques to you? Besides, my companion warned you long ago to be cautious when absorbing crystal cores. You simply chose to ignore him. To put it bluntly, until you return to base, none of you even qualify as recruits."
The complainers immediately fell silent.
It was true—the middle-aged guide had warned them earlier, but they hadn't listened. They had no one to blame but themselves.
As tempers gradually cooled, the group finally refocused on the matter at hand.
"There's a Level 13 beast nearby. What should we do now?"
The two guides remained surprisingly composed. The middle-aged guide reassured the group,
"Don't worry, it's not as bad as you imagine. We have specialized reconnaissance methods that can pinpoint the approximate location from the energy field. We'll just need to take a detour. As long as we're not exceptionally unlucky, nothing unexpected will happen."
"What do you mean by 'exceptionally unlucky'?"
Someone asked.
The round-faced guide spoke calmly:
"For instance, if that commander-level beast suddenly decides to change its position on a whim and happens to cross paths with us while we're taking a detour. Or, if our entire group just happens to be targeted by the enemy."
Silence fell.
A Level 13 beast? This was no joke. Everyone fell quiet.
Of course, some caught on, their eyes darting toward Lu Sheng. After all, it was Saya who'd first mentioned the Level 13 beast. But most eyes were fixed on Tang Dun. After all, within the trio, both Saya and Lu Sheng were merely Level 11.
No one believed mere Level 11s could have spotted the commander-level beast's presence before them. Even the two guides glanced at Tang Dun a few extra times, though their attention was quickly diverted elsewhere.
The Four-Colored Crystal's influence over mental control and emotions. And the two beside him, Saya and Tang Dun, served as his perfect test subjects.
"Why did we stop again?"
Someone in the group couldn't help but grumble. But grumbling aside, no one voiced discontent; all obediently followed orders. The two guides stood at the front of the group, huddled together in serious discussion.
Such occurrences had become increasingly common lately.
Under the guides' lead, the party's route grew erratic. They would halt intermittently, the duration of each stop varying wildly. Sometimes it was over in a moment, other times it lasted half a day.
They still encountered packs of beasts along the way, but the group no longer rushed to attack. Instead, they avoided them whenever possible—a complete reversal from before.
"Lu Sheng, do you think we might actually encounter a Level 13 beast? What if we do?"
The trio sat together. Saya sat on the ground, his face clouded with worry, his eyes flickering with fear. Even his lowered hands trembled slightly.
Tang Dun, seated beside him, wore a cheerful expression. He shot Saya a disdainful glance and sneered, "You're an eleventh-level beast tamer, for crying out loud. Why are you so scared?"
"Aren't you worried at all?"
Saya retorted defiantly.
Tang Dun chuckled in reply, "Of course I am. In fact, I'm quite delighted." "Delighted about what?"
"Before we set out, my wife just gave birth to our eighth child..."
"Who knows how many more there'll be when I get home? Ha ha."
Saya scratched the back of his head in confusion, muttering, "Your wife having kids while you're away—is that really something to be happy about?"
"Don't sweat the small stuff, bro. Ha ha."
Tang Dun slapped Saya's shoulder hard, laughing so hard he could barely contain himself.
Lu Sheng remained silent nearby, quietly observing their reactions while silently analyzing them in his mind. Saya's fear and Tang Dun's joy both stemmed from his own hand. He was secretly using his psychic power to guide the shifts in their emotions.
So far, the results were quite satisfactory.
Hearing Tang Dun talk about children, Lu Sheng couldn't help but think of Dong Qingxue, far away on the gestation planet, and the unborn child within her.
"I wonder if the child will have been born by the time I return to the Yamuxing Sector."
Lu Sheng retrieved his communicator from his storage bracelet and fiddled with it for a moment. Finding it still showed no signal, he put it back.
Upon entering the Battlefield, all his connections to the outside world had been severed instantly. It must be a peculiarity of the Battlefield's space.
"Alright, prepare to move out!"
At that moment, the guide's voice came from ahead. The group, long accustomed to this, rose to their feet. But just as the party prepared to move forward, Saya suddenly seemed to discover something extraordinary, uttering a surprised exclamation—"Huh?!"