"Envoy, something terrible has happened."

"I discovered in the forest, I found..."

Sekashi came running back while panting.

After she returned to camp and explained, Chen Yu finally understood why she was so panicked.

"You mean there's a lot of abnormal mana appearing in the forest?"

"Yes, that mana is gathering together like mist, attracting many magical creatures."

"I'm worried... a mana surge might happen in just a few days."

"Like that previous heavy rain?"

Chen Yu tried hard to squeeze a serious expression onto his gel surface.

He knew it wasn't ordinary rain - if it happened again, probably all the magical creatures in the entire forest would come swarming out.

Mentioning the heavy rain clearly made Sekashi look much more nervous.

"If it weren't for that heavy rain, my staff wouldn't have been lost."

"Envoy, what should we do?"

"Leave this place, leave the swamp forest."

He was a swamp creature - even if a mana surge really occurred, he could just hide in the slime nest.

But Sekashi couldn't - staying in the forest would only put her in greater danger.

Once the storm arrived, the camp would be completely overrun by frenzied magical creatures, let alone her.

He had to send her away from the swamp forest.

The territory development matters would have to be postponed slightly.

But he originally had thoughts about going outside the swamp anyway, so this was a good opportunity to open up a forest path connecting the territory to outside the swamp, making future travel more convenient.

"Leave here?"

Sekashi knew she would have to leave the swamp eventually, but she didn't expect it to come so soon.

She wasn't as happy about it as she imagined she would be.

But the Envoy was right - she should leave the swamp.

Her sister might still be anxiously searching for her outside.

"I understand, let's go now."

"Wrong, I'm coming with you."

"Eh, Envoy, you're coming out too?"

Sekashi's tone was astonished.

Chen Yu wobbled his gel, indicating a nod.

"I plan to open up a forest path leading outside for easier travel in the future."

"If you want to return, just follow the forest's poison-stinger wasps - they'll guide you back here."

To open a forest path, he naturally had to fight his way out, making the swamp neighbors move aside.

For those unwilling to move, he'd just beat them a few more times.

Then he'd send poison-stinger wasps to patrol the path back and forth, dispersing magical creatures and approaching demi-humans to maintain the path.

He'd already thought of a name for the path - "Smooth Wasp Route."

"Sekashi, check your equipment - the opening will take several days."

"Yes, I'll go now."

Sekashi ran back to the shelter and retrieved all the wooden blades and blow darts hidden under her bed.

When she returned, she saw Chen Yu standing before a column of poison-stinger wasps arranged like soldiers awaiting inspection, standing tall and obeying commands perfectly.

They seemed more professional than the tribe's hunting team...

She could already imagine the hunting team being chased around by the poison-stinger wasps.

The thought made this lizardfolk afraid.

"Sekashi, you lead the way."

"Oh, okay."

She carefully picked up the slime and headed back along the path she came from.

To better command the wasp swarm, Chen Yu had brought out the queen wasp too, stuck in the slime gel with only her head exposed.

The queen wasp was smarter than ordinary poison-stinger wasps, but her intelligence was only equivalent to a three-year-old child.

Chen Yu had some brain-burning communication with her before she finally understood and nodded, dividing the swarm into three columns distributed in front and on both sides, tightly protecting Sekashi.

Wherever they passed, magical creatures either submerged into the swamp or scattered in all directions.

And the pheromones left by the poison-stinger wasps seemed to terrify these creatures - even after they had moved far away, none dared step onto the forest path.

This was the first time Sekashi had seen such an impressive formation - when she first arrived, she was being chased by magical creatures.

This scene was something she never dared imagine before.

Being able to follow the Envoy was wonderful.

It felt less like pioneering and more like leisurely strolling.

They passed by a hollow twisted oak tree.

"Envoy, I remember there's a terrifying swamp poison frog hiding inside..."

Before she could finish speaking, a Little Arrow Technique shot out and instantly blasted away the swamp poison frog hiding under the tree.

"Good, now there isn't."

"Continue forward."

Sekashi swallowed the words she was about to say.

Actually, she had been bullied by this swamp poison frog several times when she passed here before...

Good thing she didn't say it out loud - that would have been too embarrassing.

The pioneering team advanced along the path, and Chen Yu didn't know how far they had traveled, but he certainly ate his fill of magical creatures, with his Toxin Resistance proficiency constantly increasing.

The swamp forest darkened early, so they returned to camp to rest in the afternoon and only continued their journey the next morning.

With the poison-stinger wasps following, most magical creatures they encountered didn't require Chen Yu to personally act - they were stung to death as soon as they approached and ended up in his stomach.

After all this work, even before leaving the swamp, his panel talents and skills received major upgrades.

[Devour Digestion Lv.2 → Devour Digestion Lv.3]

[Acid Secretion Lv.2 → Acid Secretion Lv.3]

[Resilient Carapace Lv.1 → Resilient Carapace Lv.2]

[Little Arrow Technique Lv.1 → Little Arrow Technique Lv.2]

...

Third day of pioneering.

Chen Yu's group encountered some minor trouble.

The abnormal mana was expanding faster than they imagined, already covering the opened forest path.

Even though the storm hadn't arrived yet, the forest's magical creatures were as restless as ants on a hot pan.

Too many creatures were affected by the mana, constantly charging against the poison-stinger wasp formation.

Couldn't eat them all, simply couldn't eat them all.

Chen Yu was so full he started being picky about his food.

"Rumble..."

Today the sky was overcast with dark clouds, faint lightning flashes visible, and light rain began falling.

Probably in another day or two the storm would arrive, and Chen Yu determined they couldn't turn back.

They could only continue forward, leaving the swamp forest before the storm fell.

The good news was they were very close to the forest edge - the number of magical creatures was gradually decreasing, while signs of demi-human activity increased.

In the dim swamp forest, with drizzling rain, Sekashi crouched low and moved stealthily, carefully climbing over a fallen oak tree. When she saw the familiar marks carved on the tree, she immediately realized they had reached the swamp's edge.

"Envoy, we've arrived."

Chen Yu had been distractedly reading the talisman book Shao Qingsong gave him, but when he heard Sekashi's words, he blinked his eyes from within her embrace and refocused.

"How many poison-stinger wasps remain?"

The mana surge affected all magical creatures possessing magic organs, and the poison-stinger wasps were no exception.

The queen wasp had intelligence and understood the danger of mana surges, though she occasionally showed some irritability.

But the poison-stinger wasp soldiers couldn't handle it - they might break free from the queen's control, get lost in the abnormal mana, and never emerge.

Along the way, Chen Yu had lost many wasp soldiers.

"Thirteen remain."

Not bad - more than he expected.

"Envoy, this is our tribe's hunting ground - there might be corrupted lizardfolk lurking nearby."

For the surrounding demi-humans, mana surges represented both danger and opportunity.

With sufficient caution, they could capture enough food to last a month.

So the closer to a mana surge, the more corrupted lizardfolk would actually be lurking around.

"Let's find a place to hide first, wait until the storm passes."

"Yes, when the hunting team stays overnight in the wild, they hide in shelters built by the tribe. They're quite dry and should be enough for us to weather the storm."

"I know of an abandoned one nearby."

Sekashi felt her way forward, moving very cautiously.

But soon her expression became surprised.

Chen Yu noticed her unusual reaction.

"What happened?"

"There's the smell of blood here - human blood."