Chapter 142: It Seems Like I Found Something?
2014-12-22
Author: Zhu Sheng Floating Tower
Ice River City.
Soren strolled through this strangely styled northern city, unsure if it was due to its riverside and seaside proximity and its preference for fish as a staple, but there was often a faint smell of fish in the air of northern cities. Amber City was also a riverside city, but it was noticeably different from this place. Soren could smell the fishy scent in the air even as he walked down the street. This was a transfer city in the Frozen Kingdom, where the cold climate meant food rotted more slowly, and most of the carnivorous meat sources in the north came from transported fish and seafood.
This place was a paradise for seafood lovers, where one could buy a crab the size of a porcelain bowl for five copper Gind.
However, it seemed that the people of this age did not particularly like seafood, as there weren’t enough seasonings to mask the fishy taste, and many nutritious seafood fish were mostly eaten by the lower-class civilians. Some seafood were toxic; although not lethally toxic, consuming too much could lead to illness and potentially d*ath. The staple food in the Frozen Kingdom still consisted of more than a dozen types of fish. Soren even bought a very fierce king crab the size of a basin for three silver Gind.
This could be temporarily stored in his Dimensional Bag; cutting off a piece would be perfect for roasting over a fire.
Soren had plenty of supplies; besides his own weapons and equipment, he also needed to replenish a portion of food. It was about two to three days’ journey from here to Arendelle, making it a northern city relatively close to the sea. Soren’s figure was quite conspicuous among the Northern People, and occasionally, he would catch some unfriendly gazes. However, upon seeing the curved blade at his waist, they would obediently withdraw their eyes. All sorts of people were very aware of each other; those with poor judgment didn’t last long.
Soren did not look like an easy target to bully!
In the north, bows and crossbows were not commonly used due to the climatic conditions. The extremely cold weather affected bowstrings, but iron products were relatively developed here. One could see warriors armed with shields and short swords equipped with short spears. The Northern People were quite skilled in spear throwing, with some able to pierce through the defenses of heavily armored warriors. Among the weapons he replenished was a spear that was sixty centimeters long. He prepared five short spears, which were effective against large beasts, including lesser dragon species.
Wizard’s Arcane shops were spread throughout the world, and the common spell scrolls here were ice-type spells from the elemental category.
Soren purchased spell scrolls for Feather Fall, Levitate, Flight, and others. He spent nearly 1,600 Gind, almost using up half of his earnings from selling gemstones. Flight spells could not be mastered directly; learning the prerequisite spells could improve the efficiency of learning the Flight spell.
Soren did not stay in this city for too long.
After completing the necessary supplies, he headed toward the wilderness. He had already accumulated a considerable amount of Killing Experience; after taking down three to five Bear Goblins, he could level up his Wizard level. The Wanderer profession level increased linearly from level 9 and would reach over a hundred thousand Killing Experience after level 14. A purebred, non-multi-class professionist would generally need around 2 million Killing Experience to ascend to the level of a Legendary Professionist.
Therefore, Soren prioritized raising his Wizard level, maximizing the effectiveness of his Killing Experience!
Wizard profession levels experienced explosive growth after reaching level 9, easily reaching around tens of thousands of points without even considering the Killing Experience required for multi-classing. A Wizard above level 14 needed over 200,000 Killing Experience to upgrade by one level. Hence, High-level Wizards were still very rare; unless one had extraordinary talent, it generally required decades of effort for others to enter the realm of High-level Wizards.
After Soren reached level 15 in his profession, he began attempting to slay dragons.
Of course, he was not referring to purebreds but rather lesser dragon species, including Earth Dragons, Pterosaurs, and Bipedal Dragons. He took down his first purebred dragon when he was level 16 as a Wanderer, unfortunately, it was only a newly adult White Dragon. The period before tier 3 was an explosion phase for Killing Experience, and the speed of level advancement was relatively fast; afterward, one could not only deal with miscellaneous creatures anymore. A Pterosaur provided more Killing Experience than clearing a large Goblin group and the loot was worth several times more!
To ascend to Legend, one needed not only Killing Experience but also wealth exceeding a hundred thousand Gind.
In this world, nothing could be done without money!
Until now, Soren had not been financially capable of undergoing the ‘Bloodline Purification’ ritual, let alone completing high-level extraordinary equipment. The net worth of a Legendary Wizard was generally above one million Gind, equivalent to the wealth of a city. It was barely enough for him to accomplish about half of his Wizard Tower.
The Wanderer profession is somewhat of a ‘lowly’ occupation, not having an urgent need for money!
Though the gap was still significant, Soren had already started planning to step into the Legendary Domain. He needed a lot of things; the most pressing was money.
He hadn’t even gathered a full set of extraordinary equipment.
He still had to accumulate substantial learning fees for spells, and the vast amounts for alchemy expenses were not yet in sight. Wizards were a profession perpetually short on money; there was never enough to spend.
For wizards, money represented power; low-level wizards overcoming high-level professionists were all achieved through financial means.
Currently speaking.
Very few Wizards could challenge higher-level peers; the main reason was not the power gap but because they didn’t have as much money!
Sometimes, Soren really felt he should hold onto the leg of the Goddess of Wealth.
After taking a simple rest for a day.
Soren left Ice River City and headed toward the desolate wilderness. He knew there was a place in the Frozen Kingdom where lesser Pterosaurs gathered. They were mixed-bl**d dragons of White Dragons, distributed in groups of three to five, capable of breathing frost. Their challenge difficulty was categorized as C among lesser dragon species, making them relatively easier to deal with.
As long as he took down a nest, it would be enough to afford a high-level extraordinary equipment!
The wilderness of the Frozen Kingdom appeared quite desolate; the distribution of wild creatures was indeed scattered, with species divided into territories by their groups. Adventurers rarely encountered monsters one by one, and there were generally no clusters of monsters. It was possible for one to trek all day only to encounter a few scattered small monsters, and once cleared, there wouldn’t be any more nearby.
The situation in White Horse City was primarily due to special events leading to a large-scale gathering of monsters!
Otherwise, food shortages would lead them to slaughter each other until the numbers were manageable.
In Soren’s memory, “grinding” actually referred to killing and gaining experience. In this world, it wasn’t monsters that were most abundant, but rather the ubiquitous intelligent beings; these were the forever inexhaustible sources of experience. Therefore, for a long time, people from the Evil Faction were generally a level or two higher than those from the Good Faction. Unfortunately, the ultimate fate of those people was often not good.
This aspect was a taboo.
Because those ordinary intelligent beings were also sources of faith for deities, in this place where such faith widely existed, they were the cornerstone of belief and also supported the temples across the world. Some taboos could lead to a confrontation with the temples if crossed, and legendary occurrences could not be ruled out. The only place Soren ever “grinded heads” was in the desert, where those desert bandits were neither cherished by uncles nor loved by grandmothers. They were plentiful and densely distributed, and killing too many would only anger a demigod church. Essentially, no serious consequences followed.
The cold seemed to have been completely adapted to.
Soren now had a high resistance to the cold climate, navigating through the Frozen Kingdom without any inconvenience.
At noon.
He found a relatively dry spot to set up a campfire and then cut a piece from the king crab to roast. Such a delicacy existed only in a few regions and was reasonably cheap. Spices were extremely expensive, weighing pounds of spices could equal the price of the same weight in gold— even Adventurers’ income hardly covered these expenses. Soren used to rarely engage with them. Even now he only brought a little along, otherwise, he would feel like he was consuming gold; he could eat enough to pay for a piece of extraordinary equipment.
In this world, ensuring survival was relatively easy, but enjoying life required expenditures that were dozens of times higher!
The sea salt had a slightly bitter taste.
High-quality refined salt needed to pass through alchemical filtration, making it somewhat expensive. Soren, however, wasn’t too particular, just sprinkling a bit of salt and spices to eat as is.
The taste of the king crab was quite good.
Soren didn’t quite understand why people of this age had some taboos against eating crabs. Just as he was about five or six points full, he suddenly seemed to hear a sound.
He instantly stood up, gripping his curved blade in hand.
Soren parted the bushes covered in ice and snow to advance. Cautiously, he approached the source of the sound, which was not too far from his position, roughly around one hundred meters away; he heard a sound resembling a thud.
Nothing was before him!
However, the snow appeared to have slight indentations, and Soren’s expression became somewhat strange. He advanced a cautious step and then carefully extended his finger to touch it.
He felt smooth skin. Even though he could see nothing.
“Greater Invisibility Spell?!”
Soren was surprised and withdrew his finger, then carefully touched the nose area, finding it somewhat delicate and small, resembling a female, with her breathing appearing faint; she seemed to have fainted. Soren still couldn’t see anything; the effects of the Greater Invisibility Spell were too strong, far surpassing that of the ordinary Invisibility Spell.
Soren could only rely on touch to judge the target; he felt smooth long hair and a delicate earring.
He followed the curve of her neck down, touching two soft fullness on her chest, which felt very pleasant and elastic. She should be a relatively young girl. The clothing she wore appeared exceptionally exquisite, seemingly made of high-quality silk; her status was probably not low, and he found no traces of bl**d on her, though her heartbeat was steady, indicating she probably had not sustained any fatal injuries.
Soren hesitated slightly.
Then he bent down and picked up this girl who he could not see but felt was a human girl, turning back towards the campfire.
The effects of the Greater Invisibility Spell wouldn’t last long; he couldn’t dispel the invisibility and could only wait for it to wear off on its own.
Hopefully, saving this girl wouldn’t bring trouble!
In the past, Soren would not have done something like this, but he had just been saved by someone, so perhaps it was a slight good deed.
The girl in his arms was very light, as if under the effect of other spells.
In a desolate wilderness, how could a girl who was under the Greater Invisibility Spell and had fainted suddenly appear? Just by feeling, it seemed like it would lead to trouble!
………………(To be continued ~^~)
