Mira was cooking the bear meat as Maria started talking about Dark Moon Forest.

“The Dark Moon Forest is a Rank 2 forest, but can almost be considered a Rank 3 forest due to the amount of Rank 2 magical beasts. The Rank 2 beasts generally stay in the inner and core regions of the forest. Right now we can still be considered in the outer region, another 600-1000 kilometers from here is the boundary between inner and outer regions. The Rank 2 magical beasts are Dark Moon Bear, which is a mutation of the Moon Bear. There’s also an Albino Tree Python, this snake is over 20 meters and generally hides in or coils around trees. One of the rarest and elusive in the forest is a Mystic Star Fox. They are extremely fast and have a 6 sided star on their forehead. The most dangerous one here though is a Blackcloud Panther. They are perfect at assassinations and generally are 1 hit kills. Unless you have the strength to block it or can sense it beforehand, even a Peak Qi Condensation Realm expert or even up to Mid Foundation Realm will die to it. The forest here is like its playground. Those are the main ones that I know.”

“As for herbs, all I know is that the herbs go up to rank 3 in the forest. There are 10 ranks to herbs and are classified similarly to magical beasts. Rank 1 herbs are good for Body Tempering Realm experts, Rank 2-3 are useful for Qi Condensation realm Experts, and so on. They are also categorized by year. Like 10 years, 100 years, 1000 years, and 10000 years. Lower-ranked herbs can still be useful to people with higher realms, but the efficiency drops unless they have a method to increase the efficiency. There are quite a few Rank 1 herbs in the forest and a handful of Rank 2 herbs, but Rank 3 herbs are probably monopolized by the strongest Rank 2 Magical Beasts. There are quite a few different types of Rank 1 mushrooms such a Blood Mushrooms that can help with the recovery of wounds. This mushroom will have red veins on it and the older it is the more veins it has. There is also a Spirit Mushroom which can help circulate qi into the body but is only recommended after opening your meridians. This mushroom has a blue hue to it and becomes more translucent the older it gets. There is also the Iron Wire Grass. It’s grass where if you extract its juice can aid in repairing muscles in the Body Tempering Stage. That’s most of the information I have on the forest.”

‘I see, so this forest is actually much more dangerous than I thought it was. It must be due to the number of plants in the forest that can assist in cultivation. The rank 2 beasts will be a big problem so I will have to stay far away from the core region. I have a decent amount of knowledge of herbs from my past life when I was gathering information. Even if the herbs are different I should be able to identify what an herb does up to rank 3 and maybe rank 4. This is an excellent place for me to train.’

“OH! One more thing. I did hear that there is a ruin somewhere in the forest. I don’t know what’s in it or where it is. That’s just something that I heard.”

“Interesting. Thanks for the help. Well, I’m almost done cooking this bear so I will be heading out soon. You can go back to your group or do whatever.”

“Eh? So soon?”

“Yeah, I want to get back to my training as soon as possible and I just happened to be passing by here.”

“I see, so then this will be goodbye then?” Maria said while being a little downcast.

“Yeah, thanks for the information.”

Mira went back to cooking the bear meat. It took her another hour to finish cooking the meat. She also ate a large leg of Moon Bear meat while Maria had another leg. Mira was about to leave when Maria stopped her.

“Hey… Do you mind if I join you?”

“Why do you want to join me? Don’t you want to go home to your family and tell them you’re alive? Your members will probably say that you’re dead you know. Plus I don’t plan on leaving the forest until I become strong enough which won’t be for some years you know.”

“Yeah, you are probably right but I still think that it would be good for us to join you.”

“You do you. If you were a guy and said that to me, I would’ve killed you before that came out of your mouth. Well, anyway I don’t care what you do but you will have to fend for yourself even if you come with me. Plus most of the time I will be training or hunting or looking for herbs that might help me with my cultivation. Since I’m in the Strength Training Realm, something to help me get to the Bone Forging Realm would be a great help.”

Maria felt a chill up her spine when Mira said that she would kill her if she was a man. She thought about what Mira said for a minute and even though she will feel bad for her family, she might be able to come out of this whole ordeal much stronger. Plus what’s wrong with following this goddess?

“Well Mira, from now on I will be joining you! I will do my best to use this time to get stronger and when I do, I will go back to my family and get a little revenge hehe.”

“Okay.”

Mira and Maria set off. They were going in the direction of the inner region but will stop a couple of hundred miles away from the inner region just to be safe. On their journey, they would pick up any herbs or plants that will be useful. They found a couple of Blood Mushrooms and Spirit Mushrooms, but just enough for emergencies. They also found quite a bit of Iron Wire Grass to aid them in their training. Even though Maria is in the Organ Refinement Stage, she can still increase her muscle strength.

Their journey was rather peaceful. They didn’t run into any beasts and kept collecting herbs. They should be able to reach their destination by the end of the day.

***

“Dammit!! Those assholes from the Rineheart family obviously did something to my daughter! They even brought back some stupid Moon Bear cub as a present for their Youngest Miss! She’s only 5 years old, why does she need a contracted beast!?! FUCK!” said a large man with short blonde hair. He was sitting inside a large room that looked like a study. It had a large desk and papers everywhere. The papers are everywhere do his rage of being told his daughter is dead.

This man is Maria’s Father, Cole Zaria. He’s at the Half-Step Core Formation Realm.

“I don’t believe that my daughter is dead, she may be a bit naive but is not someone who will die so easily to a Rank 1 magical beast. I will personally go look for her. I should be able to get to the location of her death in about an hour or so if I go at max speed.”

Cole started making preparations to set out to find what really happened to his daughter. He has a gut feeling that Maria is not dead and still somewhere in the forest. Cole knows that even though his daughter isn’t weak, she might not be able to handle the forest alone as she doesn’t have any survival skills.

“Cole dear, where are you going at a time like this?” said a woman with a sweet voice almost like honey. She had golden-blonde hair that went down to her waist. She had ocean-blue eyes and was around 170 centimeters tall. She was wearing a white hanfu with red lining.

“Erika… *sigh* Do you remember that the youngsters of the Rineheart family and Maria went to Dark Moon Forest recently, well they came back with a Moon Bear cub to give as a present to their youngest miss. Well, Maria didn’t come back and they are saying that she died in the forest and they ran for their lives. They said that she decided to hold off the mother so the others can escape. I know that our daughter is naive, but she definitely wouldn’t risk her life for people that she barely knows. I guess that she used her as bait or something similar so they can escape. They could’ve all killed it together as it wasn’t even Rank 2 just a Peak rank 1 beast. I have a feeling that she is still alive and I just want to see it for my own eyes.” Said Cole as he was about to head out.

Erika covered her mouth and let out a small tear, but soon calmed herself. There was indeed something wrong. Call it mothers intuition, but she also believed that her daughter was still alive.

“Ok, Cole. I trust you to find our daughter and bring her home safely.” Erika kissed him and watched as he left.

“Just leave it to me.”