Chapter Seven: Losses

Senior Sonia is a woman of many secrets.

This does not make her more feminine or lynx-like; rather, it gives her a striking, captivating radiance. Her gaze, her smile, and the confidence and boldness that flicker from time to time in her slightly wicked purple eyes—every second, she seems to be emphasizing to Melina:

"I will change your tragedy."

How does one change something that has yet to occur? By preventing it from happening? If a tragedy never occurs, is it still worth saving? Melina suddenly felt a wave of irritation and jealousy; the bad reputation of being prone to jealousy had followed her from her previous life to this one, and she possessed a distorted sense of possessiveness. She felt unhappy that the senior was always looking at "the Melina of the future."

The overly oblivious Senior Sonia did not notice that her junior was staring at her with a sullen expression. Instead, she whistled and waved to Joan:

"A magnificent hunt, good junior. You earned quite a bit from this, didn't you?"

"Good junior," she says? Melina popped open her parasol with a *thump*, rested the handle on her left shoulder, and held it with her thumb and index finger, spinning it gently.

On Miss Joan’s youthful face was a look of frustration, and her cute twin tails drooped, mirroring her owner's low spirits.

"Not much," she emphasized.

"I knew it."

"Is it because it was only six meters long?" Melina interjected.

"Hmm..." Joan’s eyes widened, then she revealed a gentle, cute smile. "Yeah, only six meters long. It had just reached adulthood; it hadn't even built a nest yet." After the cute smile came a look of dejection again. "If we had known, we should have just cleared the path and not fought it."

"Moving aside might not have worked either," Melina recalled what she had studied. "Marsh Dragons have a strong sense of property. They regard all the flowers, grass, and minerals in their territory as their own wealth. Our gathering activities must have been a significant provocation to it. If we hadn't had so many people, it probably would have lunged at us immediately."

"Whoa, whoa... no wonder you're in the elite class. I haven't even flipped through a single page of that book recording five thousand types of dragons..." Joan looked at Melina in amazement.

Melina added silently to herself: *It is five thousand, six hundred and seventy-two known dragon species, and five thick volumes of "Unsolved Dragon Species."*

Hothouse flowers have their own merits. While they may not be as vibrant as the wildflowers growing by the roadside, they understand the various weather patterns and seasons. Students like Joan are what you might call the majority; they might start by reviewing the data on a "Marsh Dragon," but when they see over fifty "skin-swapped" monsters like the Sea Marsh Dragon, Water Marsh Dragon, or the subspecies Wolf Marsh Dragon, they usually lose their composure. While information is indeed important, even if one has read the entire encyclopedia of dragon species, it is hard to react quickly to the fact that a Marsh Dragon of challenge level 2 becomes a challenge level 5 subspecies Wolf Marsh Dragon just by having wolf ears behind its horns...

"Explain it, junior," Sonia said, hands on her hips, looking every bit the unlearned hoodlum.

It seems reincarnation cannot save one from the fact that they barely graduated their subjects. How can knowledge that should be returned to the teacher be kept just because of a mere reincarnation? One must have integrity—what is borrowed must be returned! It is a promise worth a thousand gold pieces. Thank you, Senior, for being the ambassador of "what is borrowed must be returned."

Melina had no choice but to explain it to her semi-illiterate senior.

The Marsh Dragon is a small dragon species with a standard length of 8.4 meters and a height of 2.4 meters. Their habit is to carry stones in the grasslands to build a platform about 4 meters high and construct a nest on top. During this process, the Marsh Dragon grows stronger and begins to awaken a preference for and the ability to distinguish various medicinal herbs. They carry large amounts of herbs to their nests to rot, turn into ash, and roll around in it. They also enthusiastically collect various glowing ores—all four-colored dragons love glowing ores.

"...And now do you see why Joan and her team are so dissatisfied that this Marsh Dragon was only six meters long?"

"Oh, oh, I get it now." Sonia clapped her hands. "It’s just that it had only just reached adulthood and hadn't had time to finish its nest, so even if we hunted it, there was no loot to be gained!"

After some explanation, the Echo Squad had finished harvesting the remaining useful materials and had extracted the magic factors from the Marsh Dragon’s corpse using a magic factor refiner.

Magic factors are consumable. Using a shield-hammer consumes shield-hammer magic factors; whatever equipment one uses consumes the corresponding magic factor. Since most people’s magic factors are non-renewable, they need to use a refiner to extract them from monsters and then take them to an alchemist for conversion.

For instance, the Marsh Dragon produces four types of magic factors: Black Dragon, Sharp-Tooth Dragon species, Herb Sorting, and Warning. The four-colored dragon magic factors are used to exchange for equipment-related magic factors. However, "Herb Sorting" and "Warning" are the truly high-value ones. Having a large amount of the latter can grant one something like "Spider-Sense" in a firefight, while the former can allow someone to cosplay as an otherworldly wizard with a super-chip, picking out the one useful herb from ten million weeds and comforting oneself by saying, 'I’m not cheating, it’s just an assistant, everyone is using one.'

However, looking at Joan’s expression, they probably didn't get any.

A six-meter-long Marsh Dragon hadn't finished its nest and hadn't accumulated the mineral wealth that other small dragons would covet and steal. The valuable deep-yellow scales had also become mundane. Adult Marsh Dragons, due to constantly rolling in their nests, absorb the power of herbs, giving those golden scales a subtle healing property and a keen sense of smell for herbs. The Marsh Dragon set is one of the top ten sets for herb gathering, but unfortunately, a just-matured Marsh Dragon has no nest, so... the scales don't have this effect either!

The Marsh Dragon's tail could be used to make blades, as long as it is cast with metal. But... Rei’s great axe ruined the integrity of the tail.

One could say that although the Echo Squad handled the situation professionally, this was a massive loss.

Melina glanced at Sonia. She suspected that this might have been an encounter designed by this wealthy young lady to make her help them earn money out of desperation: *Look, professional hunting teams also often take massive losses.*

It was quite persuasive, but then she found her own thoughts ridiculous.

"Move out." The captain of the Echo Squad, Joan, gave the order. This loli-statured, youthful-looking captain clearly showed that she was in a bad mood.

The magic factors they extracted were only Black Dragon and Sharp-Tooth Dragon species, the amount of which was barely enough to fill the "battery" of Don Quixote’s shield-hammer—the one who consumed the most earlier was actually Joan, seizing the moment, striking swiftly, and retreating nimbly. She was like a Stephen Curry deep in a crowd of muscle-bound men, relying on elven speed to shake off defenders and punish the opponent from the three-point line. But the harvest wasn't enough for her to recharge.

Perhaps this is why the Academy gives a piece of advice to every graduating explorer:

"Exercise caution when using violence."

It’s all about money.

If it weren't for a lack of money, Melina couldn't see why Joan and Rei would put up with being wronged...

That’s not what she meant.

Although Senior Sonia might not be the most respectable person and calls herself a "super-lecher," she wouldn't try to pick up two lolis at once; she wasn't that much of a scumbag.

The "being wronged" refers to—on the way, they encountered a Hamlet Bustard. This bird, named after the local town, is also the best local specialty of the region, with tender and delicious meat.

So, the grievance was letting the sisters Joan and Rei catch birds? Although it sounds a bit ambiguous, it wasn't quite that.

The true grievance was that Senior Sonia was holding an incredibly expensive brass-series crossbow, equipped with [Crossbow Magazine Capacity: Level 3] and [Rapid-Fire Enhancement: Level 2] accessories—parts that novice explorers had never even heard of. She fired fifteen shots, missed fourteen, and the last one stuck right next to the bird, scaring it so much that it bumped into a tree in a daze—and died.

And then the sisters Joan and Rei still had to cheer for her.

Old Mr. Don Quixote was more straightforward. He looked at the arrow on the ground, then at Sonia’s crossbow, and gave a final comment:

"Although you just debuted, I think you are so seasoned you are almost ready to retire."

As for Melina? She closed her eyes.

Taking another look would be an insult to herself.

Then she thought: *If such a bird-brain can become an explorer, dammit, why can’t I? The heavens are blind.*

Sonia let out a devilish laugh:

"Hehehe, just tell me, did I hunt it or not?"

Melina couldn't express her respect for the Senior’s maxed-out "thick skin," so she could only take a step forward and head out first.

...

The long walk wore down a lot of enthusiasm and stamina.

They found a clean spot to rest a short distance before the destination, replenishing fluids and eating some jerky.

Melina’s extraordinary talent manifested. While everyone else was panting slightly, she spun her parasol elegantly, moving forward like a young girl skipping over puddles, neither fast nor slow. By the time everyone else had started replenishing fluids and was panting heavily, she remained exactly the same. Surpassing the limits of an ordinary banshee, Melina’s terrifying magic factor reserves had greatly optimized her body.

Honestly, looking back now, she might have been able to beat that Marsh Dragon to death with her bare hands.

Just like Wu Song fighting the tiger.

"You freak," Sonia muttered, then stared at Melina’s thighs with an incredible look; uh, Joan and Rei were the same!

An incredible and inquisitive look.

It almost made one think they were being lecherous.

Melina’s legs were well-shaped; they weren't the pale, skinny, youthful type. Because of the exaggerated proportions of her chest, she possessed a slender physique with a slight sense of fleshiness.

But these explorers weren't paying attention to that; they were studying where these elven, nimble footsteps came from.

"Tell me, little Mel," Sonia asked curiously, "do you have elven blood?"

"I am one hundred percent pure banshee," Melina replied.

Sonia kept staring at her, and only after a long while did she slowly exhale:

"We are almost there. I hope no dragon is watching that vein of ore in my memory."

"With the Echo Squad here, are you afraid of dragons?"

Melina now had more faith in the combat power of the Echo Squad. Even if they encountered a rare flying dragon among the Black Dragons, or a Yellow Dragon, or a Blue Dragon that had come ashore and was sitting in a tree, this squad, which still had many hidden cards, would have a way to solve it—how to make them show their true strength? That would depend on Senior Sonia’s wealth...

Sonia’s expression was a bit sullen:

"I am afraid."

Without waiting for Melina to ask, she muttered to herself:

"I'm afraid there might be a Red Dragon lurking there."