CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 48: THE UNRECOGNIZED EXPLORER!

After Logan joined the explorer lineup, an officer came over and asked what kind of familiar he had contracted.

Logan didn’t hide it. He summoned Kerparos, shrunk down to the size of a chihuahua.

Seeing the gray glow flickering on Logan, and Kerparos not even reaching knee height, the officer looked annoyed. "Jesse, Third Recon! Move out!"

"Yes, sir!"Logan smiled, stepped into the explorer ranks, and followed the main force through the gate of the Blood Cultivation Realm.

It was his first time entering a master-level Blood Cultivation Realm, and the sight hit him hard.

If an elite-level Blood Cultivation Realm is a small pocket space where you can clearly see the boundaries, then a master-level one is almost a complete small world, with space stretching far beyond what the eye can see.

Standing on high ground, Logan could see the horizon reach out so far it almost had no end.

"Hey! New guy, Jesse, what are you spacing out for?"A pebble landed by Logan’s foot. The captain of the Third Recon Team, Ron, waved him over. "Move it. Third Recon is heading northwest to scout!"

Ron kept talking as he grabbed a wooden stick and rapped each teammate on the shoulder. "Move it! Don’t act like you’ve never seen the world. There’s nothing to admire in this damn Blood Cultivation Realm. Start scouting!"

Captain Ron was the only retired soldier in the team, and he was also a master-level 3-star familiar tamer.

Most of the others were elite 5-star, so they followed Ron’s orders without question.

Truth is, in the whole Third Recon Team, Ron was the only one who could really fight.

The others, even at elite 5-star, could at best support and cover. They couldn’t fight master-level monsters head-on.

The officers gave Ron so many weaker members because they had no choice.

"New Blood Cultivation Realms show up here every day. No one knows where the next one will be. Sometimes the army can’t even gather 100 people to suppress one, so all we can do is try our best."Ron’s tone shifted. "Don’t say I didn’t warn you. If this master-level Blood Cultivation Realm gets out of control, at least thousands of square kilometers of land will be pulled into the human world. The monsters’ territory will grow, ours will shrink, and we humans will be close to extinction."

With that, Ron took the lead and walked into the hills to the northwest.

Logan followed, watching Ron’s every move closely.

This retired veteran might be a bit rough, but he had a lot of scouting experience.

When they ran into a monster or two, Ron would always warn them right away, lead the group around, and avoid needless casualties.

This is a master-level Blood Cultivation Realm. Even the weakest monsters here are master-level.

Unless Logan shows his true strength, only Ron can handle them.

So Logan started getting interested in Ron’s scouting skills.

Ron noticed Logan’s curious look and grinned. "Jesse, if you want to learn, stick close. I can teach you!"

Logan felt very grateful for Ron’s open teaching.

On the way, Ron stopped staying quiet. He started talking about the soil, minerals, plants, and the habits of different kinds of monsters in the Blood Cultivation Realm.

"Even now, the Human Federation still can’t confirm which world the extradimensional plane behind the Blood Cultivation Realms comes from,"Ron explained patiently. "But we can still gather intel on different monsters. We do it by studying the Lost World, where the ecosystems spill out when different Blood Cultivation Realms go out of control."

Then Ron looked proud and said to Logan, "Jesse, do you know why I left the army? Because my dream is to measure the Lost World with my own two legs. After I retired, I spent ten years out there. A full ten years!"

"Why are you telling me all this?"Logan asked as he followed Ron, still not understanding why Ron was willing to teach him without holding back.

"Because you’re hungry to learn. Because you’re curious. The more people who know this, the better our chances of taking back the Lost World,"Ron sighed, then kept explaining to Logan. "I wanted to put all this into a book and publish it. But the editors saw me as a rough, barely literate guy and treated my words like fairy tales."

He suddenly clenched his fist and said fiercely, "So I’m going to prove I’m right! Jesse, watch me. I’ll get every one of you out of this master-level Blood Cultivation Realm alive. I’ll blow their minds and force them to accept my findings!"

And so a full day and night passed.

Logan soaked up knowledge about the Blood Cultivation Realm like a sponge, and Ron taught with real excitement.

The ecology in this Blood Cultivation Realm was rich, and Ron kept finding examples to explain things to Logan.

Little by little, Logan started to admire Ron.

It doesn’t matter where you come from. If you take action and work hard, you can reach your goals.

As the sun rose again, under Ron’s orders, they carefully erased all traces of the camp.

"Be careful. Put your pee and poop in plastic bags and carry it out. If even a drop spills, someone in our team will die today!"Ron kept repeating as he checked on everyone.

"One, two, three... sixteen, seventeen... eighteen... eighteen..."Ron counted heads, then frowned. "Damn it, we’re missing someone!"

Before he finished, a scream came from behind the camp.

They rushed over and saw a teammate holding a cigarette, happily blowing smoke rings.

Seeing this, Ron turned into an angry lion and slapped the teammate across the face. "Are you out of your mind? Do you have a death wish?!"

Feeling everyone’s blame, the teammate hurried to explain, "C-captain, I couldn’t help it. I just took one puff."

Sss, sss, sss...

A faint rustling sound rose up, making everyone’s hair stand on end.

Along the way, Ron had taught them the sounds monsters make when they hunt.

This rustle was all too familiar.

Just yesterday, they had seen this kind of monster: a bull-like head, a body thirty meters long, and scales that could scrape rock to pieces.

If Ron hadn’t led them around it, at least half the team would be dead by now.

"What do we do, Captain?"a timid teammate asked, panic on his face, looking to Ron for help.

"Too late. Run!"Ron stared at the faint glint of scales not far away, his face turning grim.

Logan followed Ron’s gaze and spotted the target right away.

[Species: Bullhead Python (Queen)]

[Attribute: Rock]

[Ranking: B-level, 4 stars]

[Stage: Master, 4 stars]

[Talents: Molting Rebirth, Iron Hide]

[Skills: Burrow, Shockwave, Constrict, Dragon Tail Whip]

[Stats: Power 165, Stamina 175, Mind 95, Agility 113]

Seeing the monster’s crazy stats, Logan quietly sent out Kerparos.

Just as Logan was about to fight, Ron smacked him on the shoulder. "Jesse, are you crazy? Get the hell out of here!"

Hearing Ron urge him, Logan still didn’t leave. "What about you?"

"I’ll stall it! You all run! Stay alive!"Ron said, then ignored Logan and merged with his familiar, turning into a huge gorilla and leaping into the trees.

Logan watched Ron’s back fade into the forest. He knew Ron didn’t want anyone on the team to die. He sighed. "Once everyone’s safe, I’ll come back for you. Don’t you dare die, Ron!"

He shouted: "Stay with me!"Then he told Kerparos to return to normal size and clear the path ahead.

It was the first time everyone had felt Kerparos up close, and they all shivered in fear.

"Jesse, what kind of familiar is that? It’s terrifying!"

"Oh my god, I was teasing this dog with a bone yesterday!"

Ron’s gaze swept over the group, his voice cold. "If you don’t want to die, stay close!"

With a shout, Logan activated the Infernal Lord Form.

A terrifying aura burst out, and every teammate fell silent, heads down, sprinting after Logan.

Even though Ron was holding off a Bullhead Python Queen, Logan’s group still ran into trouble.

After only a kilometer, that familiar rustling started again.

Logan quickly halted everyone, scanned around, and locked onto the monster right away.

[Species: Bullhead Python (Emperor)]

[Attribute: Rock]

[Ranking: B-level, 4 stars]

[Stage: Master, 4 stars]

[Talents: Molting Rebirth, Iron Hide]

[Skills: Burrow, Shockwave, Constrict, Dragon Tail Whip]

[Stats: Power 175, Stamina 185, Mind 85, Agility 93]

Compared to the Bullhead Python Queen, this male had more power and a longer body.

It didn’t even see Logan’s group as a threat. It stretched its tens-of-meters-long body across the path like a wall, blocking the way.

Logan’s eyes hardened. "Kerparos, with me—rip it apart!"

The moment he spoke, Logan and Kerparos attacked the Bullhead Python Emperor together.

Even though this Bullhead Python beat Kerparos by 30 to 40 points in power and stamina, Kerparos was still a Sacred Beast guardian at the Legend tier, with tons of battle experience.

With Logan in Infernal Lord Form backing him up, they actually fought it to a draw.

The teammates not far away saw how strong Logan was and stared in shock. "Jesse—he’s really this strong?"

...