On the final day, Sylutia told Komea and Karen they could move freely and didn't need to follow her anymore.

"Today I plan to take a walk around the village outskirts and ask the local farmers about their crop cultivation experience."

"Aren't we continuing to gather mushrooms today?"

"We've already walked through the nearby forests once. Going deeper wouldn't be safe." The young woman shook her head slightly. She herself wasn't afraid, but she couldn't say the same for Komea and Karen.

"Alright." Komea thought about it and agreed.

"Then Karen and I will go fishing." She quickly regained her energy.

After bidding farewell to the two, Sylutia went out carrying a small basket containing her books and notes, bread for lunch, and a small bottle of water.

Just as she had told Komea, she first asked the local villagers about their farming situation, then crouched down to examine the local soil environment with her fingers.

She remembered that on the day she first arrived at Goldenrain Tree Village, Teacher Hyde had said the wheat yield here was over 60 jin per mu—roughly meaning sowing 6 jin of wheat seeds could produce over 60 jin of wheat.

When she first heard these numbers, Sylutia found it somewhat hard to believe, because in her memory, wheat could easily yield hundreds of jin per mu, and there even seemed to be cases of yields reaching a thousand jin per mu.

As she chatted and inquired with the local villagers, some situations gradually became clearer.

No fertilization, mandatory fallow rotation farming, insufficient irrigation, poor seed varieties, pest and disease damage—these factors directly led to low yields.

It seemed there was still a long way to go to improve grain yields. She briefly organized her thoughts: probably needed to make villagers aware of and accustomed to fertilizing, building irrigation canals, adopting better seeds, sterilization and pest control, etc., to completely change the current situation.

These weren't things that could be accomplished in a day or two. For now, she could only take notes and try later when she had spare capacity.

After understanding these matters and satisfying her curiosity, Sylutia carried her basket to the woods not far from the village edge.

The sunlight was bright today, and the grass was dry and refreshing. She set down her basket, then picked up a wooden branch to practice the swordsmanship she hadn't practiced for several days.

First was basic swordsmanship. Recalling what she had seen and heard during the recent competition, as well as her own inventory and summary, her movements had become more refined and fluid in certain details, achieving a wonderful balance between strength and technique.

('Basic Swordsmanship' proficiency +2, Basic Swordsmanship Lv.4, progress 856/1200)

Currently, her swordsmanship was gradually reaching a bottleneck. It was only through watching the competition recently that she had achieved some breakthrough; otherwise, it would be difficult to improve further through training alone.

Should she go for a walk in the forest? She thought this while looking at the wooden stick in her hand, then shook her head.

At the very least, she needed to bring a real weapon. She wondered if there was still time to go back and get her sword. Just as Sylutia was packing her things and preparing to return, a faint rustling of leaves from the distant woods made her look up. Then, blinking her eyes, she quickly spotted a youth supporting himself against trees while walking on the distant hillside.

It was Mick. She recognized that youth with the somewhat fierce look in his eyes.

He seemed to be injured, with one leg inconvenient.

After some consideration, Sylutia picked up her basket and walked over.

...

Huff, Mick breathed heavily again, glanced at the village at the foot of the mountain not far away, and felt slightly better in his miserable state.

Almost there, he silently repeated to himself, then struggled to move his painfully throbbing left foot again.

Most students hadn't come up the mountain today, but he still did, just to find more prey and save money to repay Big Brother Jello.

During this period, because he was studying under Scholar Hyde, he had almost no income, and the money he had saved was almost gone. If Big Brother Jello hadn't sponsored him, he probably would have had to stop studying long ago.

Sorry, Big Brother Jello, I didn't win a ranking.

If he had placed in the recent competition, he could have received the reward provided by the Viscount. Such equipment could be sold for one gold coin on the market, allowing him to repay Big Brother Jello's money all at once.

Money was important, very important, especially for the poor and commoners.

Often, injuries and illnesses weren't incurable, but people couldn't afford medicine or doctors. Or because they had no money, they ate very poor quality or spoiled food and became sick.

He wanted to become a powerful adventurer so he could earn lots of money.

The adventurer profession was truly wonderful—earning in one month what ordinary jobs paid in half a year, or even a full year. Mick had always dreamed of becoming a powerful adventurer like Jello.

However, compared to those experienced adventurers, Mick was still too green. The successful hunting from two days ago had given him considerable confidence, but he never expected an accident to happen today.

While chasing a fox, he stepped into empty air and slid down the mountain slope. Although he reacted quickly and adjusted his posture, one foot still stepped into a crevice between rocks hidden under fallen leaves. Then, with his entire body weight pulling on it, his left foot was twisted, possibly even fractured.

The mountains weren't that safe. If someone couldn't rescue themselves, they might never make it out.

Supporting himself on moss-covered tree trunks, he strained to lift his right foot, took another step, and dragged his painful left foot along. Beads of sweat the size of peas rolled down, and his palms were scratched with fine wounds from the tree bark.

One step, another step, almost to the village. He kept encouraging himself.

Perhaps from exhaustion, or maybe his vision was blurry, he momentarily failed to notice and his right foot hit a stone on the ground, causing him to fall again. His arm struck the sharp edge of a rock, scraping a burning wound.

At least his head was okay. He lay on the ground, panting for a moment, then struggled to get up again, slowly moving forward.

Trying not to think about how long it would take to arrive, Mick's mind was supported only by the thought of reaching the village, driving him to keep shuffling forward.

Thus, until sweat blurred his forehead and cheeks, he saw a figure with black hair and a black dress standing before him.

Who is this... His consciousness was already somewhat fuzzy.

Sylutia looked at the youth collapsed before her, concernedly bent down to examine him.

He seemed to have heatstroke, and his foot was injured too.

Autumn in the Rising Wind Season still had the heat of midsummer. The rain from days before had been tolerable, but these past two days had become hot again. Recalling the local climate conditions, Sylutia took the small water bottle from her basket.

The water was contained in a ceramic bottle, prepared by Karen this morning. She hadn't drunk from it yet. Sylutia opened the stopper, poured water for the unconscious youth on the ground, then dragged him under the shade of a tree to rest.

About ten minutes later, Mick slowly woke up, gradually regaining consciousness.

Looking around, then gazing at the young woman sitting under the tree shade reading a book not far away, he finally realized he had fainted earlier.

"Thank you." His voice was somewhat weak.

"It's nothing, but your condition isn't good right now." Sylutia walked over and again brought her hand close to the youth's forehead.

Warm and feverish—unsure if it was a fever or residual heat from heatstroke.

It was said that during the Rising Wind Season, prolonged exposure to the hot sun made it easy, due to the influence of the 'Blazing Sun' Aspect, for body temperature to rise and not come down, eventually leading to fever and death.

However, it was now the ninth year of the Rising Wind Season. The 'Blazing Sun' Aspect was weakening, its power past the peak unbearable period.

Sylutia blinked her eyes and checked the youth's condition again.

Name: Mick

Race: Human (Mortal Body)

Status: Healthy (Injured, Fractured, Heatstroke)

Talent: Active Blood [Good Grade]: Blood rhythm is active, making it easy to perceive and practice abilities related to 'Bloodline'

Fate Card: [Mountain Youth] (Tier: None) 'Agile and wild child of the mountains'

Ability Card: [Breathing Method Lv.2][Empty Slot][Empty Slot]

Skills: [Basic Swordsmanship Lv.3][Wilderness Survival Lv.1]

————

Fortunately, it wasn't illness-induced fever, just heatstroke. Sylutia withdrew her hand.

Feeling the cool, soft touch of the palm pressed against his forehead up close, along with the faint floral scent from the young woman, Mick was momentarily stunned. For the first time, he felt completely immersed in something other than hunting, earning money, or training.

Watching the young woman stand up to leave, he even felt a brief regret and reluctance, as if if he were more seriously ill, would she stay by his side a little longer?

This strange thought was quickly vetoed by his remaining rationality, but he was still surprised by his own vulnerability and heart flutter.

Facing the eye-catching young lady of a prominent family with golden hair among the students hadn't made his heart flutter like this. Could it be that people really become emotionally fragile after being injured? His heatstroke-addled, feverish head felt somewhat dizzy.

"I can't carry you alone. Can you wait here for a while?" Sylutia's gentle voice once again struck deep within his heart.

"I... I'm fine..." The last shred of male dignity made him feel he shouldn't appear weak before this young woman.

"Then wait a moment. I've checked the surrounding area, and no other animals are coming. I'll go call for help immediately." Sylutia bent down, comforted him again, then stood up and ran in small steps down the mountain.

In his hazy vision, he watched the figure descending the hillside until she left his sight and disappeared completely. Mick's exhausted eyelids finally couldn't hold on any longer, and he fell asleep.

Half an hour later, Solyn and several others, guided by Sylutia, came up the mountain and found the unconscious Mick. Everyone lifted him by taking one leg and one arm each.

The jostling and swaying along the way made Mick open his eyes again. Seeing him awake, the people around teased him.

"Haha, you're lucky. If Tia hadn't found you, we might only have come looking for you after dark today."

"Something happened while acting alone, didn't it?"

"Being a lone wolf doesn't work, idiot."

"I..." Mick wanted to explain something, but he didn't have much strength right now.

His opened eyes looked at the blue sky. His body felt like a small boat swaying, unanchored, physically exhausted. It should have been an extremely uncomfortable situation, but the teasing voices in his ears and the arms carrying him gave him a faint sense of reassurance and emotion.

Everything, it seemed, wasn't so bad after all.