Chapter 37: The Maiden Picking Mushrooms
The continuous fine rain of two days finally ended.
On a new day, the morning light passed through the forest, and crisp bird chirps echoed in the mountain forest.
Pushing open the window, Xilutiya looked toward the distant fields and sky, feeling a rare clarity and refreshing sensation.
Today she wanted to go out for a walk; she didn’t want to stay in the house reading books anymore.
Compared to her, some students were even more eager, rushing into the wilderness of the fields, excitedly running and breathing.
After breakfast, Scholar Heide finally gathered everyone together.
“Today, everyone probably has no mood to listen to lessons. How about I let you go out for a walk and activity? But it’s best if you move in groups to avoid accidents.” After that, he gave some more instructions before waving his hand, allowing everyone to disperse.
After getting permission, many students took action. Some noble students led their horses and directly galloped out of the village, probably going for a joyride.
As for the remaining commoner students, many also made appointments to go walking in the mountain forest, trying hunting.
“In the mountain forest of Xu Feng Season, there are plenty of various animals: common rabbits, deer, forest wolves, birds on the trees, as well as foxes, wild boars, and so on.” Suolin walked ahead, introducing to his classmates.
At this moment, the group of commoner students were all following behind him, including Xilutiya and the others.
“Teacher said we can’t go too far, so let’s just move around in this mountain ahead. If there’s an accident, shout loudly; since we’re not far apart, everyone can hear.”
“No problem.” Lei agreed in a muffled voice. Today, he was carrying a thick wooden club on his shoulder, with the thickest front part even thicker than Xilutiya’s thigh.
Besides him, many other students were also carrying weapons: some iron swords, some longbows, and at worst, simple wooden spears.
Having trained sword technique and combat technique for a long time, everyone felt a bit itchy to test themselves and see how strong they were. Although they had sparred a few days ago, sparring was still sparring—it couldn’t draw blood or directly attack vital points, feeling somewhat restrained.
Today was a rare chance to relax, and many wanted to find prey to practice on. If they could encounter a Ti Lang running in the mountain forest, that would be even better—not only could they test their strength, but they could also get nice fur as a trophy.
At this moment, Xilutiya and her two companions were also walking in the mountain forest after the rain, occasionally supporting themselves with tree branches to go up and down slopes, traversing the damp, undecayed fallen leaves.
“Komiya, did you see the mushrooms there?” Xilutiya raised her hand, pointing to the grass under a large tree.
“There, mushrooms?” Komiya and Karen turned their gazes over.
Xilutiya carefully stepped on the moss-covered stones, arriving under the large tree on the slope, parting the damp grass to reveal mushrooms with a light blue gradient hue inside.
She continued to part the soft soil with her fingers, carefully picking that mushroom with a light blue cap.
【Blue Rain Mushroom】（Quality-Excellent）: A rare mushroom after rain, with some toxicity. Direct consumption can dissolve a small amount of the effects from Blazing Sun nature. It can be used to refine potions.
She had seen such plants in books, but she didn’t expect to actually find one in the forest today. It seemed a single one could sell for 1 silver coin, she recalled from the book’s description.
“Wow, is this poisonous? The color is so special.” Komiya and Karen gathered around.
“Yes, it’s poisonous, but also very useful.” Xilutiya nodded.
“If taken to the Apothecary Guild, they will buy it for money.”
“Doesn’t that mean we can earn a lot?” Komiya was excited.
“Yeah, let me look around some more; there might be more nearby.” Xilutiya thought of her urgently low reserves, and at this moment, she really needed to find a way to accumulate some savings.
After that, she circled around the area. Although she didn’t find a second Blue Rain Mushroom, she did find other useful herbs.
“This one is Stone-crushing Grass, this is Chicken-neck Flower, and this is Sickle Thorn Vine.” These herbs, though not reaching first order nature, were essential auxiliary ingredients for many potion refinements.
“I don’t understand~ Tiya, why don’t you just say how much they can sell for~” Komiya carefully stored them in her carried basket.
“These three plants can probably sell for 30 copper.” The maiden held up three fingers.
“More than my dad earns in a day at work.” Komiya’s excitement was fully aroused now.
“I’ll help look too, then we three split the harvest equally.” Xilutiya suggested; she really couldn’t take much alone.
“Good~” Komiya raised her hand.
Karen felt a bit embarrassed, but her family wasn’t well-off either, and now her eyes lit up with anticipation.
Then, the three’s focus was no longer on hunting but following Xilutiya through the post-rain forest, walking and stopping, searching everywhere for useful herbs and mushrooms.
Under shrubs between large trees, in hidden stone crevices and corners, in sunken small pits, under tree branch cover—this maiden could always easily spot those hidden things.
Again, Xilutiya squatted in the fallen leaves on the slope, carefully digging up a small tender seedling and cradling it in both hands.
“What is this, Tiya?” The two curiously examined it.
“This is a Bubble Flower seedling.” Xilutiya recalled the illustrated handbook she had seen before.
“Bubble Flower is very fragile, especially when blooming, but after full bloom, the flower petals wrap into a spherical shape, and with a gust of wind, they lightly float up, flying to very high places.”
“This kind of flower and grass has the rare Dome Sky nature. If cultivated properly, it can yield very valuable materials.” Holding it in her hand, Xilutiya carefully examined it.
There were no other Bubble Flowers around, likely because Bubble Flower seeds from somewhere had drifted down from the sky.
It was as if they had suddenly landed in this mountain forest; she suddenly thought of when she had just woken up in the forest.
Wrapping it carefully with the cotton cloth in her bosom, Xilutiya stored this Bubble Flower seedling.
Seeing the rare flower and grass harvest, the two also felt a burst of joy.
“So Xilutiya plans to take it back and cultivate it carefully?” Karen asked curiously.
“Yeah, but I don’t know much about Bubble Flower cultivation conditions; I’ll probably need to figure it out for a while.” Now that she had the Emerald Pupil Potion, she could solve many problems.
In the next two days, the three of them basically traversed the mountain wilderness, riverbank, and stream valleys, searching for useful herbs, then carefully preserving and bringing them back to the village.
On the third day, Scholar Heide gave lessons again, ending their foraging and herb-picking trip.
“You should have gotten quite a bit from hunting these past few days.” Scholar Heide had heard the students excitedly discussing what they caught almost every day.
Compared to ordinary people, these students basically all knew breathing technique, so whether in physical strength, stamina, or combat power, they were much stronger. Many animals that villagers couldn’t catch or dared not chase, they could handle.
“Of course, I hunted two Ti Lang.” Baron proudly displayed the orange-yellow wolf pelts in his hand.
“Suolin caught two as well.” Someone muttered softly.
“My hunting harvest was four Ti Lang, three deer, twelve rabbits, and one night falcon.” Mike spoke slowly, as if it were a very ordinary matter.
“Ah, so many? Probably cheating, right?”
“How do you cheat at this? Go buy them now?” Someone retorted.
Everyone was surprised by Mike’s harvest, and now many truly noticed this triangular-eyed youth. He looked somewhat fierce, but unexpectedly was a good hunter.
“Mike, you grew up in the mountain forest since childhood, right?” Scholar Heide stroked his beard and inquired.
“Yes.” He nodded, his slightly fierce gaze sweeping over those who had questioned him earlier.
“Very good. Everyone has their own strengths; no need to compare on this.” Scholar Heide shook his head slightly, then turned his gaze to the black-haired glasses maiden nearby.
“Tiya, tell everyone about your harvest these two days.”
Sigh, do I have to say it? She had been planning to continue living a low-key life of steady growth, but Xilutiya was somewhat surprised. However, since Teacher Heide had spoken, she couldn’t keep hiding it.
“I didn’t go hunting but went foraging for herbs and mushrooms with companions.” She explained simply, then continued her report.
“Probably picked 321 herbs, including 181 relatively rare ones, 58 rare mushrooms, and 17 vine herbs.” As she spoke, she took some out from her pocket and placed them in front of her.
“So many?” Many students were shocked and surprised.
Even a well-known forager from the Apothecary Guild couldn’t have this much harvest in two days. Moreover, Luan Shu Village wasn’t a place rich in herbs or remote from people; if there were really so many valuable herbs, they would have been picked long ago.
Seeing many students doubting, Scholar Heide clapped his hands to quiet everyone.
“I’ve seen the herbs Tiya picked; the quantity is no problem, and some even have excellent quality.” He nodded in approval.
“As I said before, everyone has their strengths. Tiya has extremely high talent and strength in gardening.”
“Not everyone has to take the same path. Things praised by the masses may not fully suit you, so I’m very pleased to see you truly find what you love and firmly pursue it.”
Being held up as an example by the teacher made Xilutiya inexplicably recall her middle school days in her previous life; she then shook her head slightly.
Actually, her sword technique and combat power were also good, not as specialized as the teacher said.
But since everyone misunderstood like this, it seemed like a good result—at least it avoided a lot of trouble. Otherwise, she’d have to explain why, without famous teachers or daily sword practice, her actual combat was better than peers her age.
Explaining those reasons would be too troublesome, and she was someone who relatively disliked trouble.
That day, Teacher Heide continued lecturing on various matters in the mountain forest, such as the habits of many animals, activity cycles, common herbs in the mountain forest, etc. But due to limited time, he only covered the most practical parts for now.
“Today’s lesson ends here. Tomorrow I’ll let you have another day of activity, and the day after we head back.”
“Oh~” The students cheered excitedly again.
Thanks to Qianxue Zhihua, Xinsui Yixian, uYexi u, Salty Fish Cuisine, Dengxian Mobieli, Albatross Love Flying, and other book friends for their rewards.
