Chapter 64

The bright sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting down upon the ground.

Rod straightened up, gazing at the uneven path before him, shook his head, and then turned to look at the panting girl not far away.

"Miss Marin, can't you go any faster?"

"Just, just a moment."

At this moment, Marin had lost all the composure and dignity of a young lady. Her outer robe was covered in mud and leaves, her pale face was flushed red, and large beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. If someone who didn't know her saw this scene, they might think that this young lady had endured a long and arduous journey—yet in fact, they had only climbed over one hill.

"I really didn't expect it to be so tiring."

The girl, who had no grace, leaned on her staff, swaying from side to side. The initial enthusiasm had long since vanished. This was understandable, after all, they weren't here for a leisurely outing. Looking at the nearly exhausted Marin, Rod had his first thought that bringing her might have been a wrong decision—after all, mages generally had poor stamina, and he had clearly forgotten this point.

When they were at the Pavel cemetery, Marin wasn't as disheveled. At that time, she could use spells to levitate her body, but that was because the mountain path was relatively steep. Now, perhaps the seemingly gentle slope had dispelled Marin's doubts, making her decide to climb the mountain and enter the forest on foot.

At first, the young lady was very enthusiastic. After all, this was her first time going on an outing without anyone to take care of her, no one to prepare for her, and no one to clear the way. This adventurous feeling made Marin quite excited and full of energy. At the beginning, she was even more proactive than Rod.

Unfortunately, enthusiasm can't be eaten, nor can it be converted into energy.

For Marin, after the initial enthusiasm, the reality of the difficulties quickly appeared.

The rugged and uneven road, the thorny shrubs, and even the dense grass were not as beautiful as they looked. According to Rod, before resting, one must carefully check the surroundings. If you sit down and happen to land on a snake, and it happens to be a venomous one—thank the Holy Soul, at least you would have time to write your own epitaph.

After walking for a while, Marin was already exhausted and dizzy. She even felt that this was more painful than sitting in the mage tower, facing the mountain of magical theory books.

"I don't know how Liss managed to endure it."

In the end, Marin didn't sit on the ground. She leaned against a tree trunk, took a few deep breaths, and finally regained her composure.

"Back then, she must have suffered a lot. She used to be a very tearful child..."

"Everything takes time to get used to."

Rod pressed his hand on the longsword at his waist, carefully observing the mountain before him, comparing it with his memory, and casually responded. This longsword was a gift from Klaud, the head of the Keller family, who was very grateful to Rod. Therefore, he immediately gave him a magical weapon—the Bloodweep Blade.

Unlike the Star Trace, the Bloodweep Blade was a pure Western rapier. The blade was a strange dark red, and it was enchanted with a rare spell. When this sword saw blood, it would become sharper than usual, and the more blood it absorbed, the more unstoppable it became. It was a very good and rare weapon.

Rod naturally accepted Keller's gift without hesitation. Indeed, the Star Trace was still his favorite, but it occupied the summoning spirit's number space, which was a significant drawback for Rod. Of course, he wasn't without a way to change this. The summoning swordsman's array was known as the Ten Elemental Sources, and the holder could designate a core for each ring position according to their will. If we use an army as an analogy, the player is the commander, and the summoned spirits are the soldiers, then this core is equivalent to a squad leader. After being designated to a ring position, the summoned spirits could exist in the world in a physical form and no longer needed to consume the holder's soul power, but instead, they would absorb power to maintain their existence. When the power was insufficient to maintain their form, they would temporarily return to the ring to sleep, waiting for the power to be sufficient to "resurrect" again.

For the summoning swordsman, designating a core for the Ten Elemental Sources was a very important and cautious matter. Once designated, the core could not be changed or deleted, meaning that if the player made a mistake, that core position would be wasted. This was why Rod had not decided to designate the Star Trace as a core, as its level was too low and its position was too far back. If better options appeared in the future, he would have nowhere to cry.

In the game, Rod had made such a mistake, and here he wouldn't be foolish enough to make it again.

"However, that child seems a bit strange."

"Huh?"

Hearing Marin's muttering, Rod was taken aback. Liss was strange? He hadn't noticed.

"Um... how to say it..."

Faced with Rod's question, Marin frowned, seemingly unsure how to express it.

"I'm not sure, but she feels a bit different, not like before, and... forget it, it's nothing."

Recalling how Liss held her hand before they left, the hesitant expression, wanting to say something but not saying it, made Marin very puzzled. As a woman, she could tell that Liss was a bit jealous and worried about her, but why, Marin couldn't figure out. Could it be because she couldn't come along, so she was sulking? Liss wasn't that kind of child.

Marin suddenly straightened up.

The magical fluctuations passed through the air and responded to her body.

"What is it?"

Noticing Marin's unusual state, Rod's expression turned serious. He pressed his hand on the hilt of his sword and asked in a low voice.

"Someone is coming."

Marin turned her head and looked at the mountain foot covered by grass and trees.

"My magical mark senses that someone is approaching us... one, two, three people. There might be more..."

"Get ready and continue forward."

Rod's hand left the hilt of his sword and quickly gave the order.

"Everything as usual."

"Okay."

Hearing Rod's words, Marin raised her staff and pointed it at the tree beside her. Soon, a bright and mysterious symbol appeared in the air, then seeped into the tree trunk and disappeared.

"If you're rested, we'll continue."

"Why don't we just ambush them here and get rid of those annoying followers?"

Marin bluntly asked her question. In her view, those annoying guys weren't too strong. With the combined strength of herself and Rod, it wouldn't be difficult to leave them behind. So why should she be scared of being followed by these people? This was something Marin couldn't understand.

"It's simple, because we're not too far from Deepstone City."

In response to Marin's question, Rod explained.

"If we kill them here, those guys will soon know, and they can send more people. Then we'll be in a passive position. But now, although they are following us, they don't know that we know about their existence, while we can track their movements. So letting them continue to follow us is better for us to control the situation. This way, when we lead them deep into the mountains and then act, it will be much harder for them to notice anything unusual. Even if they eventually realize something is wrong and send more people, we will have already left the forest and returned. Instead of killing them now, it's better to keep them trailing behind us. This way, we can always keep track of their movements, and no matter when they decide to attack us, we will be prepared."

"I see."

Marin nodded, not saying anything more. She wasn't stupid; Rod's few words had resolved her doubts. However, she still wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at Rod with dissatisfaction.

"But, just to find some magical plants, do we really need to come so far?"

After climbing the mountain all morning, Marin was really exhausted. Although many magical plants were indeed in the deep mountains, there was no need to come to such a remote place to suffer.

"If it were just to find magical plants, we wouldn't need to, but coincidentally, I obtained a few treasure maps earlier. Many treasures are buried in the Twilight Forest. If we can get them, it would be a good thing for us."

When he said this, Rod's expression was normal, and it didn't seem like he was lying. His attitude indeed convinced Marin, who had been somewhat skeptical.

"Treasure?"

The girl muttered, unable to imagine what kind of treasure could be here. However, in the end, the fantasies from adventure stories made Marin's attitude much more relaxed. Compared to digging through corpses in underground tombs, treasure hunting was much closer to the romantic adventure stories she imagined—and it was also more normal.

"Then, where should we go next?"

"Continue north."

Rod pointed ahead.

"We will enter from there and head to the Sighing Rock."