Seraphina, ever the organized one, went through their final equipment checklist with the air of a seasoned quartermaster. "Psionic Armor, standard light combat issue, capable of resisting a full-power blow from an F-rank beast, or at least significantly mitigating the damage."
"Wearing it," Ethan and Marcus chorused, adjusting the surprisingly comfortable, form-fitting gear.
"Psionic daggers, monomolecular edge, sharp enough to cut a hair blown across the blade and even slice through stone with sufficient force."
"Got it," they confirmed, checking the sheathes at their belts.
"Strategic backpacks, constructed from advanced nanite-level materials, highly expandable for carrying capacity and already filled with essential supplies – rations, water purifiers, med-kits."
"On our backs," they responded, shrugging into the surprisingly lightweight packs.
"Identification documents."
"Got it."
Ethan frowned slightly. "Wait a minute, Seraphina. We actually have to do real-name registration just to leave the city? I thought we were being sneaky."
Seraphina rolled her eyes. "Of course, you doofus. The security situation is incredibly tense these days, and the entire area outside the city walls is teeming with monstrous beasts. If you go out and, gods forbid, don't come back, at least the authorities will know who officially went missing and where to start not looking. Moreover," she added, her tone more serious, "if some unscrupulous people from those evil cults try to sneak dangerous monstrous beasts into the city, or smuggle forbidden materials out, the registration system at least helps narrow down the range for finding the culprits."
Ethan still looked puzzled. "Would those cultists really be stupid enough to try and sneak monstrous beasts in through the main, heavily guarded gate using their real IDs?"
Seraphina shrugged. "This I don't know for sure. Probably not, but desperate people do desperate things. Anyway, it's the official city regulation, a strict one, so we just have to honestly comply. No way around it if we want to pass through the checkpoints."
"But what if those cultists do use their real identities for some reason?" Ethan pressed. "Wouldn't their families be notified if they were caught doing something illegal?"
"They typically only notify the family after they've completely lost contact with the individual for a prolonged period and have officially confirmed their death or irrefutable involvement in treasonous activities," Seraphina explained patiently.
Marcus, who had been listening quietly, interjected, "But you guys, our families, aren't exactly ordinary people with no connections. If we go missing, they'll know something's up much faster."
Seraphina sighed, a flicker of her earlier reckless determination returning. "Look, don't be so overly suspicious and paranoid. It's a standard procedure. Alright, alright, let's just go. The longer we delay, the more chance there is of something going wrong with our actual plan."
The three of them, looking like a fledgling mercenary team, arrived at the massive city gate. They handed their identification cards to the stern-faced city guard soldiers on duty for inspection.
One of the guards, a grizzled veteran with a kind face, scanned their IDs and then looked them up and down. "I need to remind you three; the environment outside the city walls is extremely dangerous. Even though you've awakened your abilities and are no longer legally restricted from leaving the city as minors, a single moment of carelessness out there could easily cost you your lives. Are you absolutely sure you want to go out?"
"We're sure, Uncle," Seraphina replied respectfully, her voice firm despite the butterflies in her stomach. "Please open the gate for us."
Seeing their youthful insistence and the decent quality of their gear, the city guard soldier didn't try to persuade them further. He nodded curtly and helped them open the main gate… or rather, a much smaller, heavily reinforced pedestrian door set into the colossal main gate. He chuckled at their slightly surprised expressions. "Just kidding about the main gate, kids. That thing is for armored vehicles, siege mechs, and serious military deployments. Opening it even once consumes a massive amount of energy. How could we possibly waste that opening it for just three young adventurers?"
Outside the immediate city gate, there were still three formidable defense lines to pass, each a heavily fortified defense base complete with watchtowers, psionic cannons, and battalions of soldiers. Once an attack by a horde of monstrous beasts occurred, these three bases would form the most crucial line of defense for the entire city. After navigating the checkpoints and pathways through these three sprawling military installations, they finally, truly, officially arrived in the untamed wild.
(Meanwhile, back in New Veridia)
In a plush office overlooking the city, Julian Linley, Seraphina's father, sighed heavily, rubbing his temples. "Sigh, this daughter of mine… never truly settled since she was a little girl. Always so adventurous, so headstrong. This time, I suppose, for my sake and her mother's, she'll at least try to act a bit more obediently on the surface with her little 'cultivation retreat' story." He looked up helplessly at a stern, uniformed military officer standing before his desk. "Forget it. Just… send two discreet, experienced scouts to protect them secretly. Let them have their little adventure, but make sure they don't get into trouble they can't handle."
The officer, a seasoned man known to Julian Linley as Commander Thorne, nodded. "You're right, Chairman Linley. It's probably for the best. But you know, practical combat experience in the wild is something that's only formally taught at the university level. In high school, it's mostly just fooling around in controlled training grounds, simulated battles. For kids like them, with their kind of potential, this is the age, the time, to go out and experience real combat, real danger. In our current safe, structured city environment, they've never truly had such an opportunity. I must say, I have to give them some reward, some commendation, for this initiative, this courage, misguided or not."
In the Mayor's office across town, another man in a high-ranking military uniform, his weathered face bearing a long, faded scar from some forgotten battle, drained the last of the strong wine in his cup, slammed it onto the polished table, and laughed heartily, a booming sound that filled the room. "Hahaha! Good! Those young people from the Vance, Linley, and Atherton families are really brave! Showing some true grit! When I get back to the barracks, I'll tell those soft-bellied new recruits a thing or two. A few kids who haven't even graduated high school have dared to venture out into the wilds. Makes our recruits look like a bunch of coddled, soft cotton flowers!" Across the table from him, a refined, middle-aged man in a perfectly tailored tunic suit, presumably the Mayor, calmly sipped his tea, a faint, enigmatic smile playing on his lips.
Commander Thorne continued his conversation with Julian Linley, his voice dropping slightly. "Courage, Chairman Linley, needs to be tempered slowly, carefully. Which veteran soldier among us wasn't once a greenhorn who hadn't even seen real blood? Besides," he added with a knowing look, "those young people are clearly already being discreetly followed by more than just my scouts. Other interested parties are watching. If you try to overtly spread this matter, this 'secret protection detail,' and they find out at some point that their grand adventure was basically a supervised field trip, wouldn't it be rather awkward? Deflating for their morale? Just pretend you don't know. Let them think they're truly on their own."
Commander Thorne then straightened up, adjusting his uniform, as if to leave. Julian Linley asked, "What are you going to do now, Commander Thorne?"
The officer grinned, a predatory light in his eyes. "I'm going to go give next year's batch of college entrance exam candidates some… extra stimulus! A little motivational story about their brave peers!"
(Back in the wild)
The three young adventurers stood at the edge of an ancient, sprawling forest, looking up at the impossibly tall, gnarled trees that formed a dense canopy high above, blocking out much of the sunlight.
Marcus gulped audibly. "Okay, wow. It's… it's my first time properly out of the city like this. I'm actually so nervous right now, my palms are sweating."
Ethan nodded, equally awestruck and apprehensive. "Yeah, same here. I've only ever seen these kinds of primordial forest scenes in nature documentaries and pictures before. It's… a lot more intimidating in person."
Seraphina, trying to project an air of confidence, scoffed lightly. "Can you two try to be a bit more promising, a bit more heroic? It's just leaving the city, venturing into a forest; what's there to be so scared of?"
Ethan and Marcus simultaneously deadpanned, looking pointedly at her legs, "Then why are your legs visibly shaking, Seraphina?"
Seraphina glanced down at her own legs, which were indeed trembling uncontrollably from a mixture of nervousness and excitement. She coughed awkwardly, a blush rising on her cheeks. "Ahem! Well, you two are grown men! Comparing yourselves to a delicate little girl like me? For shame! Alright, alright, stop dawdling and being scaredy-cats. The areas immediately surrounding the city have been explored and picked clean by hunters countless times. If we want to find any worthwhile resources, any real adventure, we have to go much further, deeper into the wilds. Let's go!"
With that, Seraphina, with a brave toss of her head, took the lead and marched determinedly ahead, every bit the self-appointed little captain of their expedition. Ethan and Marcus exchanged an amused, slightly resigned glance, shrugged in unison, and dutifully followed her.
After walking for about half an hour, the faint, occasionally discernible paths created by previous human footsteps had completely disappeared. Now, it could be truly said that they had officially entered the deep, untamed forest. Seraphina paused, took out a small, tightly sealed cloth bag from her pack, and carefully pulled out a handful of fine, grayish powder. "Before I came, I checked several online Beast Hunter guides and specially bought this from a reliable vendor. It's called Beast Repellent Powder. The specific scent it emits when scattered…"
The three of them, now fully immersed in the alien environment of the wild, were completely unaware that their "secret" actions had already been thoroughly discovered by their families and various city authorities. Currently, however, their attention was entirely captivated, staring intently at a peculiar, faintly glowing plant directly in front of them, nestled at the base of an ancient, moss-covered tree.
Seraphina gasped, her eyes widening with excitement. "That's right! Judging by the illustrations and descriptions from that psionic botany competition I entered last year… that must be Aura Bloom!"
Ethan peered at it. "This… this little thingamajig? It doesn't look like much."
Seraphina shot him an exasperated look. "You ignoramus! Aura Bloom is an extremely precious, naturally occurring treasure of heaven and earth! Those beginner and intermediate psionic potions I usually drink, the ones your parents bought for you? They are primarily made by refining the concentrated extract of Aura Bloom and then carefully combining it with other synergistic medicinal materials. A single, fresh stalk of Aura Bloom, consumed directly, is many, many times more potent and effective than a standard psionic potion. If its intrinsic grade is, say, F-rank, and a mutated beast's body only reaches E-rank in terms of energy capacity… this particular one," she gestured to the plant, "judging by its size and luminescence, should be just starting its growth cycle, still relatively young. It's absolutely perfect for someone like you, Ethan, at Rank One, Level Three, to use to break through the watershed to Level Four. When a stalk of Aura Bloom is fully mature, it can even, theoretically, be used as a primary component in elixirs to help psionicists break through to the legendary Rank Ten!"
Ethan's eyes lit up. "It's that amazing! Seriously?"
Marcus nodded vigorously. "Exactly, man. You haven't broken through to Level Four yet, have you? This plant is basically tailor-made for you to pick and consume right now. Perfect timing!"
Seraphina agreed. "That's what I was thinking too, Ethan. This could be a significant boost for you."
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck, feigning reluctance despite the excitement bubbling inside him. "Hehe, such a precious thing, guys… I feel a bit embarrassed just taking it for myself."
Marcus clapped him on the shoulder. "What's there to be embarrassed about, Bro? When you break through to Level Four, having access to one more powerful beastification hero will be much more beneficial for our whole team's survival and success out here too. Think of it as an investment in our collective firepower!"
Seraphina, however, held up a cautious hand. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. We should probably deal with that… little pest… guarding the Aura Bloom first."
Hearing this, all three of them slowly, carefully, looked towards the creature positioned protectively near the base of the glowing plant. It was a Direwolf, roughly the size of a small pony, its fur matted and its eyes gleaming with a low, feral cunning.
Seraphina assessed it with a practiced eye, her voice dropping to a whisper. "A Direwolf. Judging by its size, coloration, and apparent age, it should be an F-rank mid-grade mutated beast. These creatures are usually highly gregarious, pack hunters. But looking at this one, its age should be around… I'd guess it was recently driven out by its pack, probably due to age or injury, and then stumbled upon this Aura Bloom by sheer luck. It clearly wants to guard it until it fully matures and then consume it to regain strength or attempt a breakthrough."
Marcus frowned, his earlier excitement tempered with caution. "This isn't good. An F-rank mid-grade beast is generally considered equivalent to a human psionicist at Rank One, Levels Four to Six. And looking at its condition, its stance, it's likely at the peak of Level Six, desperate and dangerous. The reason it wants to eat this plant so badly is probably to try and break through to E-rank, or at least heal itself."
Ethan, despite his recent power-ups, felt a knot of apprehension. "Okay, even if this Direwolf is old and potentially weakened, it's still a peak Level Six equivalent. That's not something we can just casually beat, especially not all three of us together at our current levels."
Seraphina nodded grimly. "Exactly. So, we need a careful, long-term plan. Or at least, a very clever short-term one. For now, let's move further away, observe from a distance, and strategize."