Seeing the mana-filled core of the mangrove tree in his hand, Adam grinned. The mana inside the core was so dense that he could physically feel it.
He thought to himself, If I make a potion out of it, not only will it solidify my foundation, but it'll also boost my advancement to the Organ Stage!
"S-Stop right there!" Suddenly, a deep but nervous voice called out to the youth.
Adam immediately put away the blue, crystal core inside his earring and then gazed at the person, a dwarven Magus, who had called out to him.
"What do you want?" The youth asked in amusement.
The dwarf gathered the courage and stated, "H-Hand back that item this instance!"
He had seen Adam's fighting prowess and knew very clearly that the latter was stronger than him. However, the dwarf was currently in a group and he was sure that the rest of the Magi also had their eyes on the strange blue core.
All the Magi could tell that the core that Adam had gotten his hands on was many times more valuable than the Crimson Ambrosia fruits. And now that the threat of the mangrove tree was dealt with, they couldn't help but begin to have some second thoughts.
"Oh?" Adam raised his eyebrows and taunted. "You want it? Come get it, little man."
The next moment, Adam augmented his whole body with mana as a grin slowly formed on his face. The sheer pressure of his mana was so tyrannical that it caused the Magi to involuntarily take a step back.
Seeing this, the youth scoffed. "Hmph! You want to eat the fruits of my hard work? Then, come fight me."
Adam stood in front of the mangrove tree with his arms crossed. He looked everyone in the eye and arrogantly challenged them. However, none of them dared to come forward. Even when in a group, they didn't have the confidence to defeat him.
A moment later, the youth turned around and agilely climbed the tree. Then, he plucked three Crimson Ambrosia fruits and kept them away.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Stop right there!"
"What're you doing?!"
"Give it back, you thief!"
Now, the Magi had really lost it. It was fine for Adam to take the core of the tree. They would be fine with distributing the fruits for themselves. But now that he had gotten his hands on half the fruits on the tree, they couldn't stand still.
"Hehehe." Adam chuckled deviously. "I'm feeling generous today. I've left three fruits behind, you can sort it out amongst yourselves—"
BOOM!
However, before he could even finish speaking, the Magi had already hurled one spell after another at him. But in the end, none of them had managed to even graze the hems of the youth's robes.
After the dust had settled, Adam had already vanished and only three Crimson Ambrosia fruits remained on the mangrove tree for the taking.
The Magi present warily looked at one another, their eyes flashing with vigilance and hostility. With the fruits in sight, they didn't chase after the youth anymore.
And then, another brutal battle ensued.
…
"Val, here, have this." Adam gave a Crimson Ambrosia fruit to Valerian who was sticking his head out from his robes.
Valerian cutely tilted his head and asked, 'Meat?'
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Adam's eyebrows twitched. "No, it's not meat. But it's similar."
"Myu~" Valerian grabbed the fruit with both paws and then began eating it.
However, a few moments later, the young dragon raised his head and glanced at Adam, complaining. 'Not like meat.'
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Adam gently patted Valerian's head. "But it's good for your body… I think."
The youth didn't know for sure just how much a fruit like Crimson Ambrosia could affect a dragon's physiology. However, it shouldn't be completely useless either.
Valerian was a mighty dragon and his physique could be considered top-tier even in the entire universe. So there was a chance that the fruit didn't have any effect on the little guy. But regardless, Adam gave it to him anyway.
He had stolen three fruits precisely for Valerian, Edward, and Lisa. He would have surely liked to grab all the fruits growing on the mangrove tree, however, that would become troublesome.
If Adam did that, then all the Magi would desperately come after him. So the youth thought it would be wise to only take half the fruits growing on the tree while leaving the other half for the Magi to fight over, and keep them preoccupied while he escaped.
As he was vaulting from one tree to another, making his way out of the Great Swamp, he noticed that the young dragon had already finished the fruit.
"How was it?" He asked with a warm smile.
Valerian started stroking his chin, imitating Adam's habit, and replied with a flat face. "Myu…"
Adam couldn't help but chuckle at the adorable face the little guy was making. "Don't worry. I'll cook you some good food once we leave this swamp."
Valerian's eyes shone brightly as he glanced at Adam. "Myu?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Haha, yes, meat." Adam fondly rubbed the young dragon's head. "Now, what do you think about—"
Suddenly, the youth's face darkened and he stopped what he was about to say. He solemnly sent a mental transmission. 'Val, get back inside.'
Sensing the seriousness in Adam's tone, Valerian panicked. However, Adam rubbed his head and comforted him with a gentle smile. "Don't worry. It'll all be over in a jiffy."
"Myu…" Valerian nodded and then turned into a gray flash, going back inside the youth's spirit sea.
As soon as he confirmed that the little guy had gone back in, the smile on Adam's face crumbled and was replaced by an extremely solemn expression.
Just now, through his Sphere of Resonance, he had detected over thirty people closing in on him. They were about less than a hundred meters away from him now and were slowly surrounding him.
The youth's eyes narrowed. Who are they? Are they trying to ambush me?
There were not many people who had enmity with him, and the ones that did just so happened to be inside the secret plane with him. When Adam realized this, his lips curled up into a cold smile.
He stealthily took out all the necessary material components from his earring and kept them ready to be used at a moment's notice. At the same time, he made sure to not lower his speed. He didn't want to alert these people.
In the detection area of his Sphere of Resonance, he could sense the presence of another small group of Magi—an advance party—in front of him at the location where the boundary of the Great Swamp ended.
They were waiting to ambush him.
But little did they know…
He was going to ambush them instead!
