According to the type of compressed energy crystal used in magic guns, these things can be divided into wind, fire, electromagnetic, and other categories. The only inconvenience is that to shoot freely, one must possess extremely strong mental power. By this planet’s standards, those who can use magic guns—at the highest level—can instantly blast a mammoth away with sheer willpower.

While inwardly cursing that unlucky alien civilization, I desperately explained, “This is my first time traveling, and I got lost in the Sea of Immortality. I panicked a bit just now, I’m truly embarrassed. I hope this young lady can forgive my recklessness. If you don’t mind, could you help guide me out of this terrifying forest?”

My explanation finally made the mysterious girl’s expression soften a little. After all, my appearance really was a mess. She considered for a moment before saying to me, “I can only take you to our Riverdale Village, but there you can follow Uncle Harris to the nearest town!”

“Wonderful! Being able to leave this forest is my greatest wish. Right now, I can’t pay any reward, but I will make sure to compensate you, kind miss, as soon as possible!”

I tried to analyze some of the common etiquette on this planet that Lifepod No. 15 had transmitted to me, hoping to make a good impression on this girl who had instantly captured my heart. But my behavior clearly had the opposite effect—the mysterious girl’s face showed a hint of disgust, though she said nothing.

“Did I use the wrong customs?” The thought of this potentially serious mistake made sweat bead on my forehead. Still, being able to finally make contact with an intelligent being on this planet—ensuring I wouldn’t become the next wild man of Shennongjia—already made me quite satisfied, so I didn’t want to ask for too much.

After a brief conversation, I learned that this beautiful, dreamlike girl’s name was Grace Walker. Riverdale Village is about three hundred kilometers from the Queen Mother’s base, which happens to be the scanning limit of Lifepod No. 15 on land. In space, Lifepod No. 15 can only scan targets larger than one square kilometer, so the nearest intelligent life cluster in its memory cells was at the forest’s edge a thousand kilometers to the south.

Maybe Grace Walker is naturally aloof, or maybe the skills of homebodies in approaching women are a perpetual pain—on the way to Riverdale Village, I failed to get any closer to this mysterious girl. We were strangers before, and we were still strangers now.

This made me especially regret not making a move earlier.

“Oh! That was my first kiss. I once swore before the gods that the first man to kiss me would be my husband…” My mind kept conjuring up these absurd, pink, ambiguous scenes.

I walked into Riverdale Village in a dazed, silly-smiling state.

The result of this was that, for a long time, the villagers of Riverdale Village all thought that Grace Walker had brought back an idiot with the intelligence of a beast.

Chapter Ten: The Mighty Old Man

There aren’t many people in Riverdale Village, only sixty or seventy households, just three to five hundred people, most of whom make a living by hunting. On this planet, people who live by hunting are collectively called the hunting tribe. Every morning, the adult hunters in the village go out together to look for prey, often not returning for several days, so during the day, only some elders and children remain in the village.

As soon as Grace Walker returned to the village, her cold expression immediately turned joyful. Even though I’d been enhanced by aliens, my strengthened physique still couldn’t keep up with her light steps.

“Grandpa Walker, I’m back!”

When Grace Walker reached a rough, large house in the center of the village, she called out loudly before even entering. From inside came a surprised “Eh!” and then an extremely burly old man strode out, laughing heartily.

This old man was twice my height, his muscles bulging impressively, his thighs thicker than my waist, and in his hand was a wheel-sized, gleaming axe, as if he’d been repairing the handle and just casually brought it out.

Seeing Grace Walker, the old man was overjoyed. He immediately tossed the axe to the ground, scooped up Grace Walker, and lifted her toward the sky. “So our little star is back! Did you run into any danger in the forest?”

Standing to the side, the dull thud of that huge axe hitting the ground made me flinch, as if my whole body shrank. “This old man’s strength is unbelievable—this axe must weigh several hundred pounds!”

I secretly stuck out my tongue, thinking to myself, “According to Lifepod No. 15’s data, this planet should be dominated by a super-energy civilization. Its civilization level is slightly higher than Earth’s, a level five civilization. But why does it seem so much more backward than Earth?”

After the warm reunion between the The Walker Family grandfather and granddaughter, the old man whom Grace Walker called grandpa finally noticed me. Grace Walker introduced me at the side: “This is my Grandpa Walker, the village chief of Riverdale Village.”