“All right, Emily, let’s head back now. It’s getting late—if we don’t go home soon, we’ll miss dinner. Besides, have you finished your task yet? Master said to practice the sword thrust three hundred times. I remember you haven’t finished yet.”

Emily Thompson pushed off with her foot, nimbly jumping down from the rock and skipping over to his side with a playful grin. “It’s fine! As long as you don’t tell, Little Chad, how would Master ever know?” Before he could protest, she affectionately grabbed his hand. “Okay, it’s settled. I think I just saw a little pit over there, like something fell from the sky and made it. It must be that meteor. Let’s hurry over!”

Chad Sullivan gave a doting, helpless smile and said, “Slow down, don’t rush!” He followed her quickly toward the so-called spot where the meteor had fallen.

Walking along the mountain path, Chad Sullivan admired the scenery as he went. The sense of openness and clarity from being surrounded by nature made him feel refreshed and at ease. Even the true energy within him, which had been stuck at the second level bottleneck for half a year, seemed to show signs of loosening.

“We’re here, we’re here—this is the place.”

Following her voice, Chad Sullivan looked toward a relatively open area in the distance and indeed saw a dirt pit about three or four meters in diameter. The pit spread outward from the center, as if something had crashed down from the sky and struck the ground.

Emily Thompson cheered happily, skipping over to the pit. Her big, lively eyes suddenly lit up. “Wow, what a beautiful little fruit! It smells so good—just sniffing it makes me feel wonderful!”

“Don’t touch it, Emily.” With a few quick leaps, Chad Sullivan caught up to her at the edge of the pit. At the center of the impact, on a bramble-like little tree, there grew a cherry-sized fruit. Faint blue light shimmered from the fruit, releasing a refreshing fragrance that cleared the mind.

But what was truly astonishing was the little tree itself. It was growing out of a pitch-black, strange mineral, having forced its way through a crack in the solid rock, miraculously surviving and thriving in the sunlight.

“Little Chad, I told you the meteor landed here! Look, there’s even a reward for the lucky one who finds it.” Emily Thompson said excitedly, reaching out to pick the fruit and gazing at it lovingly, unable to put it down.

“Heh, how could there be living things on a meteor? Maybe this place just happens to look like a meteor landed here.” Chad Sullivan thought to himself, but worried that this little girl would keep searching if she didn’t see a meteor, he coaxed, “All right, Emily, you’ve seen the meteor now, and you’ve got the reward for finding it. Let’s hurry back—the sun’s already set, and the mountain isn’t safe at night.”

“Hee hee, but I have you to protect me, Little Chad.” As she spoke, her cute little nose twitched, unable to resist the tempting aroma of the fruit. She looked up and asked, “Little Chad, I’m hungry. How about we split it and each have half?”

Chad Sullivan chuckled, “See, I told you if we didn’t go back, we’d miss dinner, but you insisted on staying. Now you’re hungry, aren’t you? Go ahead, you eat it. I’m not hungry right now.”

Emily Thompson happily threw herself in front of him, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and giggled, “I knew Little Chad treats me the best!” With that, she opened her mouth and popped the fruit in.

But the fruit was truly magical—it melted the instant it touched her tongue. She didn’t even have time to taste it before it turned into a cool stream that flowed straight into her belly and disappeared. She couldn’t help but grumble, “The fruit is nice, but it’s way too small. It doesn’t fill me up at all.”

“If you like it, I’ll dig up this little tree and take it home. When it bears fruit again, you can eat more.” With that, he walked over to the little tree, whose surface was covered in tiny thorns, hesitated for a moment, and reached out to pull it up.

Unexpectedly, the little tree was very strange. The tender thorns that looked like they’d snap at a touch were actually extremely hard and sharp. The moment Chad Sullivan grabbed the tree, they immediately cut his palm. “Ouch!” he cried, as bright red blood flowed down, dripping onto the strange, dark mineral.

“Ah! Little Chad, your hand is bleeding!” Emily Thompson hurried over, helped him sit down nearby, and took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his hand.

“Heh, it’s nothing, just a little cut. It’ll be fine in a few days.” Chad Sullivan smiled to reassure her. But for some reason, the blood from those tiny wounds just wouldn’t stop. It wasn’t much, but it kept oozing out, no matter what he did.

Seeing more and more blood, Emily Thompson began to tremble with fear, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed, “You keep saying it’s nothing, but you’re bleeding so much! It’s all my fault—if I hadn’t said the fruit wasn’t enough, you wouldn’t have tried to dig up the tree and cut your hand.”

“It’s really nothing. Look, look—the bleeding’s stopped.”

After all, it was just a small cut. For it to bleed this much was already strange; if it really didn’t stop, that would be even weirder.