Hidden danger

It was an old mountain wolf. Unlike ordinary mountain wolves, which had grayish-white or black fur, this one with brown body hair used to be the leader of a small mountain wolf pack. Its brown body hair was its distinctive feature as a monster. As a mountain wolf with an average lifespan of 20 years, although this one had broken through the shackles and became a monster, its lifespan did not increase much. It could only live up to 30 years old. It had now reached the limit of an ordinary mountain wolf's lifespan of 20 years.

In theory, it still had a third of its lifespan left, but in the fierce and cruel forest, aging meant being eliminated. The pack also needed a new, stronger leader to lead it. He was blinded in one eye by a young wolf that had just become a demonized creature not long ago. Having many years of hunting experience and superior fighting skills meant that it had more scars on its body.

The old wolf had been defeated. One of its eyes was not only the end of its reign in a certain area outside Morphey Forest, but it was also the best gift to the new leader of the pack. The new leader needed to establish his own dignity.

The old wolf dragged its battered body out of Morphey Forest and settled down in the Bering Mountains.

There were many monsters and monsters in Morphey Forest. Most of their food came from ordinary beasts. Only high-level monsters would choose low-level monsters or monsters as food. The old wolf used to hunt with more than 20 young wolves. It did not have to worry about food and drink at all. Even if it encountered low-level monsters, it would not be afraid. With more than 20 wolves against low-level monsters, the odds of winning were still on the wolves' side. Wolves were social creatures.

But now, the old wolf was worried about food. The mana in its body was gradually dissipating. As a former leader of a wolf that had lived for more than 20 years and had extraordinary wisdom, it knew that it was incurable. That was why it came to the Bering Mountains.

There were very few monsters in the Bering Mountains. In addition, winter was coming, so many creatures had migrated to Morphey Forest. There were only three monsters of the same level in the area where the old wolf was staying. The big crab that lived in the saltwater lake in the south, the eagle on the mountain wall in the west, the leopard in the forest in the north, and the old wolf in the east. The four demonic creatures each had their own territory. None of them were afraid of each other, but none of them wanted to provoke each other.

There were very few creatures in the forest in late autumn. The old wolf needed to spend half of its time looking for food every day. Today, its luck was not very good. It had been searching for nearly the entire morning, but apart from a brainless guinea pig that appeared to give it a sumptuous meal, it found nothing else.

Should he go to the leopard's territory in the north? The old wolf thought about it. In the saltwater lake in the south, there was nothing but the big crab and its relatives. There was no need to think about the mountain wall in the west. The old wolf was not an ape and could not climb cliffs and cliffs. Only the leopard, who had a medium-sized forest as its territory, might have some gains.

After pondering for a while, the old wolf shook its head and headed north.

Locke tensed his body and crawled on the ground. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the brown-furred wolf leave. He cursed inwardly. He had only traveled such a short distance and he had already encountered such a ferocious creature. It was the first time Locke had seen a wolf that was more than two meters long. Coupled with its strange colored fur, it was obvious that this wolf was not to be trifled with. Locke, who had not yet recovered to his peak, had to lay low.

He stood up and carefully sensed his surroundings. There were no other creatures. Locke relaxed and looked for edible fruits. He had not forgotten why he had come so far.

This time, luck was on Locke's side. A strange tree with a trunk that resembled bamboo appeared in front of him. This ten-meter-tall branch had clusters of white fruits that looked like bunches of grapes on top.

Locke returned to the cave by the lake at around two or three in the afternoon. There were bunches of grape-like fruits hanging on his body. They were the harvest of a long day's work. It took Locke a lot of effort to climb such a thin tree trunk for the first time.

Angelina, who had recovered a lot, could already sit up. Although she could not walk yet, she was only a few days away from a full recovery. Angelina had been sitting on the straw mat in the cave, waiting for Locke for several hours. The boring wait gave Angelina a feeling that she had never had before. Was it like a wife waiting for her husband to return? This thought occasionally flashed through Angelina's mind.

If it weren't for the inconvenience of her legs, Angelina would have gone out to look for Locke. She did not dare to imagine how she would live alone in this deserted jungle without Locke by her side. Just when Angelina's patience was about to be worn out by time, Locke, who was covered in spoils of war, finally returned. Angelina was so excited that she wanted to stand up, but she staggered and fell down again. Fortunately, Locke did not see it. Otherwise, he would definitely be amused by Angelina's cute appearance.

Locke saw Angelina sitting up straight from afar. He scratched his head and greeted, "Hey, how are you?" Locke did not know how to face a princess like her, so he choked out a meaningless sentence.

"Yes, I'm fine." Angelina did not know how to deal with this guy who took advantage of her, so she agreed to Locke's words.

This was the first formal conversation between the two since they met. It was simple and childish.

In order to avoid the awkward atmosphere, Locke hurriedly packed up the lunch, went to the sand beach, and turned over the stones. He cut open a 'meat chicken' and stuffed as many fruits as he could into it. He did not choose to catch two of those strange creatures. Before there was a new source of meat, Locke would not kill them all.

The white grape-like fruit that he found later was edible, but it tasted mediocre. It was neither sour nor sweet, as if it had no taste at all. The only thing worth mentioning was that this fruit was very watery. Locke ate a few and water flowed out of his mouth.

When he was done, he tore half of the 'meat chicken' and gave it to Angelina. He also handed her a few yellow fruits. This was their lunch. It was a very simple lunch, and both of them ate it with relish. Locke was worried that as a princess, she would not be used to the simple food he made.

Angelina was not a picky person, and she was also hungry. She did not care whether the food was delicious or not. Besides, the food that Locke made tasted very good.

"What's your name?" Angelina asked casually during the meal.

"Locke, my name is Locke. What about you?" Locke asked rhetorically. After taking care of Angelina for so long and taking advantage of her so many times, he still did not know the princess's name.

"Angelina Forstein. You can call me Angelina," said Angelina.

"Oh," replied Locke.

Even if Locke didn't know much about nobility, he knew that the princess was definitely a legitimate child of the royal family, and a direct descendant at that. The gap between the two was too big. If it wasn't for the previous conversation, Locke would not have been able to chat with Angelina calmly. He would most likely be very respectful and humble.

The two continued to eat. Angelina pointed at the food in her hand and asked, "How did you catch this kind of salt crab?"

"Salt crab? Do you mean 'meat chicken'? " Locke suddenly understood. "There are a lot of these things on the sand beach over there. It's very easy to deal with them." Locke explained to Angelina, "As long as you don't get caught by its pincers, you can use stones to deal with it."

"Meat chicken?" Angelina was puzzled. "Why did you give it such a name?"

"Because it tastes like chicken," replied Locke honestly.

"Pfft ~" Angelina was amused by Locke's answer.

The atmosphere between the two of them became harmonious with the laughter. "Do you know? Salt crabs have the potential to evolve into monsters, "Angelina explained to Locke.

"Monsters?!" Locke raised his voice. He'd only seen one minor monster before, and that was the wolf he'd met in the morning. Even at his peak, he couldn't guarantee that he'd be able to defeat that wolf. How could this little thing evolve into a minor monster?

"Yes, salt crabs are a type of octopus crab. They have a chance to comprehend three types of power: salt, water, and force. As long as there's a chance and they comprehend one of them, they can evolve into monsters," said Angelina confidently. This was what she learned from the books collected by her teacher.

Angelina said a lot, but Locke didn't understand much of it. He didn't know what Angelina was talking about at all, but he understood one thing. He had killed a lot of these greyish-white crustaceans, and it was very likely that they could evolve into monsters.

"Why don't I kill them all now while they haven't evolved?" Locke didn't want to be accompanied by bombs all the time, especially a nest of them.

"It's not that easy to evolve." Angelina rolled her eyes. "It's just like the evolution of humans. Whether it's the advancement of casters or knights, it's not an easy task. It's even more difficult for major monsters to advance. I heard from my teacher that without rare treasures and fortuitous encounters, major monsters can't evolve in their lifetime. They can only maintain their fixed level. "

Unlike humans, who had techniques for knights to cultivate impetus and secret manuals for casters to condense mental power and gather mana, major monsters could only rely on their body's passive evolution. There was an upper limit to their evolution.

"What if this thing evolves?" Locke asked after taking the last bite of food.

"Then we can only blame our bad luck." Angelina replied confidently. After that, she seemed to have thought of something and asked, "Are there a lot of salt crabs around here?"

"Not many. Excluding the seven or eight I've killed so far, there should be five or six left," replied Locke after thinking for a while.

Angelina blinked her beautiful eyes and looked at Locke. "Fifteen. That's the standard number of salt crabs in a tribe. It's very likely that there's a crab king."

Locke suddenly had a bad feeling. "Crab king? What's that? "

"It's a monster that has comprehended one type of power." Angelina told Locke this unfortunate fact.

Locke immediately jumped up. A monster could be nearby, and he had killed many of its people. It seemed that they were going to fight him to the death.

Angelina, however, was not flustered at all. Instead, she looked as if she had a card up her sleeve.

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