CHAPTER 38: STAR-RESIN CEDAR & AZUREDEW BERRIES

As James shifted his attention toward the silvery-gold resins on the nearest cedar tree, Cassian and Nyxrael also shifted their gazes to the silvery-gold resin.

"Finally found it," James murmured softly.

"That resin?" Cassian asked, curiosity flickering in his eyes.

"Yeah. This should be the one." James nodded his head and reached his hand out toward the resin.

James scooped a small amount of the silvery-gold resin with his fingertips and brought it closer to his nose.

He took a slow breath. The moment the scent reached him, his eyes lit up.

It carried a clean cedar aroma, but it was far richer than anything he had smelled before. It was fresh like cold mountain air, yet softened by a gentle sweetness from the resin. Beneath it lingered a faint herbal warmth and a soft smoky note, creating a calm, grounding fragrance that felt naturally refined.

"This scent..." James whispered, almost in disbelief, as this was still unprocessed, yet the aroma was already this strong. "It’s perfect."

Cassian and Nyxrael were curious and scooped a small amount of the nearest resin. They were also pleasantly surprised by it, especially Cassian, as he had smelled this kind of smell from his wife’s perfume before, but its scent was inferior even compared to this raw resin that he had just sniffed.

"How did you even know this resin could be used in perfume?" Cassian actually had no idea about this kind of thing since he only used perfume when he attended a banquet or an important meeting. It was also because his wife forced him to use it.

"The Roselune village chief taught me a few things about it," James replied with a grin. "Though he wasn’t certain either. He just told me to bring back any resin or flowers I found so I could experiment later."

"I see." Cassian nodded his head, then murmured softly as he remembered something. "But I’ve passed through this place before. Why haven’t I ever smelled this?"

"Is it because of that thin layer covering the resin?" He mumbled to himself as he squinted his eyes and looked at the thin white layer.

"It should be so, since you won’t be able to smell the scent properly unless you break that layer which traps the scent inside." James nodded.

"Seems luck is on our side today. We haven’t even searched that long and we’ve already stumbled upon this." Cassian smiled satisfiedly.

"Let’s explore further. We can collect these in the future since they won’t be running anywhere anyway." He said eagerly, as if treating the Blackfang Mountains as his backyard.

Subsequently, they continued the search deeper into the Blackfang Mountains. 10 minutes later, they arrived at a massive valley.

On their way here, they came across a few dozen flowers, and James just took them since he had already made an excuse about taking any resin and flowers he would come across.

Some of them were actually spiritual herbs, while the others were poisonous flowers that could even be used to kill strong people.

Looking into the distance, James saw a particular tree that stood out. Its size wasn’t that big compared to other huge trees that he had come across. However, its pale-blue bark that seemed to shimmer lightly under sunlight was the one that caught his attention.

Its deep green leaves were slender with a faint bluish tint at the edges. Clusters of bright azure-colored berries hang beneath the branches like small glowing droplets.

"Those are Azuredew Berries." Cassian said when he noticed that James was looking at the Azuredew Berry Tree.

He then continued, "I pick some occasionally and share them with the knights. They’re a rare delicacy."

James raised an eyebrow, feeling curious about it, and went over as he wanted to have a taste.

Just as he was about to jump and take the fruit, he stopped as he heard another notification from the system.

He was pleasantly surprised that apparently, the Azuredew Berries could be used as the alcohol base.

Meaning that it became the equivalent of modern ethanol used in perfumery. Let alone, it had its own specialty, as its aroma contained a mild fruity sweetness, a fresh floral undertone, and a crisp dew-like scent.

Turning Azuredew Berries into alcohol was also an easy feat, as the time needed to ferment them wasn’t long, even faster than making alcohol with other things. After that, it needed to be distilled to refine and purify the alcohol once, and the result would be a clean, smooth, lightly fragrant alcohol.

James then told Cassian that he wanted to take some for delicacy and experiment subjects in case they might find a surprise in doing so.

Cassian naturally didn’t mind and just let his son do whatever he wanted while he also took some Azuredew berries for himself.

Afterward, they continued their journey while taking note about the location of the things they had found in case they would be useful in the future.

A few minutes later, Cassian slowed down their pace and eventually stopped near a huge entrance cave.

"There’s a Legendary Rank Beast inside. Usually, the place where a Legendary Rank Beast resides has a natural treasure. So—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the white jade token on his waist trembled, meaning that there was someone who wanted to contact him.

When he checked who had contacted him at this time, he was surprised that it was his brother, and he said that the crown prince would arrive within ten minutes.

"It’s from your uncle, the crown prince will arrive in ten minutes." Cassian chuckled as he glanced at James.

"Oh? It’s unfortunate, but let’s go back and continue again in the future then." James clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"Let him wait a little. There’s no need to rush just because that entitled kid is coming." Cassian waved his hand casually as if he didn’t take the crown prince seriously at all.

"Stay here for a moment. I’ll take a quick look inside and see if there’s any good treasure inside." He said before vanishing into thin air immediately.