Not long after he entered the forest, dark clouds covered the sun, casting a grey shadow over the land. One moment it was clear and sunny; the next moment, it started pouring.
The weather was ever-changing. Within a single hour, it alternated between rainy and sunny multiple times.
Luckily, Cao Yan was well-prepared. As this world’s civilization had started from forests, there were various kinds of tools available to help people manage the forest environment.
The survival suit Cao Yan wore was waterproof. When it rained, he put his hoodie over his head and continued moving forward.
Furthermore, he was wearing forest shoes that looked similar to combat boots and had applied a layer of insect repellant before coming in. Otherwise, he would already be crying from all the insect bites.
These were all prepared beforehand and could be bought in the shops in Magic Metropolis.
While walking, Cao Yan asked Eggy, who was behind him, “Where did you steal those eggs from? Are there any more?” He wanted to get his hands on them again.
It was uncertain if Eggy understood him. Still, it tilted its head and scuttled to Cao Yan’s side. Their positions had changed. Now, Eggy was walking in front, while Cao Yan was at the back.
The dense vegetation in the forest blocked out the sunlight. On top of that, the rain made the place look like the night had fallen early. However, Eggy was not affected by the low light. It moved its eight limbs and dashed through the forest floor so quickly that Cao Yan could barely keep up with it even while running.
When they had first entered the forest, they could still see some adventurers occasionally. After all, it was not too far off from Magic Metropolis. There were still quite some people entering and exiting the forest.
According to the usual transmigration trope, the main character would typically go to crowded places and chance upon people engaged in combat. Then, he would benefit from stealing the things that the two sides were fighting over.
Cao Yan would never dream of running into such a situation. Firstly, there weren’t so many free people fighting with each other all the time. Secondly, judging from his small build, if he were caught in the action, it might be more probable for his life to end there and then.
He should just mind his own business.
Therefore, when he entered the forest with Eggy, they would always go in the direction where there were the least people. Soon, there were no signs of humans around them.
The rain stopped in no time at all, and the air grew even more humid.
After entering the forest’s depths for so long, Cao Yan noticed that there were many plants and animals here that were not unique to Earth, like snakes, mice, ants, avians, flowers, and grass, etc. He also slowly observed increasing tracks of demon beasts.
A soft rustling of leaves sounded, and from mid-air, a dark green monkey leaped from tree to tree, quickly closing in on them. It watched Eggy and Cao Yan with its green eyes as they passed by underneath it.
This demon was a type of primate. Its dark green coat was a natural protection for it in the forest, making it difficult to detect. Hence, it had the name Ghost Monkey. As a stage-one demon beast, it was at the bottom of the food chain. It was inherently curious, and its strengths included attacking in groups and its ear-piercing screech.
This monkey had strayed from its group to act as a sentry. It was keeping watch on the intruders in their territory.
Cao Yan had entered the forest to capture a demon beast, but he really could not be bothered with a stage-one demon beast.
Tsk!
Cao Yan might not have any interest, but Eggy was not a picky eater.
Before the Ghost Monkey could react, a strand of spider silk shot across the air and stuck onto it. The monkey jumped subconsciously. The moment it lowered its head to look at the silk, an overpowering force pulled it straight down the tree.
The monkey was stunned. As it fell, it opened its mouth to let out a screech to warn its companions. However, another strand of spider silk flew over and landed on its opened mouth. The web stuck its mouth close again, making it look like it was wearing a spider web mask.
Eggy lifted a foot and pierced it through the falling monkey. A few moments later, the Ghost Monkey’s spirit and blood were sucked dry.
Eggy, at stage two, was fiercer and more vicious in its hunts.
They continued advancing into the forest after the little incident. Eggy, dashing forward, suddenly stopped and froze in its tracks.
Cao Yan could also feel something strange on the spiritual level. He lowered his head and looked ahead.
On the ground not far away, there was a slight dent of around a meter wide. A strange creature was crawling out from the pit. It looked like an armadillo with its sharp claws and golden scales.
This was the Ground Armor Beast, shy by nature and good at burrowing and digging through the ground. Its power lay in the earth element.
The Ground Armor Beast could reach up to stage-three in the subordinate level. This one was only at stage two, though. It was around two meters long and was still a beastling. Most Ground Armor Beast would have silver or brown scales, but this one had golden, making it a rare breed. In addition, other than its earth element powers, it could also develop a subsidiary metal element.
One could tell that just by looking at its claws, which looked as though they were molded from gold.
In the Green Jungle, the most common elements were water, fire, metal, wood, and earth. There were also rare elements like light, darkness, wind, thunder, and space.
Some demon beasts might develop two or even three elements.
There were also demon beasts that naturally had four elements. However, that was not a good thing since it would end up as a jack of all trades, master of none. It would make the demon beast a weakling. Furthermore, the heterogeneous mix of the elements would be categorized as a mixed species instead of a pure one.
Therefore, demon beasts with two or three power elements were the most precious.
Cao Yan felt that he was in luck. The first thing he ran into in the forest was a rare dual-element beast.
Of course, this Ground Armor Beast’s two elements were not balanced. Its metal element power was rather weak, so it could not be considered a top-grade rarity. However, this was already good enough.
Cao Yan waved his hand, and Eggy instantly understood its owner’s meaning. It relaxed a little and released its spider silk stealthily.
Ground Armor Beasts were timid by nature. They could be understood as the nerds in the world of demons. It would usually lay on the ground and avoid meeting other demon beasts. Hence, when it suddenly ran into Eggy and Cao Yan the moment it crawled out, it shuddered in fear. The beast turned with the intention of running back to its burrow.
However, Eggy’s silk happened to seal off the hole to the burrow, causing the Ground Armor Beast to ram right into the spider silk. It wanted to shrink and escape, but the web was too sticky. There would be trouble trying to get anything off it.
The Ground Armor Beast stuck in the spider silk was forcefully dragged by Eggy. Eggy then waved its front two limbs and started pounding the beast.
Cao Yan watched heartlessly as the Ground Armor Beast covered its head with its front limbs and retracted its tail, hiding like an ostrich. When he saw that it was no longer trying to resist, he pulled out a demon ball and threw it into the air. The demon ball, with the power from the patterns, sucked the Ground Armor Beast.
Cao Yan caught the demon ball as it spun in the air. He was secretly relieved that capturing this demon beast had been relatively easy.
According to the trainer skill book, there were two main ways to capture a demon beast.
The first way was to communicate with the demon beast through spiritual and mental energy. After receiving the demon beast’s acknowledgment, the two would sign a binding contract and the demon beast would enter the demon ball actively.
The second way was simple. When facing a demon beast one wanted to capture, beat it up first. Once the target became dazed from all the hitting and lost its ability to fight back, it would naturally be time to capture it.
As for the specific way to do it, Eggy and Cao Yan, the owner and pet without any conscience, had provided a good example.
“Congratulations on capturing your first demon beast. Mission progress: 1/5. Please continue to work hard.”