Chapter 26: Light Spell
2014-11-28
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
It was evening. Soren returned to the small house in the slums with Vivian.
He had bought many things, as the journey might take a month. They had to travel from Amber City to White Horse City and then detour to avoid the werewolves’ territory on their way to Autumn Leaf City, which was a gathering place for half-elves but still nearly five days’ journey from the Dreamy Forest. Traveling in this era was quite troublesome. Soren took half a day to find a merchant caravan heading to White Horse City and followed them for the price of five Gind.
The Agate River runs through north and south, and Amber City developed based on this condition.
However, water and land transportation could only be considered a channel; many goods still needed the caravan to transport to various places.
It was common to seek out caravans for traveling in the wild, as most merchant caravans had their own hired guards, possibly hired by a large merchant or a group of merchants pooling their resources. If others intended to travel with them, they would need to pay a price based on the distance, in return for protection along the way and some assistance. The merchant guards were mostly warriors from respectable backgrounds, some had even formed organized teams directly affiliated with the Adventurers’ Guild. It was somewhat like a security agency, a business very much reliant on reputation.
After all, the risks of traveling in the wild were significant, with lives and fortunes all at stake; any mishap could lead to total loss.
Thus, not every adventurer could become a merchant guard.
Trust.
That was important—very important!
………………
Under the dim candlelight.
Vivian was organizing her small pouch, which contained many bits and pieces, even some needles and threads.
If you didn’t have a full set of extraordinary equipment, you’d often find the need for them.
Soren was also sorting through his belongings. The three-foot dimensional bag looked quite large, with nearly one cubic meter of space, but it was barely enough for storing things. After putting in a few sets of clothes for both of them, along with some prepared rations and camping gear, the space was already half used up. At this stage, a ten-foot dimensional bag was something Soren wouldn’t even dream of; although the space only increased by about three times, the price skyrocketed to over thirty times!
A ten-foot dimensional bag was mainly used as a small warehouse.
The little girl had not many items.
Soon she finished organizing, tilting her head to watch Soren busy with his work, a sweet smile curving at her lips.
The dimensional bag still seemed novel, revealing that there were so many things she didn’t know in this world. Her brother said he would take her to the elven kingdom; were the elves really as beautiful as the legends said?
She wanted to see them soon!
The young girl was completely unaware of the fatigue and dangers of the journey; she was just indulging her curious fantasies.
After all, she was only eight years old this year—by virtual count.
Soren fastened a leg strap and waist belt, trying to see if they fit, then took out several sharp throwing knives, carefully inserting them one by one into the small fixed pockets. Adequate preparation was necessary for wild adventures; with a curved blade at hand, it was impractical to carry a bow and crossbow, so carrying some throwing knives was essential.
The 1d3 damage could be lifesaving!
A thief plays with delicate operations; Soren modified the crossbow’s firing mechanism, removing the casing and multi-shot bracket, transforming it into a single-shot wrist crossbow.
This made it small enough to conceal in his clothes.
However, the damage would be greatly reduced, but the advantage lay in concealment, allowing for surprise attacks.
Being straightforward?
Such things had nothing to do with thieves.
“Whoosh!”
Soren flicked the throwing kn*fe away, which immediately struck the doorframe. He calculated his aim and force, muttering to himself, “With my current strength, the effective range is at most ten meters; this is barely enough for wild combat.”
They had quite a lot of things to carry.
Aside from the full dimensional bag, Soren also prepared a backpack.
The caravan was leaving the day after tomorrow, so tomorrow he still needed to take Vivian to buy a mount; a war horse was out of the question, as they couldn’t afford to keep one even if they bought it.
They could prepare a pack horse, costing about ten Gind.
Many people naively thought horses only ate grass, but in fact, most horses eat grains. Even inferior pack horses required a regular mixture of beans, oats, and hay for feed; otherwise, they wouldn’t have the energy. If it was a superior war horse, beans and rice would even be among the staples, supplemented with eggs and other food regularly.
Otherwise, how could they possibly bear the charge of a heavy-armored knight?
If it were other special mounts, they would primarily need meat, costing more than ten silver for daily feeding.
“Time to sleep.”
Soren pulled out the throwing kn*fe, then took off his equipment, saying softly, “We’ll buy more things tomorrow.”
“We set off the day after tomorrow.”
“The journey might be tough; you need to rest well now.”
Vivian obediently nodded, then tucked her small body in, whispering, “Brother.”
“I have something I haven’t told you.”
Soren smiled and rubbed her little head, lying flat on the bed to organize his thoughts, casually saying, “What is it?”
“It’s this.”
The little girl climbed up, her cute face appearing quite serious, saying earnestly, “Look!”
“Ua…”
A strange single syllable escaped her mouth, and then a burst of bright light suddenly erupted from her fingertip.
In an instant!
Soren was caught off guard.
Time rewound one second; as Soren turned his head upon hearing the little girl’s words, the suddenly erupting bright light dazzled his eyes, leaving everything before him a blinding white.
It was as if he had been hit by a flashbang!
“Flash Spell?”
Soren shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead, taking some time to recover, his face filled with disbelief, “How did you suddenly learn a spell?”
Not right!
This should be the Light Spell.
The Flash Spell was an enhanced version of the Light Spell, requiring an extra syllable to cast.
The memories from before still lingered, and Soren had a fair understanding of low-level cantrips, quickly overturning his earlier judgment.
But none of that mattered!
What did matter was why Vivian could suddenly cast spells?
Even for the simplest cantrip, it seemed to take a long time to memorize and comprehend, right? She had only been apart from him for two days; how could she have mastered a spell so quickly?
The little girl’s expression also showed confusion, and when she replied, “I’m not too sure.”
“I saw Sister Anya Lee use it once that day, and I was curious to try it out; I didn’t expect it to succeed right away!”
Divine Technique?
Extraordinary perception?!
A look of shock spread across Soren’s face.
Then his expression turned solemn, seriously asking, “Did you really only see it once?”
“Mm.”
Vivian nodded gently, puzzled, “Is this spell hard to master?”
Hard?
If the talent wasn’t sufficient, many people could never learn a spell in their lifetime.
Could it be that Vivian had 20 points of innate perception?
How else could she possibly learn a 0-level Divine Technique so quickly? Not to mention she hadn’t even undergone the baptism ceremony or had faith in any deity?!
“Sit tight.”
Soren’s expression turned serious as he sat up, instructing Vivian to sit up straight as well.
He extended a hand, waving it in front of the little girl’s eyes, then flipped his hand to reveal a Gind, twisting his fingers so it vanished.
Soren’s fingers moved rapidly, making the Gind appear and disappear.
Sometimes it was one coin, sometimes two; finally, he closed his fist and held it before Vivian, stating in a deep voice, “How many Gind do I have in my hand?”
20 points of extraordinary agility.
Soren’s reflexes surpassed ordinary limits, and the agility and speed of his fingers exceeded what the n*ked eye could capture.
While guessing his sleight of hand was possible, seeing it clearly was quite difficult.
Ordinary people could leave blurred trails by waving their fingers, and if there was a bent finger movement in between, it would be almost impossible to catch with the n*ked eye. Not to mention Soren, a top thief with 20 points of extraordinary agility.
Vivian had a bit of a troubled expression, her little face scrunched as she said, “Brother.”
“I didn’t see it clearly!”
“Could you give me a hint?”
Soren’s expression stiffened, shooting her a glare, seriously saying, “Just guess!”
“Use your intuition to guess.”
The little girl nodded as if she understood, tilting her head to think for a moment, “Oh, then.”
“Then I guess there are two coins.”
Soren furrowed his brow, slowly opening his palm to find three Gind inside.
“Ah?!”
Vivian looked a bit disappointed, saying, “Guess I was wrong.”
Not perception.
If she had 20 points of innate extraordinary perception, she would automatically possess the ‘Sixth Sense’ talent specialty, which was a very powerful ability.
One could even say it’s one of the top talents in some respects!
Forget about a mere guessing trick with coins; if an enemy tried to ambush, she could sense it based on intuition.
So!
If it wasn’t extraordinary perception, there was only one answer!
………………
