Extra Pages: The Author's Odyssey

Standing in front of a large bent tree, Adrian and I sat down on the ground and recuperated some energy.

The sun had already started to set and night was quickly arriving.

Taking a couple of energy bars from my dimensional space I handed one to Adrian and opened another one for myself.

"Here"

"Thanks"

Taking the energy bar, Adrian quickly opened it and took big bites out of it.

After walking for half a day and following the instructions that I had written in my novel, I was quickly able to find the right location.

"Alright, let's go"

After resting for ten minutes whilst recuperating some of the energy we spent hiking all the way here, standing up, I urged Adrian to follow me.

Patting his pants, Adrian nodded his head and stood up.

"Okay"

"Once we go in, it won't be easy to escape. Are you prepared?"

"Of course."

Thus, the two of us walked through the cave.

The formation was perfect. Adrian at the front and me at the back. With Adrian's overwhelming abilities, he should be able to take care of any monster that showed up before us, and I, with my sword art, could swiftly deal with the mob-like monsters present.

…Well, that was if I was planning on doing anything. In reality, there really shouldn't be much for me to do.

Patting the book in my hand, I couldn't help but smile.

'What's the point of wasting time-fighting monsters when you can just skip them?'

As we ventured deeper into the cave, the darkness enveloped us, and the air grew colder and more oppressive. The only sound was the echoing of our footsteps against the rocky floor as we pressed forward, our senses alert for any signs of danger.

With each passing moment, the tension in the air seemed to mount, Well it was understandable.

We are walking into an hidden doungen after all n

After walking for a while, we stopped at a fork road. There were eight paths to choose from and they each looked identical. Turning around, Adrian glanced at me as he asked

"Which path should we take?"

Without hesitation, I immediately pointed towards the fifth pathway.

"The fifth one"

This time I was confident with my answer as from the moment we entered the cave, I knew exactly where to go.

Moreover…

"Stop"

"huh?"

After walking for five minutes, placing my hand on Adrian's shoulder to stop him, ignoring the confusion in his face, I placed my finger in my mouth and quietly whispered

"As soon as you turn left, two-horned sheep will immediately attack you…"

Pausing slightly and glancing downwards, towards my red book, I continued

"There is one male and one female sheep, the female sheep will wait from behind whilst the male sheep will be the one that will attack you first…the safest and most efficient way to get rid of them would be for you to immediately duck down and stab towards the male stomach, and whilst themale is stunned, swiftly take out the female with a horizontal slash."

Cutting me off, Adrian couldn't help but look at me weirdly.

"Wait, wait, what are you talking about?"

Raising my brow, I nonchalantly said

"Hm? I'm just telling you what I know."

Adrian's eyes widened in surprise as he processed my words, but he quickly nodded in understanding.

"Got it. Thanks for the heads up."

With that, we proceeded cautiously down the pathway, keeping a close eye out for any signs of the two-horned sheep. As we rounded the corner, just as I had predicted, the creatures appeared before us.

Without hesitation, Adrian followed my instructions flawlessly, ducking down and swiftly dispatching the male sheep before turning his attention to the female. In a matter of seconds, the threat was neutralized.

"huuuu…"

Standing on top of two giant furry carcasses, Adrian exhaled as turbid air escaped from his mouth. By the side of his face, a droplet of sweat dripped down from his cheek.

"Good job!"

Looking upwards, I couldn't help but praise Adrian. It only took him two minutes to dispatch two ranked monsters.

Although he had my instructions, it was still a very impressive feat for him to execute it so smoothly.

Grinning in response to my praise, Adrian wiped the sweat from his brow and nodded.

"Thanks. Your instructions were spot-on. I couldn't have done it without your guidance."

I chuckled softly, feeling a sense of pride at our successful teamwork.

"We make a great team, don't we?"

Adrian nodded in agreement, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Yeah, we do. Let's keep going."

-Spurt!

Removing his sword from the carcass of one of the two-horned sheep, Adrian jumped down and moved next to me.

"Let's get going."

"Wait minute!"

Adrian who about to take step forward, Suddenly halted and looked towards me.

"What is it?"

"I have something to do here."

-Spurt!

Walking towards the two-horned sheep, I took out my sword and stabbed it straight towards where their heart was.

"Let's see…"

…I was currently looking for a core.

A [D] ranked mana core of the monster would able to get me tons of money with that much amount I would able to provide my mercenary group a financial support.

We are still new so we are not getting not much mission's, So because of that I also needed to take care of the group finance.

There still 500 million C left on me but who knows how much longer it lasts, Maybe a year? Or year and half.

That's money would be gone before I know, So I have to take care these ranked monster to sustain the financial problems.

Not so far from where I was, staring at me in confusion, Adrian couldn't help but ask

"What are you looking for?"

Snapping my head in his direction, pointing towards the area I was cutting, I rolled my eyes

"Isn't it obvious?"

Frowning slightly, after a bit of thought, Adrian carefully said

"A core?"

"Yeah"

-Spurt!

Nodding my head, I no longer paid attention to Adrian's confusion as I focused on my task. After a few more precise cuts, I finally located what I was searching for—a gleaming mana core embedded within the chest cavity of one of the two-horned sheep.

Grasping the core firmly, I carefully extracted it from the creature's body, holding it up to examine it in the dim light of the cave. It was a beautiful specimen, pulsating with raw mana energy and worth a significant sum to the right buyer.

With a satisfied nod, I stowed the core away safely in my dimensional space, knowing that it would fetch a good price once we returned to civilization.

Turning back to Adrian, who was still watching me with a mixture of curiosity and bemusement, I flashed him a grin.

"Well look's like you are in luck today, It's hard to find a monster mana core"

Adrian muttered under his breath as he saw my grin, I, However, widened my grin.

However, that was merely a fake grin on my side as I couldn't help but curse at him inwardly.

'Overpowered cheat like bastard. Screw you and your system'

With the aid of the system, Adrian could literally purchase any type of monster core that he wanted. All he had to do was use the shop feature in the system.

Though it required experience points which he could earn from the quests the system granted him, he could still pretty much get anything he wanted with ease.

Meanwhile, I had to rely on my own skills and luck to find rare items like this mana core.

But despite my inner frustration, I kept up the facade of cheerfulness, not wanting to dampen the mood.

"Alright, let's continue on our way. We still have a dungeon to explore."

With that, we resumed our journey deeper into the cave, leaving behind the carcasses of the two-horned sheep as we pressed forward.