"White-bent grass? No… it should be white-vine grass?"
Li Yue's voice trailed off as she grew uncertain. Hiding her flushed face behind a piece of beast-hide, the silver-haired girl's head sank lower.
"Sigh…" Mu Liang feigned a sigh and shook his head. "Looks like you can't read many characters either."
"I—I've just forgotten some pictographs from not reading them in ages," Li Yue murmured defensively. "Give me a moment and I'll definitely remember."
"Sure, sure." Mu Liang propped his face on one hand, pretending to be utterly confident.
"Ugh…" Li Yue's forehead twitched, annoyed by his halfhearted response.
"Hmph!" The silver-haired girl slapped the hide onto the table, crossed her arms, and pouted.
"You can eat breakfast now." Mino placed a steel pot on the table.
"I'll get the utensils." Li Yue brushed off her frustration and rose to fetch them.
Breakfast was the usual: a bowl of meat broth and some roasted jerky.
Mu Liang absentmindedly ate while pondering the pictographs on the hide. He sighed—both of the girls here struggled with literacy. The silver-haired girl was only half-literate, and the Bunny-Eared Girl perhaps had never even tried to read them.
'I need someone to teach me to read letters properly,' he planned.
To truly settle into this world, he'd have to learn its history and culture—starting with the pictographs and books.
"Even if I've forgotten some pictographs," Li Yue spoke up, noticing his troubled look, "I still know what the record on this hide is about."
"What is it?" Mu Liang looked up.
"The secret elixir formula for Human Enhancement." Li Yue's expression turned serious.
"The Human Enhancement elixir formula? A potion to boost human abilities?" Mu Liang's curiosity peaked.
"Yes. Show me the other sheets." Li Yue set aside her half-eaten jerky and reached out. "I need to see which tier of Enhancement Elixir each is."
"Here you go." Mu Liang handed over a stack of hides.
"These three are Tier-One materials," Li Yue said coolly as she checked the numbering.
"There are seven Tier-Two materials," she continued.
"Huh? They even have the Tier-Three Human Enhancement elixir formula." Li Yue's eyes widened at the fifteen hides.
She studied them intently, scanning for new numbers.
After a moment, Li Yue gasped, "They have Tier-Four too… twenty-four material diagrams in total."
"Unbelievable." Li Yue set the twenty-four hides aside and eyed the remaining stack. "That must be the Tier-Five formula."
"Blood Beard's origins are certainly not simple," Mu Liang observed. A bandit group of over five hundred, with a single Crystal Fish and elixir formulas from Tier One to Five—that spoke volumes.
"It really is the Tier-Five formula." Li Yue neatly restacked the thirty-six hides and looked at Mu Liang, at a loss for words. Blood Beard had truly met his match.
"What are you staring at me for?" Mu Liang feigned innocence.
With this windfall, he'd secured both wealth and foundational power.
He suddenly remembered: if Blood Beard had a Tracker, he'd realize the trap left at the camp and be headed back toward the Stronghold now—likely walking into it tonight or tomorrow morning. Lucky if he survived, unlucky if not.
"You…" Li Yue trailed off, unsure how to reply to his callous thought.
She studied the five stacks of hides on the table and said gravely, "This series of Enhancement Elixirs is now worth nearly as much as the Crystal Fish."
"More importantly, it maximizes human potential," Li Yue added. She herself had only reached Tier-Four archer through the Infection of the Void Ghost—at the cost of six months' lifespan.
"Perfect. Once we have all these elixirs, we'll enhance Mino." Mu Liang looked at the obedient Bunny-Eared Girl.
As for whether he could enhance himself with the elixirs—he'd have to try.
"Me?" Mino blinked, catching up.
"Yes, you." Mu Liang joked, "You'll lead the charge for me, my female general."
"Okay." Mino, unfamiliar with the term, readily agreed. She straightened her rabbit ears in determination. "I'll be a mighty female general."
"Well, you'll have to work hard—cook lunch, too." Mu Liang chuckled.
"Huh? I have to cook lunch?" Mino gasped.
"To get stronger, you need to eat more." Mu Liang planned her training—she needed self-defense skills. And with her talent—Mino's rabbit ears often attracted Li Yue's envious glances—she had great potential.
"All right." Mino agreed at the prospect of getting stronger. She wanted to help Mu Liang, not be coddled forever.
"How wonderful," Li Yue murmured. She especially envied Bunny-Eared Girl: innate talent plus Enhancement Elixir would make her far stronger than a typical Mutants.
Mutantss rely on Mutational Talents—hearing, smell, reflexes—to specialize. Regular Enhancers can only boost their own physical attributes.
"You can use these elixirs too, right?" Mu Liang turned to the silver-haired girl.
"Me?" Li Yue was taken aback.
"Yes—you don't have strong physical aptitude." Mu Liang nodded.
"I could… but…" Li Yue hesitated. She had reached Tier-Three Enhancer only through Infection of the Void Ghost. With her Eagle-Eye talent, she could become a Tier-Four archer.
"You wonder why I'd enhance you?" Mu Liang's lips curved. He pressed on the sorted hides. "You must know someone capable of making these elixirs, right?" Otherwise she wouldn't sort the materials so expertly.
"I—yes, I know someone who can."
Li Yue pictured the busty, blonde woman.
"I'd like to talk to her," Mu Liang said kindly.
"When we reach the Moon Lake Tribe, I'll ask." Li Yue thought back to the ten days since she last saw You Feier. She didn't know if she was still at the tribe—or off hunting the Angel's Tear. Their rendezvous was elsewhere and forty days away. That was why Li Yue could wait here so calmly for the Angel's Tear to form.
"All right. We'll talk once we're at the Moon Lake Tribe." Mu Liang sighed. Without communication, meeting someone required prior arrangements of time and place.
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