"You look tired, Mom," Kevin said as he noticed Maria breathing heavily, her breath visible in the cold fog.
"I'm fine," she replied, pausing to catch her breath.
It was almost noon, and the cold and fog on the mountains had increased instead of lessening. They were at a significant height, making breathing more difficult. From their group, only Kevin seed unaffected. Emma and Lora were the most exhausted due to their mortal physiques, while the other adventurers they were with also looked worn out. The group's guide, noticing this, decided to give everyone a short break.
"Drink this," Kevin said, handing Emma and Lora green potions while giving clear ones to his sister and Maria.
"It tastes minty," Lora said, downing the potion without even asking what it was. anwhile, Maria, tasting hers, remarked, "Mine tastes like sweet rose and vanilla. What was that for?"
"Just to make you feel energetic," Kevin replied, pulling so fruits from his space ring for everyone to eat.
As he handed out the fruit, Kevin walked over to Maria and began chatting with her. Riya, talking with Lora, glanced at them with worry, barely listening as Lora asked, "Hey Riya, when will your brother give us those cultivation techniques? Did he ntion anything about it?"
"Lora..." Emma said in a stern tone, causing her daughter to look at her in surprise. Lora responded in a lower voice, "What? I was just asking."
"Don't," Emma replied firmly. She then turned to Riya, noticing her worried expression as she watched Kevin and Maria. "You look worried. Is everything okay, dear?" Emma asked gently.
Riya snapped out of her thoughts and gave a small smile, shaking her head. "Nah, nothing... So, what were you talking about, Lora?"
Lora opened her mouth, excited to share, but her mother spoke first with a smile. "Nothing important," Emma said. Noticing the untouched fruit in Riya's hands, she added, "Eat the fruit, it tastes really good."
Riya, still lost in her thoughts, nodded and took a bite of the apple-like fruit, wondering to herself, 'Would he really do it with her?'
Once everyone had replenished their stamina, the guide resud leading the group on the trek. This trail is maintained by the governnt of the surrounding city to boost tourism, attracting both weak cultivators and mortals looking for a relaxing escape and a glimpse of the outer world, which they rarely get to see. There aren't many safe cultivation grounds like this one.
Despite being ho to insects monsters, the Misty Mountains don't host many powerful creatures. The primary danger here is the treacherous mist, which often claims the lives of unwary cultivators. This relative safety was why Kevin chose this place for his first hunt.
By evening, the group reached their camping location, a large flat area atop the mountains with a stunning waterfall on one side and a deep valley on the other. Because of the persistent mist and the encroaching darkness, they couldn't fully appreciate the beauty of the surroundings, but that could wait until morning. Exhausted, everyone focused on setting up their tents to rest as soon as possible.
Kevin and his group were doing the sa, although Kevin was the only one doing the work. The others didn't know how to set up a tent, especially one as large as Kevin's, which was spacious enough for all five of them to sleep together.
"Finally, so rest," Lora sighed as she slumped onto the soft bottom of the tent as soon as it was set up, with Riya following suit.
Neither of them seed interested in the original plan of gathering around a campfire or singing songs with a guitar. They were simply too tired to care.
Kevin, smiling, chose to take out so already cooked als and eat with them. "Don't fall asleep just yet, let's eat first," he said, and despite their fatigue, everyone happily devoured their als.
"I'm going to step out for a bit," Kevin announced after finishing his food, and he headed out of the tent.
Soon after, Emma followed suit. "I'm also going to step out for a bit. Anyone want to join ?"
Everyone shook their heads, and Lora, yawning, said, "I'm too tired to even breathe, so no."
Emma nodded and followed Kevin as he walked away from the campsite.
Soon, Emma found Kevin sitting on a boulder near the waterfall, smoking a cigarette. She sat down beside him and asked, "Can I have one?"
Kevin smiled and held out the cigarette packet to her. "I didn't know you smoke."
Emma placed a cigarette in her mouth and replied, "Sotis..."
Kevin lit her cigarette with a smile. After taking a puff, she asked, "When did you start?"
"Just recently," he answered. Turning towards her with a grin, he added, "Are you going to ask to stop?"
"No, why would I? It's not like it's dangerous or anything for cultivators, so no," she said, taking a puff, which made Kevin smile as he nodded.
After a mont of silence, he spoke up, "You know, you said if I need your help, I should ask?"
"Yeah, do you need help with anything?" she asked eagerly.
Kevin was surprised by her reaction, but ignoring it, he put on a serious expression and said, "First, promise you won't tell Mom and Riya about this."
"I promise I won't," Emma said happily, montarily forgetting to smoke her cigarette, which was burning away in the wind.
Kevin glanced at her for a mont, then took a drag from his cigarette before continuing. "Where should I start?" he asked himself. "You know I was at a place called Chernbog's Den?"
Emma nodded, as Maria had ntioned Kevin's whereabouts when she ca to live with them. Seeing her nod, Kevin continued, "Well, there I fought with a lot of monsters, which was obviously the main reason I went there. I also went to collect so herbs to sell at the store. The incident happened when I was looking for one of these herbs."
As he spoke, Kevin noticed Emma looking at him with a serious expression. Realizing she was buying his fabricated story, he continued.
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