Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

As a scholar, Palebeard had served the Sand Castle Clan for thirty-eight years, so he knew well about the strength of the supernatural.

For a Silver-rank practitioner, they could lift an object weighing about 350 kilograms and hit with a force of 8,000 newtons without activating battle aura. They could easily confront 20 or 30 adults in a head-on battle. Their pain endurance far exceeded that of ordinary people, but was still susceptible to strong crossbows and bows.

In other words, the physical aspects of Silver-rank battle aura practitioners were still in the human category, bound by the structure of the human body, and represented the limit of mortal physical development.

For a Gold-rank battle aura practitioner, the strength of battle aura was much higher. This kind of battle aura nourishes and transforms the body, completely surpassing the limit of a mere mortal.

Without the use of battle aura, a Gold-rank powerhouse could run at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour and lift about ten tons of heavy objects. Even in the face of an army, they could behead the general and capture the flag.

Ordinary bows and arrows were no threat to them at all. But they were still vulnerable in the face of a magic crossbow.

When the head goat was fighting with Yellowteres, Palebeard saw the head goat slam into tree trucks several times, knocking down the towering trees.

This proved that although the head goat was only Bronze rank, when it charged desperately, the impact force was still powerful. It was much stronger than the charge of an ordinary cavalry!

A Silver-rank battle aura practitioner, relying solely on their physical strength, could never resist such a charge from the head goat.

But Aupin easily and casually stopped the head goat’s charge.

The power demonstrated had far exceeded the rank of Silver.

Thus, Palebeard couldn’t help but speculate that Aupin might be a Gold-rank practitioner.

As far as I know, the bloodline of the Centum’pin clan does not excel in strength, but they are talented in precision.

If a knight had the support from a “power of the bear” spell, he could also achieve this. But the support of low-level spells are forbidden here.

Or did he take any strength potions?

Finally, Palebeard once again thought of the possibility of a Gold-rank cultivation.

If Aupin really is a Gold-rank powerhouse, with such strength and talent, the Centum’pin clan will surely rise again!

Under Palebeard’s gaze, Aupin suddenly lifted his arms that were holding the goat’s horns, violently holding the goat high in the air.

Then, he slammed it down hard.

The head goat fell to the ground and struggled before getting up. Its expression was sluggish, as if it had been thrown into a coma.

Immediately, its eyes were red again as it rushed towards Aupin fiercely.

Aupin pressed it down again. After letting it flounder for a while, he threw it far away.

After doing this several times, its feelings of unwillingness, anger, hatred, etc., had all disappeared. They were replaced by fear and angst.

Finally, the head goat did not charge forward any more. It fell to the ground, got up, and stood there motionless.

When Aupin took the initiative to walk in front of it, it let out a bleating cry, lowered its head and looked away. Its bloody body trembling.

Aupin patted its head, then touched its horns.

The head goat was so frightened that it tilted its body and laid on the ground.

With many people watching him, Aupin satisfyingly nodded. He ordered, “Take it away, heal it, feed it carefully, but don’t overfeed it.”

“Sir, do you want to domesticate this goat into a mount?” Palebeard asked after the battle was over.

Aupin nodded and asked with a smile, “Do you think that is possible?”

“Of course it is,” Palebeard said with a smile. “As far as I know, the most widely used mounts on the Dwarf Continent are goats. Goats can easily trek through high mountains and ridges. Even a year-old wild goat can use its climbing skills to trek through the snow-covered rocks and cross many obstacles that us humans cannot. However I don’t know the specific domestication methods.”

Aupin nodded and asked, “Is there a trainer among the people who survived from the Pig Peck?”

Palebeard shook his head. “There doesn’t seem to be.”

“It doesn’t matter, if we can’t find a trainer on Pig Peck, surely we can find one in White Sand City.” Aupin said as he patted the old scholar on the shoulder.

He got what he wanted from this battle.

Defeating the head goat and domesticating it as a mount was only the minor goal.

The main goal was that Aupin showed his strength under the eyes of everyone. The exploration team now knew how strong he was.

His influence and leadership on this group of people had greatly increased.

As for teaching Yellowteres a lesson on betrayal, once was enough.

Aupin had kept the family motto of the Centum’pin clan in mind, he closely watched Yellowteres. On the one hand, he squeezed out the value from Yellowteres, and on the other hand, he used Yellowteres to remind himself on how to become a qualified leader.

Aupin looked around and sighed sincerely. “This is a treasure island!”

To be honest, this was the first time he had found such a paradise on this island.

The exploration team was pleasantly surprised to find that the size of the herd here far exceeded their previous experience.

For some reason, the flock here was simply overflowing with goats.

There were several large-scale flocks of more than 1,000 goats. Even more in the hundreds range, which was what Aupin’s team hunted.

The exploration team began to deal with the dead goats.

Bleeding out the bodies, skinning, and evisceration were performed. Then some people started to cut goat meat, while others cleaned the goat skin and stomach.

After the goat meat was cut, it was put on a campfire and cooked using a smoked method. This way, the moisture in the goat could be extracted, making it last longer in storage.

After the goat skin was cleaned, it had to be smoked and dried in the sun.

The skin could be made into leather clothing, and the stomach of the goat could be made into water bags.

The exploration team worked here over the next three days.

Under the command of Aupin, the crowd hunted down three more flocks.

With Aupin personally going into battle, the Bronze-rank goat leaders all surrendered.

The vast majority of adult goats were killed. But there were some young goats left alive under the orders of Aupin.

These goats were easily fed, so raising dozens of goats and the four Bronze-rank head goats was not a big burden.

This was the benefit of having more manpower. If it were just Violette and Aupin, they would not have had energy for this.

On the fourth day, the exploration team finally left.

The appearance of the entire team had undergone tremendous changes.

Almost everyone wore a leather coat. The leather jacket was crudely made with one hole simply cut for the head. On both sides under the armpits, there were rattan threads and the front and back pieces of goat skin were tied together through holes.

The gray wool was on the inside, against the body, while the yellow goat skin was on the outside.

On everyone’s backs, there was a huge pack made of animal skin, which was mainly filled with smoked dried goat.

In addition, there were the water bags. Many water bags made of stomachs, tied around their waists.

The food and fresh water reserves were abundant, almost reaching the carrying limit of the entire team.

After all, everyone had a limit.

Yellowteres was traveling at the front of the team.

Aupin, Violette and Palebeard walked in the middle of the team.

The goats were behind them, led mainly by Blueteres.

Apart from the dozens of young goats, the main focus was on the four Bronze-rank goats. These goats were now wearing simple reins made of rattan, with a lot of packs hanging on their bodies. They mainly contained dried meat and fresh water, followed by tents, spare weapons and so forth.

Throughout the entire morning, the team trekked through mountains and rivers, before reaching the jungle.

They only took a few short breaks, each time less than a quarter of an hour.

At noon, they had a half hour of rest.

The entire team was divided into two sections. One group was on lookout, checking supplies, etc., and the other was sitting on the ground eating lunch.

Palebeard carefully counted the team members. No one was missing, the food and water and other materials were checked again, and the most worrisome goat herd was also calm.

The old scholar carefully observed through his cracked glasses.

He noticed that the people who were eating were relaxed. Some made fun of each other, some were massaging their calves while eating, and others trying to rest as much as possible. As for the people on lookout, their eyes were attentive and their backs stood straight.

The morale of the entire team was quite high.

Palebeard had been with this exploration team since the beginning.

He had never seen these people exuding such a spirit.

He knew the main reason for all this.

It was not the delicious dried meat, nor the relatively stable environment, it was because of the young knight!

Aupin!

All of these changes were brought about by him.

His powerful strength brought everyone a strong sense of security and greatly increased the hope in everyone’s hearts.

Yellowteres and Blueteres became his slaves, and had been working hard these days. Although Aupin had not revealed his battle aura, his profound background and suspected Gold-rank cultivation made the brothers feel hopeful about their future.

Along the way, Violette followed Aupin; they were almost inseparable. This was the president of the Purple Vine Chamber of Commerce, and at the same time, Palebeard also noticed her skillful methods of making potions over the past few days.

In the end, Palebeard’s gaze focused on Aupin.

He had met many nobles throughout his life.

And he was certain that out of all of the young nobles, Aupin definitely belonged to the crème de la crème.

He was extremely talented, powerful, and what was even more commendable was that he was a qualified leader.

Under his influence, the entire team united and their morale was high.

Palebeard could foresee that the impoverished Centum’pin clan could rise again because of Aupin!

I hope I can follow such a nobleman and witness him achieve his great cause step by step, and participate in the rise of the Centum’pin clan. Perhaps hundreds of years later, my own scholar name beside him will become one of the wisdom symbols recognized by later generations. What a wonderful thing that would be…

What a shame. If only I could have met such a person when I was young…

The old scholar did not show the slightest regret on his face.

He walked to Aupin and reported the results of the investigation in a respectful tone.

“Very well, Mr. Palebeard. Thanks to your suggestion, we have hunted enough meat and have ample reserves. Now let’s sit down and have some lunch together,” Aupin said.

Palebeard said, “My suggestion was only secondary, if there was guidance from you sir, we would have never been in such a favorable situation.”

Aupin smiled.

He had become more satisfied with Palebeard after getting along these days.

This old scholar was just an ordinary person, but his head was not ordinary.

The direction of the team’s advancement was determined by him.

He only relied on a wooden stick in the ground and sunlight.

Palebeard’s attitude and demeanor were always in accordance with the noble background of Aupin, which made Aupin feel comfortable.

His ability to do things was also strong. He was stable and reliable, so Aupin found him quite useful.

If Palebeard possessed some strength, even at the Black Iron-rank, he would be the best candidate for a noble chamberlain. It was a pity that he didn’t have extraordinary qualifications.

Even so, Aupin wanted to keep Palebeard by his side as much as possible.

He was a talented individual!

His knowledge even surpassed Violette.

Violette was a mage.

Of course, this was also because Violette was young. When she was studying, she devoted most of her energy to medicine.

Needless to say, Aupin could guess that the reason why Violette did this was because good medicines often had huge market prospects and could bring in profits.

The farther away from the snow mountain, the higher the temperature.

The sun was the strongest during noon and the newly made leather jackets began to preserve heat. Maybe it was also because they were full of food, but everyone began to look a little tired.

People alternated for the lookout shifts.

Without any warning, a fatal crisis came quietly in a peaceful atmosphere.

A young man from the team shouted.

“Sir, sir, oh no! The little goats are all lying on the ground, they are dead!”

“What?” Aupin’s face changed.

This was terrible news.

This batch of goats was useful. On the one hand, as a last resort, the exploration team could kill them for emergency food. On the other hand, if they arrived at White Sand City smoothly and these little goats were still alive, they could be raised and domesticated, giving Aupin a cavalry.

Aupin’s plan was broken, so he immediately stood up and wanted to inspect it himself.

“Do you know the reason?” he asked the young man.

He instantly recognized this young man.

He was called Whitesprout, a born hunter. He traveled to White Sand City on the Pig Peck to join the army.

Whitesprout panicked and shook his head quickly. “I, I don’t know, everything happened so suddenly sir.”

Aupin was about to take a step forward, when suddenly a strong feeling of dizziness hit his head. He shook violently and almost fell to the ground.

He barely stood still, but noticed that the previously high-spirited exploration team members had all slumped to the ground.

Almost instantly, most of the members passed out on the spot.

Violette, Blueteres, and Yellowteres were barely supporting themselves as well.

What is going on?!

Everyone seems to be poisoned!

What kind of poison is this?!

Yellowteres suddenly took out a dagger from his arms and yelled at Whitesprout, “Everyone is poisoned, why are you fine? Did you poison us!?”