put the box away

Auren put the pearl away, then took out the paper the shaman had given him. This herb was very unique. It only had two leaves, but it produced a fruit that looked like a fetus.

he had a hunch what it is. It was called longevity fruit and was said to have the effect of extending one's life.

The shaman probably wanted to extend her life. However, who would've thought that such a precious thing would exist in this world? It was no wonder she was willing to trade the soul pearl for it.

If he had been a weak girl, he might really die, but fortunately, he had absorbed some of his power so his strength and sensitivity had increased. If he gave it a go, he could probably succeed.

After all, he couldn't very well swindle this pearl from the shaman. There was the fact that the shaman had mysterious abilities and if he ever took the pearl back, bella would be done for.

So early the next morning, auren had breakfast with bella's parents, then headed with a rope into the mountains behind the village. When Father hunt saw that bella was holding a length of rope and an axe, he asked him where he was going. Auren said that he was going to collect some wild mushrooms to bring back to the school for the teachers.

Upon hearing this, Father hunt told him to be careful.

Auren headed into the mountains following the map on the paper. The further in he walked, the thicker the blanket of leaves on the ground became and there were a lot of animal feces.

The tree trunks were also very thick, showing their age.

The forest was very verdant and lush. As the sunlight shone down through the tree leaves, it created mottled patterns on the ground.

Finally, he reached the place, which was a steep cliff. he had to go down using the rope to where the longevity fruit was growing to collect it.

he glanced down the cliff and immediately felt his head spin. Fudge, he was scared of heights! Auren wiped at his cold sweat, then set to work. he tied one end securely around the trunk of a tree, then tied the other end around his waist before slowly descending the cliff.

he was really risking it all for the pearl. After sliding down to the longevity fruit's side, he found that the fruit was even more astonishing up close. The fetus looked so real that there even seemed to be features on the face.

Fudge, it couldn't be that it'd really end up growing into a child, right?

."Hiss…" Something suddenly rushed towards auren's hand. he hastily pulled his hand back and grabbed the rope while kicking the cliff to get away from the longevity fruit. he found that near the longevity fruit was a snake about the size of a finger. It was nearly the same color as the cliff, which was why he hadn't noticed it before.

The snake was coiled up as it looked warily at auren.

It was fortunate that his instincts had kicked in quick enough, otherwise he would've already been bitten.

They faced each other silently for a while. Auren felt that he should've expected this. The longevity fruit grew at such a conspicuous place, if there wasn't something guarding it, people would've plucked it already.

It was clear that this snake had been guarding this fruit this entire time.

So he had to get rid of this snake in order to get the fruit. he quickly pulled out the axe attached to his waist and hacked at the snake. he had already come this far, there was no way he could turn back.

The snake arched back, then pounced towards auren's wrist, but auren flipped hisbhand around to chop towards the snake with the axe. Fear emerged in the tiny snake's cold eyes at the sight of the metal and it changed directions to fly towards his face.

Auren held onto the rope with one hand as he kicked away from the cliff to dodge the attack. At the same time, he hacked at the flying snake, chopping it into two clean halves.

The snake's corpse fell down the cliff, but his limbs still felt weak from the fright. After taking a moment to recover, she plucked the longevity fruit and placed it inside the box the shaman had given her.

When he got home, Father hunt was waiting for him. He saw that he looked quite worn out, but there were no mushrooms in sight, so he asked, "Where's the mushrooms?"

"I gathered some, but I found that they were infected with poisonous viruses, so I stopped gathering them. It'd be bad if the teachers fall ill from eating them." Auren came up with a random excuse.

Father hunt got a bamboo basket and said that he would go look for some that weren't poisonous.

Auren watched as he walked towards the mountains. This was truly a father that was always thinking of his children. Bella was fortunate to have parents like this. At the same time, she probably wouldn't have requested for a counterattack if this wasn't the case. She had wanted to live because of her parents.

Auren washed up slightly, then headed to the shaman's house with the box. he stopped in the courtyard and shouted, "Grannie, I'm here."

"Come in," said the shaman.

Auren entered the house and handed the box to her. "I've gathered it."

"Already?" The shaman extended a withered hand to open the box. When she saw that there was truly a longevity fruit inside, her hand started trembling. "It really is…"

Perhaps because auren was here, she didn't state the fruit's name and quickly put the box away.