Above The Sky
Chapter 432 - 432 402

432: 402 432: 402 After leaving the Leyan Territory, Ian’s luggage had increased significantly.

Aside from various sundries and supplies, alchemy materials, and floral teas that were special to Leyan City, Ian’s greatest find was this tiger skin from a Sharp Claw Tiger.

Theoretically, the skin of a Sharp Claw Tiger is a kind of Demonic Beast Material, but just like alloy metal, it is also incredibly durable.

Of course, for Terra People, even real metal could be chewed with ease, but expecting an alchemist to refine tiger skin into Magical Medicine Ingredients…

the cost is too high and the benefit too low, making it impractical.

However, its value is exceptionally high.

Tiger skin cushions, tiger skin overcoats, or tiger skin wall hangings are highly desired luxury and stylish decorations among Nobles and the wealthy.

Especially in South Ridge, the nobility here aren’t as genteelly scholastic or highbrow.

Rather than exquisite statues from the City of Knowledge or Elf Wall Decors, they prefer something wilder like Magical Beasts’ skulls and hides.

“The tiger skin is in perfect condition, I feel it could sell for over two hundred and thirty Talles,” said Ian, nodding slightly in agreement.

“Once we reach Twin Trees Town and sell this skin, we won’t be short on travel or food expenses—This trip around the Leyan Territory, I haven’t spent a penny, in fact, I’ve earned a fair amount.”

Food expenses are quite an important aspect for Sublimators when they are traveling.

As a Sublimator, diet is indeed a crucial part of life—Ian, in Harrison Port, relied on hunting various Magical Beasts and acquiring high-quality nutrition from them to accumulate Origin Quality.

Ian’s Primordial Seed conversion rate was more than twice the efficiency of an ordinary person.

At first, this gap doesn’t seem significant because the amount of Primordial Seed one can store is limited; at most, after two hours of intense training, others might need two hours to recover while he only needed one.

If others train six times a day without sleep, he could train eight times.

Besides, it’s impossible and unscientific for anyone to train continuously for twenty-four hours a day, not to mention it’s harmful to the body.

So the advantage in Primordial Seeds requires years of accumulation to show a significant disparity.

At Ian’s age, even if he was stronger than his peers, the difference wouldn’t be too great.

However, because he possessed the Ancient Dragon Heart Core, Ian could store all this doubled conversion amount within the Heart Core.

“I still have enough Origin Quality left for sixty-eight hours of full combat,” Ian sensed his own body.

The recent battle with Baron Leyan and that following official had cost him about as much Origin Quality as he would typically use in ten minutes of combat.

Provided that he could replenish it with sufficiently high-quality food, it would take only about ten to twenty minutes to recover.

And how to get better-quality food?

Other than buying it, the only way was to make it himself.

The silver lining was that although his cooking skills may not compare to his previous life, the Terra World’s cuisine was rich and diverse, thanks to many new and wonderful ingredients.

As evening approached, Ian settled his Camel Beast to one side, then kindled a campfire in the woods and set up two small pots—one boiling a piece of South Ridge cured meat, and the other with chopped onions and crushed berries—emitting intertwining steam.

On a nearby spit, a hapless rabbit that had run into Ian’s hands was being roasted, looking incredibly cute and juicy, smeared with a layer of Dawnlight Honey—a Leyan Town specialty—wafting a mouthwatering aroma.

Ian intended to make some onion sauce, but that required tomatoes and beef broth; however, using the South Ridge cured meat, which had a similar texture to ham, wasn’t a bad substitute.

After allowing the soups in both pots to reduce a little, he skimmed the scum off the cured meat broth and mixed it into the onion sauce.

He then added a bit of salt and spices and continued to simmer it.

As for the roasted rabbit, the meat had little fat, yet it was incredibly tender and smooth.

If roasted properly, the flavor would be extraordinarily delicate and delightful.

This amount of food was actually not enough for Ian alone—let alone eating it, he could probably consume it all with just a sip and a bite.

But there was no need to worry, for he hadn’t built a fire to cook in the wilderness just to dine alone.

Rustling…

The underbrush parted to make a pathway, and a tall young man leading a small horse came to Ian’s campfire.

His skin had a healthy wheatish hue, wild red hair cascading over his shoulders and back, and a pair of incredibly bright, forest-green eyes that shone like firelight in the woods, confirming his lineage with the South Ridge Mountain People.

“Pardon me, mysterious knight, handsome youth,” said the Mountain Man, leading his horse, watching Ian busy with the sauce, and speaking in a slightly unpracticed Common Tongue, “The night is long, and it’s too lonely and dangerous to spend alone.

May I have the honor of camping with you?”

Raising his head, Ian blinked, holding back from pointing out at least three major mistakes the stranger just made in disguising his identity.

Suppressing a smile, he pointed at his pots and said, “You’re welcome, stranger, but you see, you have no luggage, hence no provisions, and my food is not plentiful.”

“If you’re willing to share such a meager meal with me, then naturally, I don’t mind,” Ian said.

“I don’t have food?” The Mountain Person man was startled for a moment, then burst into laughter, “Yes, of course, food.”

“Please wait a moment.”

Having said that, he put down the reins of the small horse, which he had held without even daring to breathe heavily, turned around, and walked back into the woods.

Ian watched as the other walked away and sighed with a smile.

Although he looked like a Human, his common language was not very fluent.

Despite being a Mountain Person, he did not have their accent; instead, he had a touch of an Elf’s inflection.

Not to mention, his skin tone, hair color, and eye color were almost identical to the Mountain Person Lubeck that Ian knew, but his character model was a mix of Elves and Golden Folk, the kind of beauty that Viscount Grant would like…

It seemed like he was created based on someone’s hobbies.

Of course, what was most important was that Ian saw a pale blue light emanating from this mysterious fellow—

the light of the Third Energy Level.

[Terra Star symmetric carbon-based Sublimated life-form (remotely controlled prosthetic body)]

[First Energy Level·Mature Form·Ordinary·Innate Intelligent Organism·Starfield’s Main Intelligent Lifeform·Spirit Energy-devoid individual]

[Body material…

Sublimation change…

Undergoing Dragon Blood sublimated transformation]

[Strength Level: Ordinary]

[Contained Primordial Essence: 645.2633 basic units]

[…]

This peculiar Mountain Person suddenly appeared behind Ian after he had lifted his head to watch the dragon fly toward the Firmament and began to predict future trends; from then on, he followed Ian from a distance.

His ability to conceal his tracks was quite good; it could even be said that if Ian had not possessed the Fairy Perception of the Second Energy Level, and just happened to be using Foresight View to predict the future while casually scanning his surroundings, he wouldn’t have been able to detect the other at all.

— What’s going on, why is a weirdo of the Third Energy Level suddenly following me?

Ian, who was preparing to head to Twin Trees Town at the time, immediately slowed down—though the other did not seem to have any ill intent, suddenly having a pale blue powerhouse following you would surely make anyone feel uncomfortable, right?

Uncomfortable he indeed was, but the youngster was not nervous.

Because afterwards, he saw that the whole person of this Mountain Person man was a decoy, a ‘decoy body’, or as the Silver Chip would call it, a ‘remotely controlled prosthetic body.’

And the power of this remotely controlled body was only at the First Energy Level; it was only because the quality of the core inside was so high that it appeared pale blue in the Foresight View—indicating that the existence behind him had to be at least at the Third Energy Level.

The other had no ill intent towards him, nor the power to pose a threat.

According to Foresight View, he just wanted to have a chat…

If so, why not indulge him?

With this thought in mind, Ian continued patiently to simmer the sauce.

Until some time later, the Mountain Person returned, carrying a Pinecone Wild Boar that had just dropped dead, half as large as a person.

“Look!” He carelessly dropped the boar to one side and proudly said, “The food should be sufficient now.”

“Now, may I camp with you?”

“Of course.” Raising an eyebrow, Ian smiled and nodded at the Mountain Person: “This is enough for us to have a meal.”

“Please take a seat, my friend, such a plentiful feast should make for a very pleasant night,” he offered.