First Ruin
Before they went to the gathering place, Eddie first took a large amount of money from his safe and kept it in [Storage]. After all, he needed real money to buy things in the system's shop, and he still didn't have detailed information about the ruin they were going to enter, so he preferred to be as prepared as possible rather than sorry.
[Balance: 100,500,000 yuan.]
Natasha hugged Eddie's arm and teased him. "Having a rich lover like you comforts me, Ed."
Eddie faced his lover and pinched her nose. "You're richer than me, okay? I shouldn't have to work because I have such a young 'sugar mommy' like you by my side."
"Hahaha!' Natasha laughed out loud and lightly hit her chest. "How can I be a sugar mommy? I'm not even married yet, and I'm still a virgin even now."
Eddie scratched his head when he heard that, especially since Natasha had repeatedly asked him to have sex. They had tried to do it once, but he didn't have the courage to take the final step, and he preferred to do it after they were married.
"All right, you don't need to think about it, and I will wait until you marry me." Natasha then pulled Eddie out of their room because Jordan and the others were waiting for them in the living room.
===
At the meeting place, young cultivators from other countries who had attended last night's event and those who had just arrived were already there.
In the front row, Eddie saw his adoptive grandfather speaking with several people, who were members of a special bureau set up specifically to deal with cultivators and the like.
"Ed! Nath!" Both of them turned to Liana, who had just arrived with her parents. Eddie could see the dislike in Gracia's eyes, but he ignored her and hugged Natasha's waist tighter. "Hey, Nath! Our mom is mad at you because you didn't come home last night."
"Just let her be mad." Natasha casually responded before looking at Liem and Vivian, who had come to see Nathalie off.
Eddie followed his lover's gaze, but he averted his gaze as soon as his eyes met Vivian's, which made her gloomy.
When Liem realized this, he embraced his wife and rubbed her arm. Nathalie also realized that, and she was even more eager to meet Eddie specifically to persuade him to forgive their mother.
Shortly after the three of them, Michael also arrived at the place with Selena. They certainly wanted to see off their two children, Jamie and Yuning.
Jamie wanted to approach Natasha, but Selena stopped him and forbade him to meet her. She was still angry with Gracia's attitude yesterday, and she was also angry because Michael ordered his aide to search for information about his son with Vivian.
Unfortunately, Michael didn't realize that his son was so close to him, especially since he still doesn't know Eddie's true identity.
Not far from them, Aleena, who was standing with Nicholas and their group, repeatedly glanced at Eddie. "Nic, you have to remember your duty."
"Yes, Miss." Nicholas then looked at several other young cultivators. "Your rival really joined this expedition, Miss."
Aleena raised her eyebrows slightly as she looked at Eva Feulner, the young female cultivator from Germany. She seemed jealous when she saw the woman's graceful appearance, and she kept hugging the arm of her lover, Felix Lerch, who also came from Germany.
If Aleena looked like a seductress, Eva looked like a graceful angel, but their figures were equally seductive. She deliberately left her long golden blonde hair loose to her waist. Her face looked calm and pretty, and a charming smile adorned her face as she talked to her group members. A long, sleeveless white dress with gold trimmings covered her tall and slim body, and a white shawl covered her broad shoulders.
Eva looked back, specifically at Aleena, and said something to her.
The corner of Aleena's lips lifted into a faint smirk, and she said something back to Eva, who immediately returned her focus to her team. 'Heh! I will crush you and Felix on this expedition.'
After the leader of the organization conveyed some information to them, Eddie and the young cultivators immediately left the place using several helicopters that had been specially prepared for them to head to the border with Russia, where the ruins were located.
Jessica and several cultivators at her level went with them, and of course, she joined Eddie's group to ensure their safety in the ruin. Kevin and the organization's higher-ups also went with them to ensure there was no misinformation about the ruins.
===
Three hours later, all the helicopters had landed on the border between China and Russia, where a tall ancient gate was located.
Kevin immediately approached Eddie and his group. "Ed, I know you've learned a lot today, but theory is different from reality. Our people have confirmed the ruins, but the situation can change unexpectedly, so be careful when entering, especially since this is your first expedition."
"Don't worry, Grandpa. I will be cautious, and I will bring them home safely." Eddie then pointed to Jessica. "Moreover, she is quite experienced in expeditions, and she can guide us if we encounter an emergency situation."
Jessica nodded to their grandfather. "Grandpa, I will ensure their safety, so you don't need to worry too much about us."
*Rumble... Rumble...*
"It's time! All of you can enter the ruins now, and you must return immediately if the ruins show signs of disappearing." A higher-up from the organization shouted at those people.
"Yes." Quickly and neatly, all groups began to enter the gate.
Eddie did not immediately lead his group members to enter it, and he asked them to wait for all the groups to leave first. While waiting, he opened the [Shop] to purchase potentially necessary items for exploring the ruins. Although they had all prepared a lot, he believed that the items in the shop were much more useful and more effective than the ones on earth, especially since the golden-haired woman was too mysterious.
[Obtained Small Healing Potion x100]
[10,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
[Obtained Medium Healing Potion x100]
[100,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
[Obtained Large Healing Potion x100]
[1,000,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
[Obtained Small Energy Potion x100]
[20,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
[Obtained Medium Energy Potion x100]
[200,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
[Obtained Large Healing Potion x100]
[2,000,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
[Obtained Small Detoxification Potion x100]
[50,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
After he bought all of that, Eddie looked for another weapon for him, especially since he didn't have another one yet. After he chose a few, he immediately bought them all.
[Obtained the Stellar Sword [Epic] x1]
[500,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
[Obtained the Yin-Yang Dagger [Epic] x1]
[500,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
[Obtained the Starfall Bow [Epic] x1]
[500,000 yuan has been deducted from the balance.]
'I think they're enough for now.' Eddie then turned to Natasha and the others. "Let's go in."
===
Once they exited the gate, they were faced with a dense forest, and a blue screen appeared before Eddie's eyes. Natasha could also see the blue screen, which surprised her.
[Welcome to Beastbone Beast Forest.]
[First objective: Kill 500 beasts or more.]
[Second objective: Collect 500 beast gems of any grade.]
[Third objective: Find five hidden treasures.]
[Fourth objective: Defeat the forest guardian.]
[Reward: 1 ruin gift box, 1 usable item box, 500 EXP.]
'As expected, the golden-haired woman, the system, and the ruin are connected to each other. The first two objectives shouldn't be difficult, but I don't know about the five hidden treasures or the location of the forest guardian.' Eddie muttered to himself, but he couldn't find the other groups. Despite this, he could hear the voices of various types of beasts both on land and in the sky. "Where are the other groups, Jess?"
"Since this is your first experience, you don't know anything about the ruins. In some cases, all the groups will arrive at the same location, but in other cases, all the groups will be separated from each other, like what happened now." Jessica took out a special device, which showed the location of the other groups. "The group closest to us is So Nam-Gi's group, and they are about 155 miles (ca. 249 km) northeast. He and his cousin, Mi Yoo-Ri, come from South Korea. Their group members are Nathalie Kho and Eason Lie from our country, Piet Dielen and Valerie Plas from the Netherlands, and Thiago Moliner and Sara Vaquero from Spain."
"How can this device track them? Isn't this ruin cut off from the outside world?" Eddie asked in confusion.
Jessica smiled and explained. "Ed, there are many scientists in our world, and we have so much advanced technology. The first appearance of the ruins was a long time ago, and they have thought of various ways to be able to confirm the inside of each ruin that appears ever since. They have many devices like this one, but we can only get them through organizations, so ordinary people don't know about them."
"Where are Aleena and her group located?"
"Are you attracted to her, Ed?"
"No!" Eddie denied it. "I don't like her, so I want to avoid her as much as possible."
Jessica turned to Natasha, who told her a few things about Aleena. She then looked for the location of the woman and her group. "They're 1300 miles (ca. 2,092 km) north, so the chances of us running into them are slim, Ed."
"That's good." Eddie nodded with relief. "Let's move now."
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