Chapter 482: Chapter 482: Forming a Team

After killing an injured demonized worker ant, Song Jian set the Ant King slave to “Follow”. The level nine Ant King slave was incapable of assisting Song Jian in combat. If involved in battle, it was likely to die;

Only by leveling up this Ant King slave could it take part in combat;

Moreover, Song Jian had learned his lesson from yesterday. He couldn’t get too close to the Demonic Ant Nest, otherwise, he would be surrounded by the demonized soldier ants.

He himself could obviously escape, but the recently obtained Ant King slave, which he had gone through great lengths to obtain, would surely die there.

Song Jian began to search in the forest. The quantity of demonized worker ants here was minimal. Perhaps it was because he had killed too many yesterday. Song Jian spent more than half an hour searching but didn’t discover a single demonized worker ant;

Just then, Song Jian suddenly smelled a rich aroma, causing his throat to involuntarily swallow. At this moment, he noticed that he seemed to have skipped breakfast.

Following the aroma, Song Jian found a human adolescent, about seventeen or eighteen years old, attentively applying condiments to a grill. On the grill, a worker ant’s thigh was getting roasted to a golden brown. The hot oil droplets on the charcoal emitted a rich fragrance;

Song Jian looked at the top of the boy’s head. There was no displayed information. This meant the juvenile had hidden all his personal information. Most of those who did this were players.

Though this juvenile seemed no older than seventeen or eighteen, he exuded a unique charisma, not unlike a battle-hardened veteran who has gone through life and death experiences. The scent of gunpowder still lingered around him.

“Are you a player?” Song Jian tentatively asked.

The teenager looked up at Song Jian, then focused his attention on the Ant King Slave by Song Jian’s side for a moment. He released a look of admiration, but quickly turned his head back towards the roasted ant meat.

“You must be hungry, come join me…” the teenager invited.

Song Jian sat down, took out some drinks from his storage column, and speaking to the teenager, said, “I’m Song Jian, here hunting demonized ants for a mission!”

“Lu Mingyuan. My target is the demonized Ant King!” the teenager replied in a deep voice.

“That’s good, how about we team up? It’ll be much safer and more efficient to hunt together!” Song Jian suggested cheerfully.

The teenager glanced at the Ant King slave again, hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement to Song Jian’s teaming up request;

Song Jian smiled slightly, using the “Fifth Battle Flag” to invite Lu Mingyuan to become a teammate;

Suddenly, a pale-blue halo surfaced under Lu’s feet;

“You can use team skills?” surprise flashed through Lu Mingyuan’s eyes. Having seen the increase in his own attributes, his astonishment became even more profound.

“This is a skill that my equipment has. It’s not mine.” Song Jian frankly revealed some of the attributes of his “Fifth Battle Flag” for Lu Mingyuan to see, while carefully observing the teen’s facial expression.

If this teenager showed any sign of greed, Song Jian wouldn’t consider teaming up with him. Fortunately, after glancing at the attributes of the “Fifth Battle Flag”, Lu Mingyuan only revealed understanding, without expressing any interest in claiming it as his own.

Song Jian let out a sigh of relief. There are no restrictions in the game, and the only constraints a player has to adhere to are their own moral standards and abilities. Betraying and killing another player over an equipment is common in the game.

Fortunately, Lu Mingyuan is not such a person. Otherwise, whether for Song Jian or for himself, this would not bode well.

“Where were you born? Is there a city nearby?” Song Jian asked curiously.

“I was born in the wild…” Lu Mingyuan spoke in a low voice, his face full of melancholy.

Song Jian’s face filled with sympathy. For average players, being born in the wilderness meant a 90% chance of failure. Even for Song Jian, if he had been born in the wilderness, he dared not guarantee that he could still be alive now.

Everyone knows the dangers of the wilderness are ten times, no, a hundred times higher than those in Doomsday City;

Though, since there are players who can be born into the safety of the City of Hymns, being born in the wilderness is not that hard to accept.

“Life must be tough in the wilderness, right?” Song Jian asked.

Lu Mingyuan fell silent, the muscles on his face started to twitch. He seemed unwilling to recall the memories of his early days in the game, he shook his head and said, “It’s okay.”

“This meat. Can we really eat it?” Song Jian frowned at the grilled ant meat.

Lu Mingyuan nodded, smiling slightly, “Yes, you can eat it. The taste is not bad. You can try it later.”

After grilling for another ten minutes or so, Lu Mingyuan took out a small knife and cut the grilled meat into slices. It was placed onto two plates. He handed one to Song Jian.

Song Jian picked up a slice and tentatively bit into it. Instantly, his mouth was filled with the rich aroma of roasted meat. The demonized ants looked terrifying, but their meat was unexpectedly tender and delicious when cooked;

After eating seven or eight slices of roast meat, Song Jian downed a large gulp of his drink. Then, he let out a content sigh saying, “This is truly delicious.”

“Hehe, my cooking skill is already at level eight. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to get rid of the Abyssal Demonic Aura in the ants…” Lu Mingyuan explained with a laugh.

“Level eight? That’s incredible!” Song Jian exclaimed in surprise. However, he quickly realized that if Lu Mingyuan’s cooking skill was not high-level, he would have probably starved to death since he was born in the wilderness.

“Oh right, where did you catch this ant pet from? I’ve tried to catch one myself but I’ve never succeeded. It would be much easier to hunt these beasts if I had an ant pet here.” Lu Mingyuan glanced at the Ant King and asked.

Song Jian smiled slightly. Lu Mingyuan had been staring at the Ant King since they first met, his question must have been nagging at him for quite a while.

Noticing Song Jian’s smile, Lu Mingyuan’s face blushed. Before he could speak, Song Jian spoke up, “I caught it when I happened to encounter a young spawn after hunting a demonized Ant King.”

“You hunted a demonized Ant King?” Lu Mingyuan looked shocked. He stood abruptly, his movement so large it nearly knocked over the grill.

“I was lucky only and found a solitary Ant King.” Song Jian nodded and replied.

“Why don’t I have such good luck!” Lu Mingyuan expressed in a gloomy voice.

Considering he dared to hunt demonized Ant Kings, it was clear Lu Mingyuan was confident in his abilities. Having such a strong teammate made Song Jian believe there was a higher chance of completing the mission.

“Let’s go,” Song Jian said nonchalantly as he stood up, “We’ve eaten enough and the demonized ant population in this area is abundant. There must be more than one Ant King. We’ll surely encounter another Ant King as we continue on.”

Lu Mingyuan nodded, packed up the grill, and the two set off along the road;

…