Journey In A Fantasy World
Meeting Magical Beasts

Jian opened his eyes when he felt a bone-chilling chill. Look straight ahead. Apparently he was still lying in the same spot last time he was conscious.

Jian inched to a seat, looking for the whereabouts of Neo and Rui, both lying far away from his current position. Jian crawled closer to Neo who was closer than him.

"Neo, get up," Jian shook Neo's shoulders, but the body was unmoving, let alone opening its eyes, moving in the slightest.

"Neo, wake!" Jian patted his cheek, Neo still did not open his eyes. Jian looked at Neo's face that was so pale. He realized that it was night and the wind was getting colder. Jian rushed out a thick robe inside his small pouch, it was the only thick shirt he put into the pouch from the dorm room.

"In the meantime, yeah, Neo. I can't lift you out of your comfortable position." Jian enveloped Neo with his thick robe.

Jian walked towards Rui, and seeing that Rui's condition was not as severe as Neo's, Rui would definitely wake up soon. Jian reached into Rui's small pouch. He and Rui both stuffed thick robes into small pockets. He also enveloped Rui with a thick robe that Rui carried.

He decided to hold Rui to sleep next to Neo, Neo's position close to the tree, Jian cut off a few stalks to make a campfire.

Srak! Srak!

Hard friction between the two stones was very difficult to produce fire. Jian turned his head towards Rui, "If you were here, you would definitely only need to snap your fingers to ignite the small flame, Rui. You wake up, I need your magic element."

Jian exhaled a deep breath, "Why is your sleep so good?"

Jian reached into Neo's small pouch, "You don't have the fire element, do you, Neo? You must have brought a lighter."

A few minutes of searching, there was no lighter in Neo's little pocket, "Huh, surely you have the same thoughts as me. Why bring a lighter when your friend is the lighter?"

Jian even reached into Rui's small pouch, it didn't take long, his hand touching a lighter.

jian barely laughed broadly at the lighters inside Rui's small pouch, "You can bake Flo's magic wand with a big flame, Rui. How could there be a lighter in your pocket?"

The air was really very cold at night, earlier during the day, Jian remembered how hot the ground was.

Just by hugging his own body in order to feel warmer despite already sitting in front of the campfire, Jian looked at his two friends who were sleeping soundly. Their wounds were wrapped in bandage cloth, Jian wished they were fine tomorrow.

"You guys just got hurt. Sleep till morning, guys, I'll take care of you."

...----------------...

The sun rose again, Neo opened his eyes, beside him was Rui who was still sleeping soundly, Neo felt his own face, there was a plaster covering wounds on his forehead and cheeks that felt sore. Also on the back of his arm, Neo put on an astonished face, "Who cleans my wounds?"

Then his eyes locked onto a figure sleeping in a sitting position in front of a dead campfire. Beside him was a black cat who was sitting leisurely while licking his legs.

Neo touched the thick robe that covered him all night, "I know last night was very cold. But Jian didn't wear anything on that cold night, why don't you wear it yourself, Jian? You also need it," Neo put the robe on Jian's body. Then Neo slowly laid Jian to sleep in a more comfortable position, "Could you not have slept last night, Jian?"

"Ney?" Rui opened her eyes and immediately shuffled to sit down.

"You're up, Rui," Neo helped her up, "You okay?"

Rui nodded, "What about you?"

"I'm fine too."

"Where is Jian?"

"He's exhausted, Rui. He must have been keeping us all night." Neo lowered his head, staring at Jian's face that was so comfortable in his sleep.

"I remember him dragging me from inside the fox herd." Rui felt guilty.

"I promised to protect him. But still I can't do it." Neo exhaled slowly.

"You don't blame yourself anymore, Neo. We walk together, don't just protect your friends, you also need to protect yourself. Now Jian is protecting us because we are unable to protect ourselves. I promise to pay this debt of gratitude to Jian someday."

"Rui, will you help me find an edible animal?" Neo offers something fun.

"Is there anything you can eat?" Rui asked innocently.

"Of course, Rui. Desert lizards taste good. We go around looking for desert lizards if lucky, otherwise we can at least catch birds that fly. Looking for a source of water. There's got to be an oasis around here."

"What about Jian?" Rui looked at Jian who was still asleep.

"We don't have to go around too far. Just a few meters away, and still make sure Jian is still within our sight range. Come on quickly, wouldn't it be better for Jian to wake up when we're done grilling our quarry?" Neo smiled broadly.

Rui chuckled, "You're right, Neo. Let's go around for a minute.

"I'm gonna fly a little bit to find out if there's an oasis around here." Neo calls Pru.

"I'm walking that way, yeah!" Rui walked south.

"Don't get too close to the bushes, Rui! Be alert if something moves at your feet!" Nei exclaims.

"Scorpions are scary, Rui. Desert snakes are scary too! Don't just be afraid of me."

"Just hunt, I'll find a source of water!" Rui decided to fly low instead of walking. Neo always scares her. Although the warning is correct, at least don't say it out of the blue, right?

...----------------...

At nine in the morning, Neo came up with a quarry that could not be underestimated. He caught a lot of birds. Rui came back at the same time as Neo. He said there's no oasis near here. It had to walk tens of kilometers to arrive at a huge lake.

They both smiled with satisfaction, saying that Jian must have liked the special breakfast menu.

But reality is far from expected. Jian was furious as soon as they returned to their resting place. Tell him he's very worried and doesn't know where Neo and Rui are going.

"You don't know how panicked I am! I accidentally fell asleep and woke up in a condition where there were no you guys beside me, how—"

"Meow!" the black cat meowed.

Jian hugged him gently and stroked his head, "It seems like he just got lost."

"Don't you bring it?" Neo asked in surprise, "I've seen her sitting sweetly beside you when she woke up this morning. I thought you took him." Neo smiled slightly, the cat conquered Jian's fury in an instant.

"Where did I bring it?" Jian put the cat on the ground, then helped Neo cultivate his game birds.

"By the way, Jian. How did you defeat that many foxes? I realized my body was lying far away from the path of the fox herd," asked Rui.

"You beat him? I was gonna tell you it wasn't a herd of foxes." Neo.

"You both are right. First, because hundreds of foxes are actually just one. Then I can defeat him. It was draining a lot of energy, I didn't expect the big fox to have so much energy, I almost died of exhaustion" Jian explained.

"What I told you. The fox lived alone, most likely living in a small group with his family alone," Neo immediately prided himself.

"Anyway, I still thank you, Jian. You saved me. I'm also sorry, since my staff won't come out, you must then desperately fight against the fox alone," Rui lowered her head in regret.

Jian waved, "No need to stiffen, Rui. You said yourself, we must protect our friends when we are able to protect ourselves. After all, I won't let my friends get hurt one bit" Jian smiled.

"Hey! You admit me as your friend too, huh? Ah, how should I thank you?" Neo rubbed his hands together to show that he was very enthusiastic at the moment.

"I'm sorry, but I'm pulling back on what I said about that. Even if you're a friend, but I still hate you. You're a troublemaker!" Jian screeched.

Neo immediately folded his wide smile. However, an idea that flashed across his head instantly made him smile again, "Look at what I brought!" Neo dug inside his little pouch.

Jian and Rui looked at each other. How many things did Neo actually bring? As Jian ransacked him, Jian only took what was in the top pile. Unexpectedly when Neo put his hand in, the pouch was more filled than Jian had anticipated.

Neo took out a few empty bowls, and small packets of powdered spices. Neo handed everything over to Jian.

"This will truly be the best breakfast of my entire life, Jian. You immediately show your pent-up talent!" Neo smiled widely, eagerly mixing the already clean bird meat with the spices he had prepared.

"How can you think about it?" Jian asked curiously. He just didn't think he would bring spices for the trip.

"I've actually planned this. After looking at the map from Master Hudie. I knew right away that we had plenty of time in the woods. It made me think that hunting wild animals would be a lot of fun, so I just in case, brought as much cooking seasoning as I had. And it turned out to be very useful," explained Neo.

"Is your dorm room really spice?" Rui started asking at length.

"Of course, Rui. My roommate loved to collect spices, I asked for a little from him."

"We cook now," Jian concluded, he directed his hand to the ingredients that had been mixed evenly with the meat to be cooked, the meat of the seasoning was floating around surrounded by a small wind.

"Can you bake it, Rui? The fire is not too big. I don't want to eat a scorched meal." Jian chuckled small.

The cooking time is quite short, spending it even shorter. Jian handed each one an orange to wash his mouth.

"I don't think cooking with magic energy isn't bad either. Even better it tastes," Rui smiled happily. His stomach is full.

"Should we continue our journey now?"

"I see there's a big lake up ahead. Near the lake was a magic academy larger than the Hudie magic academy. It is still tens of kilometers away from here. Let's continue our journey there. Then asked them about that Curious Spirit Forest," Rui smiled widely with her idea.

"You think it's okay to ask that of another academy student? Our current status will still be the White Card of Hudie Academy. What if asking them questions invites trouble?" Neo objected to Rui's idea.

"Oh, let's go first. We go to the lake, things will ask or not, we decide later. Our journey is still quite far." Jian mediated.

They continued their journey towards the large lake in the middle of this desert.

They had yet to realize, there was something strange about the magic academy by the lake.