Chapter 202: In the Wild [1]

Loosening my joints, I cracked my neck a few times to reduce the stiffness.

I stood in silence as the teleportation passage expanded before me.

“Sir, you may proceed.”

A nearby soldier informed me as the passage stabilized.

Giving a final look to Arthur and Julien, who were present in the room, just as I was about to walk into the passage, something hard nudged me in the back.

There was no need to turn around, as I knew who it was.

“You had just returned from there.”

I spoke as Chroma walked before me, its five massive heads staring into my eyes.

Red and Green lowered themselves to touch my face before rubbing their heads against mine.

Sigh.

Well… it wasn’t like having Chroma was a disadvantage.

Even without its abilities, Chroma was powerful enough to rival soldiers of the same rank—or even higher.

But the reason I wanted to go alone was simple—I wished to test my skills in the wild, and the presence of Chroma could become an unfair advantage for me.

Its mere presence was enough to scare the monsters, as their bodies felt instinctive fear while looking at the hydra.

Still…

White and Yellow joined the other two heads as they rubbed against my shoulders, moving down to poke my stomach.

“Chroma will behave himself, so just take him with you.”

Just as I was about to discipline the hydra, Arthur spoke up, his voice filled with the same wisdom as before.

I thought for a moment before looking at Black, which simply stared into my eyes without making a move.

“Alright. And you will behave yourself.”

I made my stance clear.

The heads, as if understanding my words, nodded in agreement.

I could easily communicate with them through the connection in my mind, but the hydra was intelligent on its own.

Though it couldn’t speak, Chroma had become capable enough of understanding the language of this world.

It could easily understand conversations between people, making it one of the best spies—though, seeing Chroma’s size, I doubted its potential in that role.

Patting Red on the head, I walked towards the passage before stepping in.

Chroma followed along.

Remembering Arthur’s words, I felt a little weird.

Chroma was just a beast, so why would Arthur refer to it as ’him’?

Hm?

The moment I stepped through the passage, I was greeted by another compact space—probably another underground facility.

“Sir!”

The soldiers guarding the passage saluted me the moment I arrived.

Well… I wasn’t the only one being saluted. Many soldiers soon turned their eyes towards Chroma, saluting the beast as well.

“Number 400 reporting, Sir!”

A soldier, standing at around six feet, walked closer before thumping his chest in another salute.

“Show me the mine.”

“Yes, sir! Please follow me.”

At my command, the soldier nodded before walking out of the room we were in.

The better word would have been—tunnel.

Taking several turns, we entered another tunnel, and I was now able to clearly hear the noise of the drilling machines used to mine the mana stones.

Within a minute, we reached the mine—or rather, the part of the mine that was still usable.

There was only one known mine in this area, so all the miners were focused on extracting every single stone from it.

The first shipment alone had already drained nearly twenty percent of the total mana stone reserves present in this mine.

As I walked through the miners, observing their work, many of them paused—probably due to seeing a new face in such an environment.

Coupled with the fact that I might have looked like a kid—being escorted by a soldier—it was enough to raise questions in their minds, though none dared to voice them.

On a side note… the people who worked here were paid decently, so there had been no complaints from any of them.

On the contrary, many hoped for new mining veins to be discovered so that their work would not stop anytime soon.

My aim here wasn’t to inspect the mine, but simply to witness everything with my own eyes.

There was a different sense of satisfaction in seeing a rare item like mana stones being added to your wealth.

Hm?

The previously curious gazes of the workers soon turned into ones of distress.

Ah!

Well… Chroma was with me too, but the hydra had been here before, so I didn’t think it would cause any discomfort—

“Didn’t Arthur ever bring Chroma here?”

I asked, turning to look at the soldier, who was also staring in Chroma’s direction.

“Uh… we had only seen it—him once, when Chroma had entered through the forest. The rest of the time, he had been with Arthur out in the wild. So no—even many of the soldiers haven’t seen him. As for the miners… well—it’s their first time seeing your pet, Sir.”

Pet?

Well… it was.

And what was with this ’he’ and ’him’?

The hydra was surely getting a lot of respect and reverance.

I simply nodded at his words before inspecting the rest of the mine.

I hadn’t gone too deep, as I was here just for sightseeing.

Having gained the satisfaction I was looking for, I exited the mine without interacting with any of the workers.

Well… There was no need, as all of them were busy with their own tasks.

“Contact me if there is any situation you can’t handle.”

“Yes, sir. We have received the message about additional reinforcements being on the way.”

Hm?

Julien sure was being helpful.

As Arthur had been here before me, there was no need for additional backup to guard the mine—but now that Arthur had returned…

More soldiers were indeed needed.

The moment I used mana sense on my surroundings, I could feel monsters everywhere—though their ranks were lower in general.

Arthur must have already cleared out the stronger ones.

Nodding at the soldier’s words, I turned towards Chroma, who stood obediently at the side.

Though I wanted to challenge myself… getting a ride wouldn’t be that bad, would it?

Thinking for a moment, I walked closer before sitting atop its back, which had more than enough space for me.

The beast, getting the hint, began moving in the direction filled with the most monsters suitable for my rank.

Gold cores…

Those were now my ideal prey.

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