“Miles, you arrived!” The giant teen with red skin said with a smile as he looked at the teen walking towards them.

“Hey, Zall.” Miles greeted back. “Xavic.”

“Yo, Bro Miles.” Xavic was busy looking at his wristwatch, when he saw Miles coming he greeted him while showing the virtual screen. “We found a perfect hunting spot.”

“Oh, do tell.” Miles was intrigued. He walked towards the duo and looked at the screen. He saw the stronghold Zall and Xavic were staying in. From there, a straight line was moving towards the inner circle. At the outer perimeter of the Insect Kingdom, a cave was marked.

“Bugs?” Miles asked with a shiver. After the last confrontation, he didn’t want to go anywhere near the Insect Kingdom.

“Spiders!” Zall corrected.

“Gross,” Miles exclaimed.

“That is why we are going to eradicate them!” Xavic said with excitement.

“Spiders are no joke, Xavic. If we get caught into their nets, we are done for.” Miles warned. Even normal spiders could kill a normal human, let alone monsters.

“That is why I bought these!” Xavic said and showed two gigantic barrels. Miles walked to the barrels and uncorked one of them. Inside was a green liquid boiling.

“Acid?” Miles exclaimed in surprise.

“Stomach fluid of Tempest Python. Can melt steel in a second.” Xavic said proudly as he kicked the barrel. The liquid billowed and a drop flew out of the brim.

“Be careful, idiot!” Miles kicked Xavic from his abdomen and jumped back. Xavic tumbled on the ground, as the acid fell where his leg was a second ago.

“Ah!” Xavic looked at the spot with trepidation. “Thanks, Miles!”

“It is fine.” Miles rubbed his head as he asked, “How did you get this acid? Tempest Pythons are at least Form-Rank, Middle-Tier. Their stomach acids can melt even the strongest alloys. As a weapon, they are priceless. And these barrels can hold the acid, they are even more expensive. There are only two natural trees that can withstand Tempest Python’s stomach acid, both species are pretty rare.”

“I didn’t know they were worth so much,” Xavic said as he scratched his head.

“Where did you get them?” Miles asked with a squint.

“An uncle lives not far from where I live. When I talked about the journey, he gave me these.” Xavic tilted his head as he answered. “If these are too valuable, I cannot use them. I only paid him 10k for each barrel.”

“I appreciate your honesty, but the uncle is obviously not a fool to be swindled if he has these. So if he accepted 10k UD, he probably wanted to help you, so when you have money, buy him a good gift. For now, let’s move on.” Miles said.

“I would never expect him to be rich.” Xavic shook his head. “He lives even more like a pauper than I do.”

“Probably an expert who wants to live a modest life. Don’t confront him or bother him with these. Having this graduate in your heart should suffice.” Miles responded. ‘Xavic is too lucky.’

“Miles is right. If you talk to him about it now, he would have reservations, so just let it be.” Zall nodded with a smile.

“Alright, if you guys say so.” Xavic nodded. “Let’s get moving then.”

“Before we go—” Miles stopped the duo. He still had some questions. “—where did you find this cave?”

“It was me, I discovered it,” Zall said. “When I was walking the other day, I heard a cry and ran to see what happened.

When I arrived, I saw giant spiders surrounding me. They would have killed me, but I was able to defend myself.”

“They can imitate human cry?” Miles asked.

“Hmm.” Zall nodded. “It was so real-like. If I didn’t hear them crying like humans with my own ears, I wouldn’t believe it.”

“And you took a walk to the edge of the Insect Kingdom?” Miles asked in disbelief.

“Haha, when I get distracted, I don’t know where I am heading,” Zall said while scratching the back of his head.

“Alright, you guys should move into my stronghold asap!” Miles sighed.

“It's still gonna take some time, man.”

“What is holding you back?” Miles asked with a frown.

“We have to hunt together with the post commander. He hired us a few months back, and there is still time for it to happen. The post commander says there is only a small window of time for the monster to appear, and we have to be near at the time. So, we cannot move to another stronghold just yet.” Zall answered.

“A monster appears in a small window of time?” Miles repeated.

“You know the monster?” Xavic asked.

“I know a few close to here, but can’t be sure.” Miles's first bet would be Ice Dragon. It was one of the most famous monsters in G-Circle. Although this part of the G-Circle was a little remote, Ice Dragon was still known by everyone who entered the Portal World once.

“Alright, let's go already. We have the acid, we have the team. What are we waiting for?” Xavic asked.

“The barrel is more expensive than anything you can get from the cave, you know that, right?” Miles asked. Duo nodded to confirm Miles's thoughts. “Let me guess, you want to exterminate the spiders so other hunters wouldn’t fall into their trap.”

Duo nodded once again.

“Alright, I guess we can try to find something in the cave.” Miles sighed and led the way. I hope there aren't too many spiders. Two barrels of Tempest Python's stomach acid are too valuable. I don't want to waste them all there.

“We don't have anything we can use to move the acid. So we can only pour it from the barrel directly. The amount will diminish much quicker that way. Should I dip my arrows into the acids to use them? Nah, It will destroy the arrows, but in that one second, arrows will be lethal.

"Xavic, did the old man give you anything else?" Miles asked.

"Ah, he gave me this. How did you know?" Xavic exclaimed as he pulled out a glass flask with spray attached at the top of it.

"The fuck?"