Chapter 137: Dew and Shadow (2/4)

"Are you all right?" the female mage Lu scanned the surroundings, asking Zhao Xu with concern.

Before them, the forest remained a dark, reddish, and silent expanse, with no further anomalies appearing.

The female mage Ying crouched down, pinched the tripwire that had snagged Zhao Xu between the two tree stumps, and followed the trajectory of the arrow toward the top of a towering cypress tree not far away. She shook her head and said, "Just a simple trap. Without poison or a critical hit, it can't kill a wizard with 14 Constitution like him, provided the damage doesn't exceed 6 HP."

Zhao Xu, momentarily forgetting the dull ache in his chest, asked curiously, "You can tell I have 14 Constitution?"

Ying chuckled, "I even know you only have 8 Strength. If you observe people of different attributes enough, you can easily guess it after building a model of their top three stats."

After observing for a long time and confirming there were no follow-up attacks, Lu crouched down as well to look at Zhao Xu. "It is just a simple arrow trap," she said, looking at his wound. "I have the Heal skill; let me take a look at it to ensure there isn't any poison."

Zhao Xu gently shook his head at her kindness. Through this arrow, he understood everything. This was a warning from Rayan. The script was no longer what it had been at the start. Though he didn't know why this change had occurred, it meant he had to treat everything from now on as a life-or-death adventure.

"How much damage?" Lu asked, picking up the arrow that had injured him.

"6 HP," Zhao Xu replied simply.

Upon hearing his answer, both Ying and Lu fell silent.

"Do you mean... things like Shadow Evocation or Shadow Conjuration?" After thinking for a moment, Zhao Xu finally realized the reason for their silence. He took a deep breath. If that were the case, it would be troublesome.

Wizards have eight schools of magic. Some casters choose to specialize in one to gain a greater advantage, and many players choose this route to gain an extra spell slot. However, the price is that they must oppose one or two schools. Once someone opposes Evocation or Conjuration, they cannot cast spells from those schools. But nothing is absolute; wizards can use Shadow Evocation or Shadow Conjuration from the Illusion school to simulate these spells. The catch is that the authenticity is limited. For example, a simulated Fireball would only deal a fraction of the damage.

This was the "reality" factor. The arrow trap had dealt 6 HP, which happened to be the damage cap. If this were truly an illusion, it was a 100% realistic one. It was no different from reality; worrying about whether they were on the eighth floor or if there were teleports was meaningless. They were on an actual adventure.

"We need to stay sharp now. Even if this is an illusion, it can still kill," Ying said coldly.

Lu looked at Zhao Xu with concern. "Do you still have your Resurrection Stones?"

Zhao Xu nodded; he had five full ones. Still, he couldn't just give up the mission.

"Since we are all level 2 wizards, why don't we share our capabilities and see how we can cooperate?" Lu suggested.

"No need. Everyone can just use whatever means they have. We're all hooded, and no one knows anyone else; let's just not ask about each other's methods," Ying flatly refused.

"That works too," Lu said with a faint smile.

"I have no objection to that," Zhao Xu agreed. Given the situation, it was indeed difficult to hide everything. Once he reached a higher level with more resources, he wouldn't mind others guessing. But now, as level 2 wizards, their means were limited, and using them openly was as good as announcing them.

Zhao Xu stood up and, without overthinking it, took out the Ioun stone he had hidden before reaching the campfire and let it float above his head. He then cast "Cure Light Wounds" on himself using a cleric spell slot. Instantly, his condition improved significantly, increasing his tolerance for danger. The two women watched silently as a wizard used a healing spell typically reserved for clerics, keeping their promise not to pry.

Ying then took out an identical Ioun stone and released it. Once it was orbiting, she pulled a scroll from her robes and began to cast. After the incantation finished, smoke poured from the scroll, and the arcane script faded away. The smoke coalesced into a humanoid shape before vanishing.

"I've cast 'Unseen Servant.' It can scout ahead for us. Do you have any sacks and shovels?" Ying asked.

Zhao Xu glanced at the +1 Caster Level Ioun stone floating above her head and gave a slight smirk. He had never seen one in his previous life, but today he had met a "twin" of his own. He immediately produced the requested tools from his pack.

In a corner of the Forest of Whispers, the three highest-level wizards among the Arthur players were kneeling on the ground, shoveling dirt into a sack like three children playing in the mud. The Unseen Servant was a great helper for spells; even in academic forums, they were used as assistants. Although they were invisible, intangible, and mindless, they could be commanded to perform simple, repetitive tasks—from opening doors to taking out the trash.

While the servant could trigger traps, its strength was limited, so the three of them filled a sack with about eighty to ninety pounds of soil for the servant to drag. This way, if there were pits or tripwire traps ahead, the servant would trigger them first. When the servant began dragging the sack forward, the three of them finally relaxed, having at least avoided the simplest traps.

Zhao Xu prepared to cast Mage Armor on himself, but Lu suddenly said, "Wait a moment."

She took a burlap sack from her robes and, as if performing a magic trick, pulled out a stack of scrolls. The stack was even larger than the ones Antinua had given him for copying spells during his travels. Zhao Xu realized that was no ordinary sack; it was a Bag of Holding, a spatial item. Even the lowest-level version cost 2,500 GP, more expensive than his own backpack.

Lu divided the scrolls into three stacks and handed them to the others, saying softly, "You should take these."

Ying was stunned by the number of scrolls but didn't say much. She reached into her robe, pulled out a small leather pouch, and dumped out 25 gold coins. It was barely enough for a single level-one scroll. The stack Lu handed over contained at least ten. Ying felt a pang of annoyance, remembering she had spent hundreds of gold coins on her collection habit the day before, depleting her inventory.

Thinking of her possessions, she bit her lip and handed her leather purse to Lu. "Take this as collateral. I found it in the Floating City. If you put one gold coin in before sunset, it will produce 25 by the next morning. You can do this for 11 days, and you'll make your money back. Just don't put in more than one."

Zhao Xu scratched his head. His first thought was that the purse could generate 8,760 gold coins a year. He frequented the Floating City often, so why hadn't he encountered such an opportunity? It seemed the two female mages were just as blessed by fortune as he was.

He looked at the stack of scrolls with hesitation; it would be a lie to say he didn't need them, but he didn't have hundreds of gold coins' worth of collateral. Antinua had assumed he wouldn't need money in the Floating City, so he only had a few dozen gold coins left from his previous adventures. He didn't think much of it—the person who could successfully swindle him out of collateral hadn't been born yet. He reached for the scrolls, ready to offer a self-shorthand pen as collateral.

However, Lu waved her hand, blocking the purse Ying had offered. "These are gifts. Most of them were given to me by others, and I think they will be more useful in your hands. Or perhaps I feel that this trial isn't just about learning a technique; it might have a deeper meaning. I want you both to become stronger."

Ying looked at Lu with surprise. Ying was the type of person who would give her heart to anyone who was kind to her, which was why she had offered the "golden goose" purse. As the highest-level mages, they wouldn't stoop to stealing.

"Are you always this saintly to everyone?" Ying asked.

Lu, her face obscured by her hood, shook her head and smiled. "I help others too, but since you two reached level 2 at the same time as I did, I suspect it’s not just due to talent, right?"

Zhao Xu and Ying listened in silence.

"I'm happy to see people like you. If you feel bad about it, just extend a helping hand to other players who need it when you see them."

Lu pulled a prism-shaped Ioun stone from her pocket, released it, and let it hover above her head. She then reached into her Bag of Holding and pulled out a handful of seven or eight level-one power recovery pearls. "Take these as well. You can use them to recover spell slots, though these don't fully belong to me, so I can't give them away."

Zhao Xu nearly slapped his forehead. He hadn't expected someone as sharp as Lu to be so unguarded. Even though he didn't covet anything, he couldn't help but stare at the Bag of Holding sitting on the ground, wondering what else was inside. He realized he might have met the wealthiest player among them all. It was a scene that, if posted on the forums, no one would believe.