Chapter Twenty-Two: The White-Necked Gale Bird

Katherine was just about to pop the fruit in her hand into her mouth when she suddenly heard Ling Mo speak. She stared blankly at the dagger over a foot long in her hand, then looked up at Ling Mo’s physique, uttering a string of sounds that even she didn’t quite understand.

“…Huh?!”

Ling Mo smiled but didn’t elaborate further, only urging her, “Go ahead and eat. Once you do, you’ll immediately understand why this thing is called the ‘Tiny Bounty’—it makes perfect sense.”

Still half in doubt, Katherine shoved the little watermelon, rind and all, into her mouth. Instantly, she sensed something extraordinary. The taste was akin to an ordinary watermelon’s crisp sweetness, but this one was especially lingering and icy cool, refreshing her all the way down her throat and seeming to cleanse her entire body. Though they were in the sweltering rainforest, it felt as if she’d been transported to the icy wastes of the Antarctic, making her shiver involuntarily.

If it were merely a matter of sensation, that would be one thing. The real surprise came when the fruit flesh reached her stomach—Katherine instantly felt it flooding her with immense energy. A piece no bigger than her thumb made her feel as full as if her belly might burst.

Unable to help herself, Katherine let out a satisfied burp. She began punching and kicking the air to vent the surplus energy threatening to overflow from her body. After a few minutes, she started sprinting madly around the surrounding trees, her face beaming with unrestrained joy. Truly, it was exhilarating beyond words!

“Is the streamer eating an aphrodisiac or something?”

“No aphrodisiac could be this potent! Must be a super aphrodisiac!”

“Does her expression have to look this blissful? You’re running, not—well, you know!”

“Screenshot! Just the streamer’s face—what a surprise!”

“Why are you all stuck on that? Didn’t you notice how much faster she’s gotten?”

“Peak speed: twenty-nine meters per second! That’s a hundred and five kilometers per hour! She’s practically on par with the magical roadsters on the highway!”

“Speed isn’t even the main thing! It’s the turning! She’s taking right-angle corners without the slightest pause—her physical prowess is terrifying!”

“Is martial arts really this insane?”

“Hey, if martial artists could all reach this level, I bet society would be turned upside down!”

“Doubtful, right? The streamer already said martial arts needs innate talent. No way everyone’s a prodigy like her.”

Katherine finally ran herself out and skidded to a stop in front of Ling Mo, her face glowing with excitement. “Master, master, this little watermelon is incredible! This time I ran a whole kilometer and a half before I started feeling short of breath like last time. If I really pushed it, I could probably hit two kilometers! My explosive power has doubled! This effect is amazing! Are there any more? I want to eat a few more!”

Ling Mo opened his mouth, wanting to tell her that her sudden surge in explosive power wasn’t due to the watermelon, but because she’d just advanced to the peak of Junior Martial Master. The watermelon, though remarkable, only boosted her endurance so she could go a day or two without needing food. In the end, he kept his composure and improvised, “See? The Rainforest of Magical Beasts is full of surprises. As long as you have enough knowledge and a keen eye, you’ll find them. While this little thing isn’t exactly rare, it matures so quickly that it’s hard to catch at the right moment. Whether you’ll get to eat another depends on your luck.”

A bit disappointed, Katherine patted her belly, then brightened. “Still, I made out well! I feel like I won’t be hungry for a day or two after eating this.”

“Exactly. Now, compare the risk and reward of eating this fruit versus what you went through hunting yesterday. Which do you think is better?”

“This is obviously better!” Katherine replied without hesitation. “These little watermelons look dangerous, but once you know how to open them, they’re essentially free. Hunting—who knows what you’ll run into? Last night, I nearly died just to get a leg of lamb!”

“Right. So, be grateful for your ancestors, and for being human—an omnivorous species. So many things can nourish us. Hunting with carnivorous magical beasts is only one option. Most of the time, our foraging is plant-based.”

“There are that many filling plants in the Rainforest of Magical Beasts?”

“Of course. While not every plant is as energy-rich as the pepquino, eat enough and you’ll never go hungry. Think of familiar foods—mangoes, pears, bananas, pineapples, pomelos, and so on.”

Katherine’s mouth was practically watering. As a girl who adored fruit, the taste of that little watermelon filled her with anticipation for the rainforest’s bounty. “If I don’t have to risk my life to eat my fill, what are we waiting for? Let’s go, Master!”

“No rush,” Ling Mo said with a smile, pointing at a massive rock face rising from the water in the distance. “I was going to take you straight there, but seeing this enormous cliff made me change my mind. Let’s take a look—there might be a surprise.”

Katherine glanced in confusion at the distant rock face. It was truly enormous, just the visible part above the water over twenty meters high and dozens of meters across. The most striking feature was that, over time, water had carved the protruding portion into a sharp angle with the ground, forming a sheer, slanting A-shaped wall—utterly unclimbable, like a huge, razor-sharp tooth.

Ling Mo leapt onto a tree branch beside the rock, craned his neck upward, then broke into a smile, pointing to a spot beneath the sharp angle. “Look closely there—what do you see?”

Katherine focused intently for some time and finally spotted an unnatural-looking protrusion in a recess of the cliff. Its color almost perfectly matched the surrounding stone, easy to overlook without careful scrutiny. After observing for a while, she ventured, “That looks like…a bird’s nest?”

“Yes, a bird’s nest. To be precise, it’s a White-necked Windbird nest. These birds aren’t large—a fully grown male is about the size of a domestic hen. Their habits are unique: once a pair bonds, they mate for life, giving them a level of coordination no other birds possess. That’s how they can build their nests in such incredible spots, evading nearly all predators. From what I’ve seen, there are at least seven or eight fresh eggs in that nest. If we’re lucky, there might even be a hatchling or two.”

Hearing this, Katherine was instantly intrigued. The White-necked Windbird was a Tier Three magical beast; its eggs must be packed with nutrients. The problem was, the perfect cliff was so high, and the face so sheer, with no handholds at all. The nearby earth was hard, and there were no conveniently placed trees to provide a jumping-off spot—it really was a tricky problem.

If only she were still a mage, a single Levitation spell would solve everything, Katherine thought wistfully, but quickly banished the idle fantasy. With nothing but water below the rock, her only option was to jump from a tree. She tried several times, but even at her best, she was still ten or twenty meters short of the tempting nest. Clearly, pure physical strength alone wouldn’t cut it.

She was so focused on her attempts that she didn’t realize what a sensation she was causing among her live-stream viewers! The sheer distances she was leaping were so startlingly obvious that anyone with common sense would be stunned.

The chat was silent for a long time before someone finally sent the first message:

“First jump—nine meters horizontally! Is she really human?!”

“Completely standing long jump, no run-up at all! That’s some leap… What’s the world record again?”

“Four point two five meters—set thirty years ago by world champion Liu Zhe. No one’s broken it since.”

“The third jump was the wildest! I used the most precise analysis magic I have—ten point seven six meters!”

“Can you even call her human at this point?”

Realizing she wouldn’t make it, Katherine looked around, picked up a fist-sized rock, weighed it in her hand, and seemed satisfied. She returned to the branch closest to the nest, took a deep breath, and leapt forward. At the apex of her jump, she paused for a split second and hurled the rock with her left hand, aiming straight at the nest perched on the cliff.

Her plan was simple—though the throw might smash a few eggs, it should knock the nest loose. If she was fast enough, she could retrieve it from the water below before losing much. She was even considering which diving pose would look the coolest when everything changed in an instant.

Just as the rock came within half a foot of the nest, the nest suddenly shimmered with pale blue light. Several mysterious runes flashed and vanished. The rock stopped dead in the air, hovered for a moment, then shot back along its original path. Caught completely off guard, Katherine took the rock square in the face! She tumbled through the air like a broken kite and crashed into the water below with a tremendous splash.

Ling Mo burst out laughing with ill-concealed delight. Katherine emerged from the water, wiping leaves and debris from her face, and shouted in utter indignation, “What is this madness? Why would a bird’s nest be warded with Wind’s Reversal?”