Chapter 18 Spirit Guiding Secret Potion
After spending some time outfitting the entire team and preparing tents, supplies, and wilderness survival tools for emergencies, Li Wen and others rented a carriage and headed for Creek Stone Rift after using up most of Mog’s gold.
Creek Stone Rift was a necessary stop on Arthur’s foreign trade route, and the locals of Black Dragon Territory were very familiar with its geography, so there was no need to search for the way; they could reach it directly by following the main road.
On the carriage, Li Wen quietly explained the details to Takebitori and the others. She didn’t go into detail about the Chong Yue sect, Black Wind Fangs, or the goods, focusing mainly on the mage.
“The other party is a mage from the Forbidden Institute. It’s unclear whether they are friend or foe, but it’s best to treat them as an enemy. You don’t need to kill him; I just need you to stall him.”
“Mage?” Takebitori was secretly surprised, but the quests in the beginner village shouldn’t be too outrageous. “What level would they be?”
“No more than level ten.”
Li Wen said. Actually, she didn’t know what level of mage it was. She said level ten because mages above level ten, that is, Stage Two mages, could no longer be dealt with simply by sacrificing lives; abandoning the quest was the best option.
Takebitori didn’t know the gap between each level and had no clear concept of a level 10 mage, so he didn’t speak.
The carriage moved forward slowly in everyone’s silence, leaving the bustling crowds and towns, passing through rice fields and villages, and finally, as twilight approached, arrived at the depths of the dense forest, which was the location of Creek Stone Rift.
“We can only go this far. If you want to go deeper into the rift, you’ll have to get off here.”
After an unknown amount of time, the coachman, who hadn’t spoken, reminded everyone.
The others on the carriage had already become impatient. Hearing that they could go, they all excitedly got off the carriage.
Li Wen walked last, looking around. They had arrived at a canyon area, with a long, narrow passage through this canyon, leading directly to the distant Leicester City.
This place was always dry, with very little vegetation. It shouldn’t be difficult to find the lost goods. The only problem was that it was too vast and filled with strange, rugged rocks. It would be difficult to find anything without searching separately.
“Let’s go.”
After the coachman drove the carriage away, Li Wen instructed Takebitori and the others.
“They should be around here. You should split into groups to search. He must have left traces, but it’s best not to go too far. Although this is Arthur’s trade route, the dangers here are not limited to mages.”
After a brief discussion about their groups, Takebitori and the others each left.
Li Wen stayed put, pondering the reason why the mage from the Forbidden Institute had stolen the unknown goods.
Firstly, it was definitely not for money. Mages from the Forbidden Institute needed money the least. Secondly, it couldn’t be a personal grudge. If a mage wanted to kill someone, countless followers would do it for them, without them having to dirty their own hands.
In this case, perhaps that mage had a reason they had to act… The goods mentioned by the Black Wind Fangs might not be ordinary goods.
Before she could think further, Takebitori and the others had already found clues… or rather, it was no longer just clues, but a mess left by the mage.
Li Wen followed Takebitori, and all along the way, there were fragments of carriages and damaged goods, as well as some items that had been carbonized and were difficult to identify.
When they arrived at the actual site of the incident, they found that it looked as if a fierce fire had passed through. The ground was scorched black, and there were charred, unidentifiable substances all around. Stepping on this scorched earth, they could still feel the residual heat from the fire passing through their shoes.
Li Wen frowned. Besides the pungent smell of charcoal, she also sensed another chaotic, scorching, and extremely restless aura – that was the fire element.
Elements were a concept of the Aether lineage, and the path to the Aether lineage.
Based on the traces left at the scene, the opponent was undoubtedly an elemental mage of the Aether lineage, and likely a fire mage specializing in fire elements.
Li Wen looked at the mess and pictured the scene in her mind:
A caravan from Leicester City or even Arthur’s Royal City passed through Creek Stone Rift and then encountered a fire mage from the Forbidden Institute. For unknown reasons, the fire mage attacked the caravan. He controlled flames to attack the caravan’s carriages. Faced with an unknown great power, the caravan members panicked and fled in all directions, but in the end, they could not escape the mage’s grasp.
Li Wen then thought about what she had seen on the way. The traces indicated that at least some members of the caravan had escaped with some goods to a farther place before being brutally killed. This meant that the fire mage did not kill everyone immediately.
This indicated that the other party was likely injured or had limitations in their spellcasting. Otherwise, there was no reason for those carrying goods to escape.
This was good news.
In addition, Li Wen also noticed something. The Black Wind Fangs… or rather, the Chong Yue sect wanted her to find the lost goods. However, from the situation at the scene, it seemed that all the goods had been burned by the mage. Since those people knew that a mage from the Forbidden Institute had done it, they must have investigated the scene.
However, they still wanted people from Dark Dawn to help recover the lost goods. This meant that the destroyed goods were not the real goods but a smoke screen to cover up the truth. However, the fire mage from the Forbidden Institute had clearly not fallen for it. After slaughtering the entire caravan, he had taken away the real goods, leading to the current scene.
So where did the fire mage go?
He couldn’t have left Black Dragon Territory. Magic that could achieve long-distance displacement was all high-level spellcasting that required a strong mana support. Unless the Forbidden Institute had established a teleportation circle near Creek Stone Rift that Li Wen didn’t know about, it was impossible for that fire mage to leave Black Dragon Territory.
If Li Wen wanted to recover the goods, the most important thing was to find the mage’s location.
This was not difficult; Li Wen was well-prepared.
She took a small bottle, about the thickness of a thumb, from her backpack. The bottle emitted a fluorescent, dark yellow, viscous liquid.
[Spirit Guiding Secret Potion]
[Consumable – Potion – Magic (Blue)]
[One of the potions favored by mage hunters in the Sinful Nations. It is said that thanks to this potion, countless mages have died at the hands of hunters.]
[Upon consuming the potion, it will indicate the location of the mage to the user.]
Potionry originated from Alchemy and later became its own school, and like rituals, it was a field of academic knowledge that Transcendent individuals must understand and even master.
After Li Wen completed the ritual that required prior preparation yesterday, she used the remaining materials to mix and refine this potion. Although the purity of the potion was not high due to equipment limitations, it was more than enough to indicate a general direction.
She directly threw the bottle containing the potion onto the scorched earth. The bottle shattered, and the viscous liquid slowly flowed out. Upon contact with the hot air, the potion seemed to come alive for a moment, writhing and grasping, drawing in the residual faint mana from the air, and then trembling as it crawled with all its might in a certain direction until it stopped, as the mana in the potion was completely depleted after a few seconds.
“Let’s go, it’s in this direction.”
