Alvin was speechless after hearing this. "Don't tell me the beast outside, in a sage-level land, is also of the sage level?"
Golden Turtle waved its hand. "Don't worry. There is still a slim chance that we will be able to spot some weak animals, like cubs of magical beasts."
Alvin gritted his teeth in frustration."And what exactly do you expect me to do when their parents show up? Invite them for tea?"
Golden Turtle stared at him with its round eyes. "Just run away."
Alvin was on the verge of breaking down after hearing this. "Idiot. According to what you said, a sage-level beast will be at least one lakh times stronger than a normal person. By this calculation, I will probably die even if they just spit at me. How in the world do you think I can run away?"
Golden Turtle was stunned. It scratched its head awkwardly. "You are right. Since we are in the middle of the forest, you might not be able to return if you go out."
Alvin slumped back onto the floor with a dejected look on his face. "Damn my luck. I might probably die here due to starvation."
Golden Turtle consoled him. "Don't worry. One of your subordinates always comes by in the evening to pay you a visit. He is trustworthy. Just tell him your current situation and he will take you out of the jungle."
Alvin looked at the turtle from the corner of his eyes. "I even have subordinates?"
"Yeah, there are a few. All of them are bound to you by soul contracts, so even if they wanted to, they wouldn't be able to betray you," Golden Turtle said seriously.
"Then so be it. Let's wait till he comes," Alvin said as he closed his eyes in resignation.
After that, until evening, Alvin kept on asking Golden Turtle about different types of magic.
When it was late afternoon and the sky outside the cave began to darken,
"Screech"
A loud cry of a demon beast rang out outside the cave. Alvin, who was inside, felt his head buzz before falling to the ground with blood flowing out of his ears and nose.
Outside the cave, a giant eagle the size of a truck landed majestically, and two burly men who looked to be in their twenties jumped down.
"Boss, we have brought the Thousand Beast Vine you asked for last time. I bet you'll fall in love with it the moment it touches your mouth," one of the men laughed loudly as he entered the cave, followed silently by the other.
But just as the two of them entered the cave, their expressions froze."Boss is injured! Hurry, take some medicine out!"
The first man shouted, and the second one immediately took out a pill from his storage ring and fed it to Alvin.
The next second, Alvin's body started to bulge as though it was going to explode at any moment.
"Fuck. Boss has no cultivation! Hurry up and help me expel the medicine!" the man who fed Alvin the pill said in horror.
Both of them placed their hands on Alvin's chest and started channeling their mana into his body to suppress the effect of the pill and expel the portion that was not digested. After about ten minutes, the unconscious Alvin spat out the pill and lay motionless on the floor.
The two men looked helplessly at Alvin, whose body was now swollen like a balloon. They were both confused and worried about what had happened.
...
"Damn it, why the hell did I faint again?" Alvin muttered to himself as he groggily opened his eyes.
But the next second, his eyes widened. Above him, instead of the cave ceiling, he saw the ceiling of a luxurious room, with a huge ceiling lamp hanging above him.
"Boss is awake! Inform Senior Brothers quickly!" Just then, Alvin heard a loud voice near him. Turning his head to the side, he saw a girl who looked to be around sixteen years old yelling toward the door with a big smile on her face.
"Boss, what happened? I was really worried about you."The next second, the girl who was standing at the door a moment ago appeared beside Alvin as though she had teleported, asking worriedly.
Alvin looked at the girl in front of him and asked subconsciously, "Who are you?"
The girl's face froze when she heard this.
Just then, the door opened and the two burly men from before came in. "Thank God, you really scared us," one of them said in relief.
Alice looked at the confused Alvin lying on the bed and said to the two burly men in a low voice, "Senior brother, I think Boss's brain suffered some injury. He didn't even remember us."
The room fell into an awkward silence after she said this. All of them stared at Alvin as though he was a rare animal.
"This girl's name is Alice, and those two burly men are brothers, Joel and Joshi. All of them are your subordinates. Since they think you lost your memory, act like that for the time being," Golden Turtle jumped out of Alvin's chest and said to him as it sat on top of him.
Alvin frowned. When he looked up, he saw the three people still staring at him. None of them seemed to notice the turtle's presence.
"Don't worry. No one else can see me."
After hearing this, Alvin looked at the two men and said, "My head is a little muddled. Tell me, Alice, what happened to me?"
Alice smiled in relief after Alvin called her name. The other two men in the room also relaxed.
Joshi stepped forward and said, "Boss, when we arrived at your hideout, you were lying on the floor with blood coming out of your mouth and ears, with your body swollen like a balloon. When we checked, you also didn't have any cultivation. We are also confused about the whole situation."
Joel looked at his brother in shock. He then quietly lowered his head as though he was a kid who had done something wrong.
Alice frowned upon seeing Joel's reaction. She said to Joshi threateningly, "Senior brother, tell the truth."
Joshi froze upon hearing this. He turned his head to look at his brother. Sure enough, this fool was not cooperating at all.
He looked stiffly at Alvin and scratched his head. "We indeed found you lying on the floor, so I fed you a demi-god level recovery pill. But since you didn't have any cultivation at that time, it backfired, resulting in your body swelling up. But it's not a problem now. Everything is settled."
Alvin was speechless after hearing this. "One more mystery. Why did someone attack me in the first place?"
"There is no mystery in this. You fainted in the cave because of the loud sound of their magic beast. Without cultivation, an ordinary man would have already died if a sage-level beast roared in their face. You were quite lucky that you only fainted," Golden Turtle said mockingly.
Alvin's mouth twitched. He looked at the three people standing near his bed and asked, "Whose beast was it that roared outside my cave?"
The two men looked at Alvin blankly, but Alice thought about something and her face changed. "Don't tell me Boss fainted because of the sound wave?"
The two men were also stunned.
As Alvin was cursing his luck, he suddenly recalled what Joshi had said. "What did you say about hideout just now? Why was I hiding in the forest?"