Reincarnated as a bamboo rat, it begins its extreme survival struggle.

And now, Mr. Bell is even teaching himself music theory. I'm so angry I could cry.

After a while of making a ruckus by the campfire, the emotional Edu slowly fell asleep.

Today, since his near-death experience, his emotions have been on a rollercoaster ride several times, and he is exhausted.

"This little rascal trusts me so much, he's sleeping like a log."

Looking at the little guy sleeping soundly against the bamboo, Bell breathed a sigh of relief. Although the little guy was noisy, Bell didn't dislike him.

Unlike Edu, who needed sleep to relieve his fatigue, Bell was still full of energy by the campfire.

[Fire Wisdom] Although it can't provide Bell with any combat assistance, as long as Bell is in the fire, he can quickly recover his physical condition and enhance his thinking ability.

At this moment, Bell was constantly calculating the changes in the surrounding magic as he shouted.

After Edu fell asleep, Bell went to a slightly farther place and experimented with different styles of singing several times, trying to resonate with the magic of the environment.

After some experimentation, Bell discovered that different songs resonated with the magic in their surroundings to varying degrees.

If the songs are chosen appropriately, Bale can use singing to fulfill different needs such as offense, defense, movement, recovery, and scouting.

Sound, or rhythmic music, has power in this world.

However, this power is extremely limited, and it is almost impossible for ordinary people to unleash it through singing.

Bards, or other professions that utilize sound to mobilize power, do not need to use a medium to enhance the resonance between their sound and the surrounding environment.

This medium is magic.

“Previously, when Edu used [Beast Language], the power to make the surrounding beasts obedient was magic. With the blessing of magic, the phenomena caused by my singing will also undergo a qualitative change.”

After some exploration, Bell stopped trying to find the power in the song.

After all, Bell lacked a sufficient number of samples for analysis. He had never met a real bard in this world, and based solely on Edu's half-baked description, Bell could not glimpse the workings of this profession.

Moreover, Bell has no magic power whatsoever; all his current explorations are just ideas and cannot be put into practice.

"A giant rat that can burst into flames with the slightest touch, yet it possesses no magic whatsoever—who would believe that?"

Shaking his head helplessly, Bell lay quietly on guard by the campfire.

Bamboo forests are dangerous at night, after all, most predators are active at night.

Even now, with large numbers of human adventurers entering the bamboo forest and driving away or killing many magical beasts, the nights in the bamboo forest are still far from safe.

After all, the bamboo forest is so vast that it is not only inhabited by magical beasts, but also by large, ordinary wild beasts that can pose a threat to adventurers.

"Susu-"

Before long, Bell heard the sounds of predators moving about quietly in the surrounding bamboo forest.

Opening one eye and surveying his surroundings, Bell shifted his body and collected most of the embers from the campfire into his inventory.

"Now the magical beasts in the bamboo forest have become smarter and will not provoke human camps with campfires lit, but some beasts still don't learn their lesson."

He disappeared into the bamboo forest. Because he had to take care of Edu, Bell's nights were not as easy as usual.

"Taking care of a child is a really painful thing."

Chapter 25 Mine Camp

"Hey, little rascal."

As the first rays of sunlight illuminated the bamboo forest in the early morning, the campfire that Bell had lit the night before had already gone out.

He stood on a large rock and greeted Edu, who had regained consciousness.

Today, Edu is heading to the inner perimeter of the Bamboo Sea to deliver a message to the Long River Adventurers. The journey is not long, but Edu cannot take the paths opened up by humans in the Bamboo Sea. He must cross mountains and valleys to avoid being stopped by the Blood Hand Mercenary Group.

As Edu set off, Bell nimbly jumped onto his shoulder and settled comfortably on it.

He didn't want to jog along with Edu. Last night, he had been exhausted from chasing away those curious wild animals in the bamboo forest with burning charcoal.

To be honest, Bell was just a bamboo rat the size of two palms, and it wasn't heavy. Lying on Edu's body wouldn't slow him down.

"By the way, you're going to deliver a message, do you know the way?"

"Don't worry, I know the general terrain around here, and the animal friends in the bamboo forest will also help me correct my direction."

Bell asked lazily, while Edu continued forward in the direction he had chosen, his pace undiminished.

"That's not what I meant. I wanted to ask if you have a way to pinpoint the location of the Long River Adventurer Group's base?"

Under Bell's questioning, Edu gave a detailed account of the Long River Mercenary Group's several fixed outposts within the Bamboo Sea.

On the outskirts of the bamboo forest, the largest gathering place for adventurers is the mining site developed by the Long River Mercenary Group.

It is said that there is only one mineral vein in the vast bamboo forest. If you dig in other places, you will only find layers of bones mixed in the soil.

The Long River Adventure Team has a large number of members stationed in the mine, and at the same time, a large number of individual investors also gather in this mine.

Individual investors also take on tasks assigned by the Long River Adventurer Group here, such as cutting bamboo for materials, mining, or transporting supplies like Edu.

The profession of adventurer sounds prestigious, but in reality, about 70% of adventurers do not venture into dangerous places to explore; most of them make a living by doing odd jobs.

These adventurers don't even have formal professional certifications, so naturally they can't join legitimate adventure groups.

Even a large, reputable adventure group like the Long River Adventure Team wouldn't recruit these individual players.

"To be honest, my desire to become a true bard stems from my wish to join a large, legitimate adventure group after obtaining my professional certification."

"Ugh, you said you wanted to join an adventurer's party, so why don't you create one yourself?"

Bell could understand Edu's desire to join an adventurer's group, but if it were Bell himself, he felt he wouldn't join someone else's adventurer's group.

According to Edu, forming an adventurer's party is not difficult; all you need to do is pay a fee and register with the Adventurers' Guild.

"Everyone wants to have their own adventure team, but it's very difficult to run an adventure team properly."

First of all, when an adventurer's group recruits adventurers, it's not to ask them to work for free. Without compensation, adventurers with professional certifications simply won't bother with a fledgling adventurer's group.

Adventurers are rewarded for completing quests; they can support themselves by taking on quests on their own.

To assemble a large adventure group of a thousand people, it is necessary to provide sufficient benefits to the adventurers who join the group.

For example, if a warrior's sword or armor is worn out, it can be repaired and sharpened for free at the weapon shop run by the adventure guild; if a mage wants to continue their studies at a magic academy or similar institution, the adventure guild will reimburse the member for their tuition fees; and hunters' pet war beasts will also need someone in the adventure guild to help feed them…

Everyone's out here trying to make a living; you can't be like a medical student and have to pay someone to work.

“Building a large adventure group requires a lot of financial resources, a specific base, and a location with resource production.”

Edu recounted his observations among adventurers, noting that individual adventurers often dreamed of one day becoming part of a large adventure group.

Although lower-level adventurers must complete many mandatory tasks after joining a large adventure group.

But the high pay and good benefits are irresistible. Even though the Blood Hand Mercenary Group has such a bad reputation, there are still plenty of skilled people who would do anything to join it.

The reason is that the Blood Hand Mercenary Group is very wealthy and offers excellent benefits.

Their business was extremely profitable. War and intelligence brought the Blood Hand Mercenary Group a huge amount of money, especially intelligence, which was a risk-free business and the envy of other adventure groups.

With money, they can recruit a large number of peripheral members to fight for control of more resource production areas for the Blood Hand Mercenary Group.

Just like the current war with the Long River Adventurer Group, the Blood Hand Mercenary Group has set its sights on the Bamboo Sea, a resource-producing area.

“The Bloodhand mercenaries I encountered before were all hired peripheral members.”

Edu gave examples to help Bell understand.

Bell's thoughts, however, had already drifted elsewhere, as he considered other things.

He wasn't initially interested in the conflict between the two human factions, but now Bell seems to have found some interesting angles to look into.

"When you arrive at your destination, remember not to reveal my presence. Humans are very unfriendly to those who are different from others."

With his mind racing, Bell looked up at the patch of land in front of him, where no bamboo grew and which had been leveled by human hands, and reminded Edu of something.

At this moment, Edu's expression also turned serious.

“I know, Mr. Bell.”

He rushed toward the flat land in front of the mine, only to be stopped by a group of strong adventurers stationed in front of the camp.

Martial law has now been imposed in this camp.

Judging from the current situation, someone must have already relayed the news that the Blood Hand Mercenary Group had taken action against the Long River Adventurer Group to this place.

This was something Bell had considered before. In the clash between two large forces with thousands of members, Edu, a minor character, was really nothing.

If he could escape from that bald thug, then someone else must have been able to escape as well.

Compared to him, who would find it difficult to survive in the bamboo forest, there must be someone stronger who could quickly relay information to the higher-ups of the Long River Adventure Team.

He shook his head and said nothing, simply resting his head on Edu's shoulder like a harmless little animal.

Just then, as the two adventurers who had stopped Edu were about to take him away, a cry of alarm rang out in front of the camp.

"Edu?! What are you doing here?!"

The newcomer was a tall woman with blonde hair, dressed in knight's armor.

She looked to be quite young, around twenty-five or twenty-six, and from her conversation, she seemed to know Edu quite well.

They were even quite worried because Edu was there.