Beast Taming: I'm Really Just a Forest Ranger - Chapter 157 - 125: Flame Mountain and Temporary Teammates
Chapter 157: Chapter 125: Flame Mountain and Temporary Teammates
The next afternoon,
A plane steadily landed at the Fire State airport.
Chen Yuan walked out of the airport, greeted by a sweltering heat he could clearly feel.
The Taibai County where Chen Yuan was from is known as the natural air-conditioning city, with an average summer temperature of only 19 degrees, very cool and pleasant.
Therefore, upon arriving in Fire State, considered one of the hottest cities in Donghuang, he immediately felt extremely uncomfortable.
Hot, too hot.
After walking just a few steps, he felt sweat trickling down his back and forehead.
“Yin Yin…”
Twin Flower Concubine peeked out from the pocket on his chest. Its reaction was better than Chen Yuan had imagined, not particularly uncomfortable.
However, this environment is ultimately unsuitable for Wood-type Pet Beasts to survive long-term.
The sunset time in Fire State is very late, the sun still hanging high overhead, and Chen Yuan, not feeling tired from the long journey, decided to take a car to Flame Mountain.
About an hour later, Chen Yuan arrived at what was originally the tourist center, now the Beastmaster Office.
After the Spiritual Energy Revival, the Beastmaster Association issued a document prohibiting ordinary tourists from entering Flame Mountain, as flames rise here, temperatures are extremely high, and entering means courting death for ordinary people.
Chen Yuan entered the office, looking around, seeing only a throng of people.
He paused for a moment.
Compared to Qinling, there are noticeably more beastmasters here.
But on second thought, Qinling is far from the city, with inconvenient transportation, whereas here is only an hour away, naturally more popular than Qinling.
A staff member was patiently explaining the precautions:
“For safety reasons, we do not recommend traveling alone, as Flame Mountain is extremely dangerous. At least two people should form a team.”
The staff member looked at the crowd and said loudly, “In the hall next door, there are many beastmasters waiting to form temporary teams. They come from various cities in the Eastern Border. If you can’t find a teammate, you can ask them.”
“Moreover, if there are beastmasters who are not good at speaking, they can download a Flame Mountain app, verify their real identity, and the system will assign the most suitable teammate based on their needs.”
“Also, through the app, you can handle the mountain entry procedures, draw maps of the various areas in Flame Mountain, mark the specific positions of dangerous pet beasts, and there are rewards for completing these tasks…”
The staff member spoke endlessly, and Chen Yuan’s eyes lit up.
This is good, Qinling could learn from it as well.
Forming a team can effectively reduce the dangers of wilderness exploration, but there are many lone wolves like Chen Yuan who, due to various factors, do not like teaming up. This app can improve this situation to a certain extent.
Moreover, if he matches an ideal female beastmaster, it might even lead to a romance, which would be quite a story if spread around, wouldn’t it?
Chen Yuan scanned the code to download the Flame Mountain APP, and after verifying his face, he quickly saw a rather simple panoramic map of Flame Mountain.
The panorama merely showed the rough outline of Flame Mountain, with large areas left blank.
Chen Yuan noticed areas in light red, a few regions in rich deep red!
According to the text reminders below, Chen Yuan learned that the closer you get to the depths of Flame Mountain, the higher the temperature, the more dangerous the wild pet beasts, and the brighter the map colors.
Subsequently, Chen Yuan handled the mountain entry procedures, but one option stumped him:
[Are you teaming up?]
[1: Already teamed up]
[2: Looking for teammates]
Chen Yuan: “???”
Isn’t there an option for entering the mountain alone?
Do you really have to force yourself to form a team?
Chen Yuan helplessly found a staff member to inquire about the situation.
The latter listened to Chen Yuan’s accent and immediately laughed, “You must be from out of town.”
“Qin Province,” Chen Yuan replied.
The staff’s smile grew even broader, “So you have misunderstood the danger level of Flame Mountain.”
“The danger here is not from wild pet beasts, but from the extreme temperature.”
“In other places, indeed, it’s unnecessary to team up, a solo beastmaster only needs to be cautious, and the danger level won’t be high.”
He paused, his smile faded, his expression serious, “But Flame Mountain is different.”
“If you don’t have teammates, once you encounter danger, such as the most common extreme heat stroke, you absolutely won’t survive until the rescue personnel arrive.”
“Without teammates, it’s impossible to walk in Flame Mountain.”
“Besides, if you have a Water-type Pet Beast, you could go into the mountain alone, but evidently you don’t.”
Upon hearing the staff’s explanation, Chen Yuan thoughtfully nodded.
High temperature is indeed a major challenge for beastmasters.
As he was deep in thought, suddenly a crisp voice rang in his ear, “Classmate, do you plan to team up? We already have three people, two Water-type Pet Beasts, and have several experiences entering and exiting Flame Mountain. We need a beastmaster with auxiliary abilities.”
Chen Yuan turned around and saw a tall and graceful woman asking him.
He politely declined, “Sorry, I don’t have auxiliary-type pet beasts.”
“Sorry to disturb you.” The woman smiled and turned away.
“See, everyone wants to ensure their own safety by forming teams. Sir, you should find teammates quickly and enter the mountain early,” the staff member advised again.
Chen Yuan opened the Flame Mountain APP and entered the matching interface.
“You actually need to upload requirements for teammates…”
Chen Yuan thought for a moment and uploaded the requirement: possessing a Water-type Pet Beast as well as supportive abilities.
His idea was simple: Spark and Cola were enough to handle the majority of dangerous situations, so all he needed was a Beastmaster with a Water-type Pet Beast to douse any flames and cool things down.
In any case, for this journey to Flame Mountain, he would take the lead, and his teammates could just focus on providing support.
Not long after that, the system showed a successful match:
[Chang Yuhuan, Initial-tier Beastmaster, Water-type Pet Beast Water Pattern Turtle]
At the same time,
Chang Yuhuan was staring blankly at the message that popped up on her phone:
[Chen Yuan, Intermediate-tier Beastmaster, Fire-type Pet Beast Flame Cloud Falcon, Wind-type Pet Beast Gale Hunting Dog]
“Matched with an Intermediate-tier Beastmaster?” She blinked, a little in disbelief.
It seemed like there weren’t many Intermediate-tier Beastmasters in the whole Fire State.
“You must be Chang Yuhuan, right?”
Based on the teammate’s photo on the app, Chen Yuan found Chang Yuhuan in the hall.
Her appearance was very distinctive, with a high nose bridge, deep-set eyes, and a sharp chin, plus she had a very tall and slender figure, making her easy to recognize for Chen Yuan.
“Eh?” Chang Yuhuan looked up in confusion. She first glanced at Chen Yuan in front of her, then at the photo in the app, finally coming to her senses and confidently extended her right hand, a bright smile on her face, “Hello, I’m Chang Yuhuan, you must be Chen Yuan?”
Chen Yuan nodded and extended his right hand as well: “Yes, I’m Chen Yuan. Pleasure to meet you.”
“With a big shot like you around, this trip to the mountains should be a breeze for me.” Chang Yuhuan laughed.
Chen Yuan smiled but said nothing.
The two of them walked side by side out of the office, heading in the direction pointed by the sign.
“Are you a local?” Chen Yuan asked.
“Yes.” Chang Yuhuan nodded and then blinked her lively big eyes at Chen Yuan, asking in return, “You must be from out of town, right?”
“Yes, I came from Qin Province.” Chen Yuan replied.
“No wonder, I was wondering why I was lucky enough to meet an Intermediate-tier Beastmaster.” Chang Yuhuan nodded in understanding and then said, “Are you here at Flame Mountain for something special? Will teaming up with me be a burden for you?”
As a Beastmaster, Chang Yuhuan was very aware of the value of becoming an Intermediate-tier Beastmaster at this point in time.
Either they were the top students from various Beast Taming Academies, or they were senior officials from the Association.
No matter which they were, they were much more powerful than a mediocre Beastmaster like her.
Chen Yuan waved his hand and replied with a smile, “Not at all, I’m here to look for a kind of Spirit Plant.”
After a slight pause, he simply described, “A type of deadwood that burns with flames.”
“Burning with flames?” Chang Yuhuan muttered to herself, then took out her phone, opened the album, and pulled out a photo, “Is it like this?”
Chen Yuan turned his head to look and the photo’s background was a majestic and winding mountain, with roaring flames burning, and at the foot of the mountain, there was indeed a piece of deadwood emitting flames.
“That’s exactly it!” Chen Yuan’s eyes lit up and he immediately focused intently on Chang Yuhuan, “May I ask where you found it?”
Chang Yuhuan’s lips curled up involuntarily, “I’m a landscape photographer, and I love capturing nature’s wonders.”
“Two weeks ago, I came to Flame Mountain for a shoot and accidentally discovered this flaming wood, found it fascinating, and took a picture of it.”
Saying this, she propped her chin with one hand, with thoughtful eyes, and finally pointed with her finger to the east, “If I remember correctly, it should be in that direction.”
Hearing this, Chen Yuan turned to look at Chang Yuhuan, and before he could say anything, she gently nodded, “I have no objections, we can go directly.”
After a pause, she said with a smile, “Since I’m here to shoot anyway, where I go doesn’t really matter.”
After leaving a distance from the office, a barren land came into view.
Gazing at the cracked ground, Chang Yuhuan murmured,
“From here on out, it’s officially entering Flame Mountain.”
“The current Flame Mountain is completely different from the old Flame Mountain.”
Chen Yuan nodded, then released Spark and Cola to let them acclimatize to the temperature here.
“Chirp～”
The high temperature here didn’t affect Spark at all, it even flew happily in the air like a fish in water, chirping continuously.
“Howl…”
Cola drooped its ears, its tail dragging behind, constantly panting, and its light brown fur was drenched with sweat.
“Cola, use a breeze to wrap around your body.” Chen Yuan said.
“Howl～”
Cola followed Chen Yuan’s suggestion, swirling a cool breeze around its body, immediately dispelling the heat, no longer feeling the sweltering heat.
“Let this little guy sit on your back.”
Chen Yuan placed the Twin Flower Concubine on Cola’s back to enjoy the cool breeze all the time.
As for Chen Yuan himself, his physical fitness was decent and unlike Cola, he didn’t have thick fur, so he could bear the temperature.
Gazing at the three Pet Beasts beside Chen Yuan, Chang Yuhuan’s eyes brightened, and she quickly said, “Can I trouble you with one thing?”
“Go ahead.”
Chang Yuhuan waved the camera in her hand, “When we descend the mountain, I want to take a group photo of you and your Pet Beasts.”
“This is my recent photography assignment, to take a group photo of every Beastmaster I encounter.”
Chen Yuan readily agreed, “No problem.”
