Chapter 588: Berries
Sam noticed the hostile stares from everyone else and the prince is gloating. This is the same prince that entered the Palace of Inheritance but ended up with the least valuable prize of all.
Sam didn't want to bother with them. He cannot stoop to a level where the grown men are squabbling like children.
"Yodha, where is the nearest stream?"
"Stream? Do you think this is a forest? This is the volcanic region." One of the candidates couldn't keep his mouth shut and spoke.
Sam looked at him coldly and once again looked at Yodha in askance.
"Twenty kilometers in that direction," Yodha said and pointed towards a direction. Sam thanked him and got ready to leave.
"Don't you dare associate with us, if you get into trouble? You are not a part of this team." The team leader said this once again.
Sam looked at him and didn't reply. He just stepped on the nearest rock and disappeared with a golden flash. He didn't take the harbinger at the moment, just on a whim. He enjoyed jumping from one rock to another on this terrain.
This almost felt like a pinball machine as he hit one rock after another and after some time, he finally saw traces of the stream.
There are small lava puddles in the rocks and when he moved forward, he could see the Lava stream.
He couldn't help but feel impressed at the golden liquid flowing in a stream with vapors emitting from it; now and then there would be some occasional gas bubbles spraying the Lava out.
As Sam observed, he could see small tongues of flames near the bank of the stream. But not extremely near the stream, a few feet away.
When he walked closer, he noticed that they are not flames, it is red-colored grass.
He felt weird as there shouldn't be soil in that large rocky terrain. He touched the ground and felt that even the soil is sizzling hot.
He plucked a few blades of grass and threw them in divine dimension to see if they are useful. When they appeared near the cattle farm inside the dimension, there the fire elemental cattle, that included the blazing earth bull are all excited to eat this.
Sam observed this and decided to collect more. The grass is not too tall, the largest blade of grass reached his calf at most.
He took a dagger and swung it. A blade ray cut into a distance and the grass that is present in a few meters was all uprooted. Then he started collecting them.
But when he started collecting them, he finally noticed something. The grass is growing on a small slope that titled towards the stream.
And he took a step back and observed it from different angles and finally understood.
The grass that grew didn't grow on the bank, rather it is the bed of the stream. And why the bed of the stream is out in the open that is because the width of the stream reduced.
Sam felt like this must have been due to this special one-month period.
He followed the stream and walked as he collected the grass as he went on. He felt like a farmer cutting grass for his life-stock. But it was not a bad feeling though.
As he hummed a tune and cut the grass, he walked slowly along with the stream. If not for the fact that the stream is of golden lava and the grass is extremely hot like it was taken out of oil right after it was deep-fried, it would have been perfect.
After walking for a distance there is no more grass and Sam didn't use it anymore. He took out the harbinger and started moving faster. After a while, he spotted two people fighting. One of them is Akhil.
He didn't expect he would move that fast though. Sam hovered over and looked at the fight with interest.
There is a small shrub on the river bed and it has fruits that are the size of a quail egg.
They looked like berries.
Sam immediately understood what the fight is for. These berries must be some sort of spiritual fruit.
He zoomed past the fight and directly plucked one and ate it. Anyway, even if it is poisonous, it can do little to him Even if it cannot be negated, he has a variant hydra bloodline. He can just make it his own.
But his thoughts are unfounded as soon as he ate the fruit. He could feel the fire elemental energy spreading to his bones and muscles, even his blood.
He could immediately guess the effects. The fire element users get better affinity and the non-fire elemental users will feel their body tempered and they can gain some resistance to the fire element. But he is not focused on it too much. He is focused on the feeling it caused when it went down.
It was marvelous. These berries are great and it seemed like they would make great wine. He looked around and noticed that although the same kind of shrubs is there, they seemed to be a bit different. He tasted one from each bush and he noticed that it might their growth level.
The plants like these also seemed to have evolution levels. Some berries didn't have any effect on him and some have too poor an effect. Only the first two bushes gave him that sensation.
As Sam is taste-testing the shrubs, the two people noticed what Sam is doing and they immediately focused on him.
When Akhil saw it was Sam, he was delighted, but before he knew it he frowned once again. He remembered their current status. Sam is the black horse.
It would be great if Sam didn't beat the crap out of him, but expecting him to help would be a bit difficult.
His opponent is a peak stage Nascent while he himself is only Level-6. He is having a hard time.
"Sam."
Akhil called for him and Sam looked at him as he ate a berry.
He smiled and said.
"This is good stuff man, I will be taking all of them. Don't worry. After we are out of here, meet me. I will give you some."
With that, he went to work on the shrubs. He started plucking the fruits without heed for the two others.
Akhil's opponent who is a Naga immediately moved towards Sam with his sword.
"How dare you steal something that is mine? I will kill you." He yelled as he ran. But Sam is on the harbinger and he didn't even bother to fight. He danced in the air as he plucked the berries faster than ever. He noticed that there are seeds in the berries, so he can try to grow them.
As he dodged and jumped, he almost finished plucking all of them. Only two main bushes are left and they are the ones that have evolved greatly.
But the opponent is standing guard there.
Akhil is not making his move as he tried to recover.
"Move aside and I will give you a couple of them, otherwise don't blame me if you regret it later." Sam said in a calm voice.
But the latter only snorted.
Sam didn't care anymore and made his move and soon in a few minutes, the Naga is lying unconscious on the ground while Sam plucked the berries happily. He then threw a few towards Akhil and said.
"That's your share. Bye."
With that, Sam resumed his journey. He thought this journey would be boring. But it seemed like it was going to be okay.
He moved along the stream on Harbinger and encountered many such sights. There are many types of herbs, grasses, and flowers growing near this place.
But he didn't stop for everything. But he did stop for the berries though. He has collected all of them and walked forward.
Soon, he noticed that the stream took a turn into a cave of a small hill. As he was deciding to check up on what is inside before going, he heard some activity and could detect some presence not too far away.
He looked around with the eye technique and found that a team of people is discussing something. They are the Flavos team and there are also some individuals who came in.
He also walked towards them to see what they are discussing and since they are not keeping anything secret. He got the gist of what is happening.
The small hill is actually a beast's habitat and he heard that they are mutated Lava Salamanders. They have thick hide and their scales and leather make great armor that has extreme fire element properties.
The fire elemental users will die for those armors. He wanted to venture in too. But before he could do so, the flavos team noticed and halted. Sam felt like his luck is shitty. Because, the Mov team and the flavos team, both of them didn't seem friendly at all.
"You cannot go in there. If you want to you can join the team and receive payment. Otherwise, you have to wait for us to complete our expedition into the cave."
Sam understood that since he learned the information from them, they would use that as a point and hinder him a lot.
"If I want to go in now?" Sam asked.
"You have to pay the toll."
"How much?"
"Twenty million."
Sam threw out a spatial ring and started walking to the cave. From what he heard there is a single pre-transcendent stage beast and around ten to twelve Nascent stage beasts. Sam doesn't have anything to worry about. It would be pretty easy.
Anyway, his main thought is just to take a look and follow the flow of the Lava stream. He didn't have much interest in the beasts. But after the raid, he would have to face these guys who might take this place as their base of operations at least that is what they told. At least, facing these beasts is better than facing these guys.