"You should get to bed and rest. How can a magic user like you sleep on the cold ground?" Ryan lay on his side on the haystack, his voice carrying just the right amount of concern. He understood Evelyn's pride—being politely insistent would make her lower her guard.

  "No need." Evelyn remained standing, her tone still cold, though a trace of the previous hostility had faded.

  She could sense that Ryan meant no harm, yet accepting charity from a stranger was still difficult for her.

  Seeing this, Ryan simply turned onto his back, facing away from her, and closed his eyes."If you don't sleep, this bed will go to waste tonight. Besides, there are tiny stones on the ground. For someone with delicate skin like yours, it could hurt a lot. Me? I'm tough-skinned, so this kind of pain is nothing."

  After a short while, faint footsteps came from behind, followed by the subtle sound of fabric brushing against the bed.

  Ryan felt a surge of satisfaction—his strategy of yielding to advance had worked.

  If Evelyn's favor toward him had been at 1 before, it was now at least 2.

  He was one step closer to establishing the deep magical resonance Grimoire had mentioned.

  The only problem was that damn Grimoire didn't even provide a basic favorability rating.

  He had to rely entirely on observing Evelyn's eyes and tone, and a single misstep could result in him being turned to ice shards by her ultimate ice sword.

  【Task Triggered: Find the Hunting Party.】

  【Task Requirement: Locate the missing hunting party members or determine their whereabouts within three days.】

  【Task Reward: Magic energy advances to Adept Mage.】

  Ryan's mind instantly cleared. A time-limited task meant the hunting party could be in extreme danger, and after three days, there might be a fatal crisis.

  Before he could even process the first task, Grimoire's voice sounded again:

  【Task Triggered: Pursue Evelyn.】

  【Task Requirement: Gain Evelyn's complete trust, establish soul-level magical resonance, and achieve mutual elemental fusion.】

  【Task Reward: Magic energy advances to the peak of Grand Magus, the legendary invincible realm.】

  Ryan's eyes shot open, nearly bouncing off the ground. Peak Grand Magus! The higher the reward, the harder the task.

  He asked himself urgently,"Would forcibly completing it count? If possible, I'd try even if it meant getting beaten to death!"

  【Invalid.】 Grimoire's voice carried a hint of teasing.

  【Mutual consent is required. Evelyn must willingly open her magical essence to you and cooperate in the harmonization ritual.】

  "Of course it's not that simple," Ryan muttered under his breath.

  The reward alone showed that pursuing Evelyn would be extremely difficult.

  Not only would he need to overcome tens of thousands of years of her vigilance, he also had to make her actively accept a former enemy. One wrong move could end in total destruction.

  Worse, without a favorability metric, he could only judge based on Evelyn's subtle reactions.

  Whether she chose to speak to him, allowed him to approach, or even shared insights on magic learning—all of it would be a delicate balance.

  Every step felt like walking on a cliff; a single mistake could be catastrophic.

  At this moment, Evelyn sat on the bed, eyes closed, sorting through faint magical energy. Yet she felt a barely perceptible rustling near her ears, as if Ryan was restraining his excited breaths.

  Her brows furrowed slightly, a flicker of vigilance rising in her mind. Was he secretly observing her, or performing some strange magic?

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  Evelyn still could not fully calm her mind to study magic. She opened her eyes, and her gaze fell on the haystack.

  Ryan was tossing and turning, the hay beneath him rustling, and the ground even seeming a little cleaner from his movements.

  His mind was entirely occupied with finding the hunting party. The forest was complex and dangerous, not only home to high-level magical beasts but possibly also to undead creatures.

  The three-day limit was far too tight, and he could not come up with an efficient search plan. In his frustration, he inadvertently turned over and happened to lock eyes with Evelyn.

  They stared at each other for over ten seconds before Ryan broke the suffocating silence first, his voice carrying a slightly awkward, sheepish laugh.

  "You're not asleep yet either?"

  Evelyn responded softly,"You seem to have something on your mind."

  "It's about the village hunting party." Ryan stood up, brushing the hay off his clothes."The whole team has gone missing. I promised the village chief I would find them, but now I don't even have a clue."

  He pushed open the wooden cabin door."I'm going out for some fresh air."

  Ryan walked along the village path to the center of the settlement, where the Life Tree, glowing with a green aura, came into view.

  Its trunk was so thick that it would take five people to encircle it with their arms. Faint magical energy flowed through its branches and leaves, sustaining the defensive barrier that protected the entire village.

  He climbed onto a sturdy branch, standing on it as he gazed into the distance. Beyond the barrier, darkness stretched endlessly, broken only by the occasional glint of a magical beast's eyes.

  Leaning against the trunk with his hands behind his head, Ryan planned to ask Barret for the hunting party's last known route first thing tomorrow morning, hoping to trace them from the magical material collection points they often visited.

  A gentle night breeze carrying the scent of the Life Tree brushed his face. At that moment, a childish voice rang out:

  "Life Tree, I want to play one more time."

  Following the sound, Ryan saw a little girl standing beneath the tree, looking up at the branches.

  The Life Tree seemed to understand her request, and a slender branch slowly lowered itself, clearly part of a game it often played with the girl.

  Ryan stayed silent, not disturbing her, leaning quietly against the trunk as he gazed at the night sky above.

  Through the gaps in the defensive barrier, he could clearly see the countless stars and a large, bright moon.

  The moon appeared so close that its craters were visible, more breathtaking than any celestial body he had ever seen.

  After an unknown amount of time, the laughter and play beneath the tree faded. The little girl had gone home, and the branch of the Life Tree slowly retracted, returning to its original form.

  In the center of the village, only Ryan remained on the branch, accompanied by the starry sky.

  It had been nearly two thousand years since he arrived in this magical world, and memories of his previous eight lives surged like a tide.

  At first, relying on his Grimoire, he had even imagined that the first time he saw Evelyn, she would become his woman.

  But reality delivered the cruelest blow: Evelyn, with just a dagger, pierced his throat.

  From that moment, he was trapped in a fate of being hunted.

  Fate seemed to mock him, for no matter where he fled, he always reunited with Evelyn. Their encounters evolved from a one-sided pursuit into a confrontation of equals.

  "Thinking about this won't help." Ryan sighed and flipped off the branch, landing lightly on the ground."I'd better go back and build some rapport with her. At least that way, she won't attack me outright during tomorrow's operation."

  He pushed open the cabin door, and just as he stepped inside, he heard Evelyn's cold voice:"It seems you've been crying?"

  Ryan instinctively touched the corner of his eye and quickly covered it up."The sand from the Life Tree blew into my eyes just now."

  Only he knew that this"sand" represented two thousand years of grievance and frustration.

  In his previous eight lives, every death had involved Evelyn. The pain frozen by her ice magic and the despair of being pierced by her ultimate ice sword had already etched deep into his soul.

  Evelyn did not press further. To her, the thoughts of this stranger were irrelevant. Her only goal now was to restore her magical energy as quickly as possible.

  If Ryan knew her thoughts, he would likely have shouted,"How could it be irrelevant! Every single one of my troubles, one hundred percent, is related to you!"

  His gaze unconsciously fell on Evelyn, taking in her curvaceous figure.

  Ryan could not help but marvel—despite being hunted by her in his previous eight lives, every time he saw Evelyn, her cold beauty still left him stunned.

  "Have you looked enough?" Evelyn's voice suddenly rang out.

  Even having lost most of her magical energy, her mental strength remained sharp. Ryan's blatant staring had long been detected by her consciousness.

  "Sorry!" Ryan hurriedly apologized."You're just too beautiful. I got lost in the sight for a moment."

  Evelyn said nothing more, and the cabin returned to silence.

  Ryan wisely lay back on the haystack and closed his eyes. He needed to restore his energy as quickly as possible. Tomorrow's search mission would most likely involve danger.

  A few minutes later, Evelyn suddenly spoke in a soft voice:"When I was born, I used my mental power to detect that a group of people is trapped deep in the forest within a magical barrier. I don't know if it's the hunting party you're looking for."

  Unfortunately, Ryan had already fallen asleep and did not hear her words.

  Had he been awake, he would probably have laughed and cried at the same time, thinking,"This clue came way too late!"

  Evelyn waited a moment. Hearing no response, she slowly closed her eyes.

  Relearning magic had drained much of her mental strength and magical essence. Combined with the earlier interactions with Ryan, she was exhausted and soon fell into a deep sleep.

  Outside the cabin, the Life Tree's glow remained soft, continuing to protect the entire village.

  Inside the cabin, the former"hunter" and"fugitive" slept side by side, their breaths intertwining, forming a rare moment of harmony.

  When the first rays of sunlight filtered through the cabin's cracks, Ryan slowly opened his eyes, ready to face this search journey filled with the unknown.