Before long,
Consciousness returned, and they woke up.
The two got out of bed.
Yol exaggeratedly stretched her graceful figure on the spot, examining herself with eyes full of wonder:
"I feel like all the bones in my body have become lighter. And why does my body feel so agile?
"And it doesn't hurt at all."
Lami, rubbing her sleepy eyes, wrinkled her nose at this moment and looked at her blankly:
"Sister, you smell sour and stinky. Did you wet the bed last night?"
Merlin couldn't help but chuckle, the amusement evident in his eyes. However, Yol, with dark lines on her face, pinched Lami's cheek:
"You're the one who wet the bed! I'm twenty years old; how could I still wet the bed?
"Lami, you can't slander your sister like that for no reason!"
However, after speaking, Yol also wrinkled her nose slightly. She discovered that a sour smell of sweat had indeed appeared on her body.
She couldn't help but look at Merlin, her gaze suspicious as she said: "You didn't do anything bad to me last night, did you?"
Merlin rolled his eyes at her: "You were screaming 'Unnh, unnh, ahh, ahh' non-stop last night until your voice went hoarse. Don't you remember?"
Yol's face instantly turned beet red. She stammered and looked at Merlin, and after a few seconds, she rolled her beautiful eyes speechlessly.
"Nonsense! I was obviously screaming in pain because you hurt my whole body last night. It wasn't 'unnh, unnh, ahh, ahh'!
"At most, there were just a few more muffled groans."
Lami looked at Yol blankly, but soon asked curiously: "Then, Sister Yol, are your waist sore and legs weak now?"
Yol was confused and puzzled. "Why do you ask that?"
Lami grinned like a little adult and said: "Because Mom and Dad used to say similar things for a while."
Hearing this, a subtle look appeared in Merlin's eyes. He looked at Lami, hesitating to speak, then said helplessly:
"You really are Doctor Trafalgar's good daughter!"
Yol also reacted at this moment, her face becoming somewhat stiff. Her fair hands clenched into fists, and she said faintly:
"Lami, if Big Sister spanks your butt in a moment, what kind of sound do you think you'll make?"
Lami blinked, a tangled look in her eyes. But after thinking for a few seconds, she looked at Yol seriously and said:
"Lami has grown up and won't cry anymore. I will endure it. At most, I'll just scream... 'err, unnh, unnh, err' like that."
Yol stared blankly at Lami, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Merlin glanced at Lami, the corner of his mouth lifting. This girl's heart was definitely black. Is this belly-black nature hereditary?
Truly worthy of being Law's sister.
Merlin still remembered that boy who looked well-behaved on the outside but was actually闷騷 (introvertedly passionate/coquettish) and incredibly belly-black on the inside.
And their father was like that too.
A whole family of "black-hearted" ghosts.
Lami peeked at Yol quietly, then looked curiously at Merlin:
"Merlin-niichan, why are your clothes wet?"
Saying this, she stepped forward, placed her hands on Merlin's thighs, and asked in confusion:
"Wearing wet clothes will make you sick."
Merlin briefly explained about the spring. So, Yol hurriedly said:
"Then I'll go wash up too!"
Saying this, she grabbed Lami and went to the backpack, took out the soap, and rushed out of the cave without looking back.
"Wait a minute." Merlin called out to her. Yol turned back in confusion. Merlin pulled the dagger from the holster on the outside of his leg and threw it over:
"Take it for self-defense."
Yol reached out and caught it accurately, a smile appearing in her eyes as she nodded:
"Thanks!"
Watching the two leave, Merlin went to the backpack, picked up his katana, and also walked out of the cave.
Not long after.
In the forest,
Sniffing the residual scents of different creatures in the air and observing rows of shallow, plum-blossom-like footprints on the ground.
Tracking the scent, Merlin sped up, moving agilely and quickly through the forest in pursuit.
Five minutes later,
Merlin stopped under a large tree, his gaze fixed on a herd of elk burying their heads in tender grass two hundred meters away.
Merlin noticed that the body length of these elk was almost all between two to three meters.
Calmly observing their direction of movement, which was towards the left, Merlin circled around in the forest and crouched down in a one-and-a-half-meter-tall bush in the path of the elk herd.
His breathing became steady. Merlin remained motionless like a statue, like a lynx hiding its figure and ambushing its prey.
Time passed minute by minute.
Before long, the elk herd, eating tender grass, arrived at a not-so-slow pace. Merlin's eyes narrowed slightly. Soon, the herd was a hundred meters ahead.
Merlin remained still in ambush. Fifty meters... thirty meters... ten meters, five meters. At this moment, Merlin had already selected a fat elk at the very front.
With a body length of two meters, it sported a pair of beautiful, branching, sturdy antlers on its head. In this instant, Merlin suddenly burst out from the bushes, his leg muscles tensing and the power of his lower limbs exploding.
Almost in the blink of an eye, he sprang right in front of the elk herd. His sudden appearance startled the herd into panic, causing them to emit bleating cries. Clang! A sound of the blade rang out.
The katana was unsheathed. Black flames spread from his right hand onto the blade, creating a sudden arc of black fire.
In the blink of an eye, Merlin's blade stabbed into the neck of the selected elk. With a squelch, the blade sank halfway in.
The panicked elk let out a miserable scream, then kicked out at Merlin with its leg as if wanting to take him down with it.
At this moment, his excellent dynamic vision captured the elk's movement. Merlin reacted in advance, pushing off the ground and jumping back. The blade withdrew from the elk's neck, bringing a spray of blood with it.
Instantly, Merlin dodged the kick raised by the elk.
At the same time, black flames wrapped around the elk, and the patchy white platinum lead color eroded its fur.
Calamity: Patchy Platinum Lead.
The elk wailed and collapsed to the ground with a bang, twitching.
The hunter revealed his fangs.
The deer herd fled the scene in panic.
After a few breaths, the surrounding deer herd had already run a hundred meters away.
Merlin stepped forward at this time, stabbing a knife into the elk's neck, opening a long slit.
Blood flowed, and the elk gradually stopped moving.
Merlin placed his left hand on the elk's body, reclaiming the Platinum Lead Calamity. The middle finger of his left hand turned white again.
Not long after, carrying the dead elk, Merlin arrived at the mountain spring.
Skinning, gutting, and cleaning.
Bringing the whole deer back to the ancient tree, he called Yol to gather wood and make a fire. Before long, pieces of clean venison were roasted on the fire.
While the meat was not yet cooked.
Merlin began to formally teach Yol and Lami the practice of yoga movements.
Hand-in-hand guidance.
Breaking down and explaining movement by movement. The progress of the two was gratifying, especially Lami, who was only seven years old. Her bones hadn't fully set yet, and her body was light and flexible, so she learned quickly.
And when the two of them learned the basics of yoga and began stretching exercises for their bodies.
Merlin also began to explore his Lynx Body Tempering Arts on his own.
Sometimes lying prone on the ground, motionless, slowly changing his breathing frequency.
Sometimes bursting into sprints like a rabbit or a duck taking flight within a small area.
Sometimes performing various difficult twisting movements in place.
Or standing up, coordinating with combat footwork, and beginning to continuously punch and kick at the air in front of him.
Experiencing the exertion of his own limbs.
Rustling sounds of breaking wind rang out continuously with the movement of his hands and feet.
He also turned the venison roasting by the fire from time to time. As time passed, a rich aroma of venison filled the surroundings.
The roasted meat was ready.
Venison legs, ribs, cheeks.
Venison heart, liver, whip.
Paired with Monkey Wine, eating big mouthfuls of meat.
The venison skin was golden and scorched, the inside firm and tender. Sprinkled with a light layer of salt, enjoying this incredibly tempting delicacy.
In one meal, half the venison was eaten.
It was noon.
The sun was bright today, and the temperature was very comfortable. At noon, the three of them took a nap and sunbathed to supplement calcium.
Then, Merlin led Yol to do push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. Basic physical fitness is the foundation of everything.
Although they were doing basics, there were quite a few variations.
Lami continued with yoga, stretching her tender body.
Because she was still young, Merlin didn't brutally torment her. The little girl who lost her parents was already unfortunate enough; let her have a somewhat happy childhood!
Even so, Lami didn't slack off. On the contrary, this girl had plenty of resilience. Her yoga progress was gratifying, and she never complained of hardship.
After accumulating enough fatigue in her body, she even begged and acted coquettishly for Merlin to help her absorb the status Calamity of fatigue.
Unfortunately!
She was ruthlessly rejected by Merlin.
Since she was tired, she should rest, go eat venison, eat various fruits, drink mountain spring water, or sit on a rock and watch Merlin and Yol engage in intense basic physical training...
Time passed quickly.
A week flew by in a flash.
It was now late October.
The temperature in the mountains began to get colder and colder.
And today,
Was the third day Merlin and the other two had moved into the tree hollow of the giant tree not far from the pool.
Four days later, the environment inside the tree hollow had become dry.
Night fell.
In the corner of the tree hollow, a circle of ores emitting a hazy glow was piled up.
Making the inside not so dark.
Layers of thick and warm deer skins and bear skins were spread as carpet bedding.
A crocodile skin was fixed to the cave entrance together with bamboo boards to serve as a door.
"Fourth Brother is a Paramecia ability user. He can manipulate and breathe fire, releasing devastating attacks. But the Snake Spirit is cunning; she has many, many precious Devil Fruit weapons... In the end, Fourth Brother was still captured alive by her schemes.
"...
"Alright, that's it for today. I'll tell you the rest tomorrow."
The story of the Calabash Brothers was slightly modified by Merlin. The seven brothers' talents became Devil Fruit abilities, and the Snake Spirit's treasures became Devil Fruit weapons.
At this moment, Lami stared at Merlin with eager eyes, looking like she wanted to cry but had no tears:
"Merlin-niichan, how can you be like this? Telling only half the story every day? What happened after Fourth Brother was captured? How did the Snake-Snake Fruit Snake Spirit deal with him?
"Third Brother, the Steel-Steel Fruit ability user, was sewn up by the Snake Spirit using the Stitch-Stitch Fruit weapon. What about Fourth Brother? Fire isn't afraid of thread!"
Yol, holding a rapier in her arms on the side, also spoke somewhat depressingly:
"It's not late yet. Why don't you finish the story before we rest?
" leaving us hanging like this, I'm going to have insomnia tonight."
Merlin remained unmoved, lying on the deer skin rug, chuckling lightly:
"Want to hear the rest of the story? Wait! I'll tell it tomorrow night!"
Yol: "... (Rolls eyes)"
Lami: "... (Crying)"
Merlin: "?! (Smiles in parenthesis)"