Chapter Seventy-Two: The Lord’s Banquet
Campfires and oil lamps illuminated the entire town, making it seem like daytime, with the eyes of the dark ravens reflecting the town, obscure and dim.
“A bloody feast.”
After the Ghost Fairy dropped this sentence, it flapped its wings and fell into the darkness.
*
Li Wen and the others left the town and approached the castle on the mountain.
Along the way, everyone they encountered treated them as if they were nothing. This was because the Deception Mage’s skill “Essence Dissipation” was in effect.
“This is too useful. With this spell, going anywhere is like going for a stroll.”
One Player said enviously.
“It’s not that useful.” Li Lin shook his head. “Essence Dissipation lowers presence, it’s not invisibility. People with keen insight can easily see through this spell.”
However, in front of ordinary people, this trick-level spell was always effective.
“Then does senior Li Lin know invisibility spells?” The Player who spoke was recognized by Li Wen; it was the female Hunter Player named Yuzuru Nevin.
Li Lin did not answer directly. “Invisibility spells are Tier 2 magic, so I definitely don’t know them. However, there are other spells besides invisibility that can make one’s figure disappear from others’ eyes on an optical level.”
The Deception Mage was like this. While its combat ability might not be much, in terms of tricks and showmanship, few in the Source Essence and Aether lineages could compare to its class.
As they were about to approach the castle, Li Lin cast another spell on everyone, “Shadow Blink”. This spell allowed people to be unable to remember details such as appearance when they saw someone, and they would immediately forget about it once they looked away.
Combined with Essence Dissipation, it was almost equivalent to a group invisibility.
With the effects of these two spells, Li Wen and the others passed directly through the camp where the guards were stationed at the castle gate and arrived at the castle gate without attracting anyone’s attention.
The castle gate was tightly closed. To enter, the guards inside had to lower the drawbridge to allow passage over the moat.
However, Li Lin clearly had other means. He raised his hand, and a colorful orb of light appeared in his palm. He threw the orb, which zipped into the castle and disappeared.
After a while, the sound of gears turning could be heard, and the huge castle gate began to be slowly lowered.
Everyone looked at Li Lin, who smiled slightly and explained, “This is a Hypnotic Orb. It can hypnotize people and instruct them to do a simple task. After completing it, they will fall asleep, but they can be easily woken up. I hypnotized the gatekeeper to lower the gate. You’ll need to be careful when you enter later and try not to wake him.”
When everyone entered the castle, they indeed saw a soldier standing and sleeping.
“Magic is too versatile. I should have become a mage too.”
Someone exclaimed.
Takebitori, however, noticed a detail. “Didn’t they say that mages have a long casting phase when they cast skills? Why didn’t I see you casting? Are you tricking me?”
Li Lin smiled meaningfully and said something thought-provoking.
“Truly powerful mages don’t let you see the moment they cast their spells.”
This was actually a technique called “Pre-casting”. Li Wen had heard of it in her past life; it was a technique that only Players could use.
The principle was simple: the mage pre-casts the spell but doesn’t release it immediately. Instead, they maintain the spell’s existence with strong concentration until the critical moment, then release the spell, creating the illusion of instant casting.
Many mage Players in later generations could learn this technique. Li Wen didn’t, first because she wasn’t interested in it and felt it lacked practicality, and second because she wasn’t a mage and didn’t have the mage class’s concentration bonus, making it difficult to perform this technique.
Thus, led by the Level 10 Deception Mage, the group entered the inner areas of the castle as if no one were there, quickly reaching their destination.
Looking at the tall tower that was gradually approaching, Li Wen felt that this was too smooth, even to an abnormal degree.
A cold wind blew. Winter was approaching in the game, and the nights seemed to be getting damp and cold. Before Li Wen could finish her thought, she felt a shiver.
The group, which had been heading towards the Lord’s Mansion, now found themselves alone.
Where were the others?
A raven with black feathers flew out from the darkness and landed on Li Wen’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?” Li Wen asked Martha.
The Ghost Fairy grinned sinisterly and did not answer, instead saying, “Don’t worry, just keep moving forward.”
Since Martha said so, Li Wen didn’t take it to heart and continued onward.
*
Moria knocked on the door of the Lord’s Mansion, and after a while, the door opened.
An elderly gentleman stepped out, his gaze bypassed the Wild Mage and stopped directly on Moria.
“Hello, sir. I am a priest of the Candle Sun Church. I’m here to see Lord Wilson, the lord of this place. Please announce me.”
The old gentleman looked into his eyes, and Moria met his gaze without hesitation. After a long time, the old man spoke stiffly and dully, “The master has prepared a sumptuous banquet, awaiting your arrival.”
“That’s very kind of you, but we don’t need that. We just want to borrow a carriage to travel and reach Leicester City as soon as possible.”
Moria seemed unaware of anything unusual in the old gentleman’s words, maintaining a friendly demeanor.
“Come in.” The old gentleman pulled the door wider and stepped aside.
The scene inside the door was deep and dim, with only the faint candlelight providing warmth and comfort.
Wild Mage Harik hid behind the Knight, and for some reason, despite it being a luxurious mansion in the castle, he felt as if it were a giant monster whose form was unclear in the mist, and the wide-open door seemed like a gaping maw ready to devour flesh and blood.
“You think so too, right?” Harik asked Nasha, his Wild Mage friend.
Nasha’s expression was serious, and she slowly uttered a few words.
“Blood, bath, banquet, murder, ritual…”
This was divination!
Harik did not know what these words meant, but Moria had already stepped inside. The consequences of leaving this divine youth might be even more dire. Harik ignored the divination, grabbed Nasha, and followed closely.
The door led to a long corridor, the end of which was not visible at a glance.
Along both sides of the corridor were dim candlelight lamps and portraits of nobles.
These portraits were likely of past generations of the Wilson family. They were drawn with extreme realism, indistinguishable from the real people. If the portraits blinked, Harik would have believed they were alive.
“Don’t get distracted, don’t look at the paintings on the sides. Follow me and don’t leave.”
A reassuring voice sounded. The Wild Mage looked at the Knight walking ahead and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
This was a sure thing.
