Chapter 383 - Barbecue in the Forest (1/2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lin Li and the team arrived in the Blackstone Mountains in the evening. There, the Adventurers set up a shabby campsite on a plateau halfway up a mountain using tents and stones under Emendas’ orders. A few bonfires were set up, and the Adventurers gathered around them as they ate their dry rations and drank hard liquor, taking the time to recoup after the exhausting day.
The Blackstone Mountains were a dangerous place indeed. While it only took less than three hours for them to reach the midpoint of the mountain from the bottom, they met many magical beasts—all of them were at least level-15, including some powerful level-17 and level-18 ones. After dealing with all of them, even a level-17 Archmage like Emendas could barely hold up, and he quickly retreated into his tent to meditate after the shabby campsite was set up. But, before he did so, he a.s.signed Lin Li with a task…
“So cold…” Lin Li curled up under a tree and rubbed his red nose as he muttered to himself, “How is this wretched place so cold at night, is it trying to kill me…”
The chilling wind blowing in the pitch-black forest made Lin Li pale from the cold, his thin robe doing little to help even though he wrapped himself in it a few times. The cold penetrated his entire body, making him feel like he was submerged in ice. This d.a.m.ned forest was like a maze; no matter where he was, it seemed like he was going around in circles as all he could see was the eerie shadows of trees. The howling wind could be heard occasionally from somewhere deep in the forest, making his skin crawl.
“d.a.m.n it, you’ve got guts, Emendas!” Lin Li said through gritted teeth. He should have been sitting next to a bonfire, satisfying his hunger with the dry rations and drinking the hard liquor to fend off the cold while he listened to the well-traveled Adventurers boast as they told their stories.
Unfortunately, all of this vanished into thin air with a sentence from Emendas.
“You’re Mage Felic, right? There might be magical beasts in the forest in front. Go and take a look. If you’re in any danger, let out the signal, and we’ll rush there as soon as we can.”
“…” Lin Li wanted to slap him back then…
This was the Blackstone Mountains, where high-ranking magical beasts roamed freely! Even an idiot would know what he was up to, asking a level-10 Magic Shooter to go into the forest alone. Signal? Rush over as soon as they could? What nonsense! If I was really a level-10 Magic Shooter, I wouldn’t even have the time to scream in front of a magical beast, much less let out a signal and wait for you to save me!! You really take me for an idiot, don’t you?
As he thought of the second young master of the Malfa Family as well as the unlucky adventurers, Lin Li would have to be an idiot not to guess what was going on. Emendas was probably instructed by someone to make his life difficult—or, even better, kill him off…
Thankfully, he was not really a level-10 Magic Shooter…
While the Blackstone Mountains were dangerous, it was not too much of a threat to him. However, what he really hated about this place was that it was really too cold!
“Once we’re done with this whole Crimson Python nonsense, I’m going to make that b.a.s.t.a.r.d suffer!” Lin Li rubbed his red nose as he tugged at his thin Robe of the Void to wrap it tighter around himself.
Well, Emendas deserved it—all he thought of was the second master of the Malfa Family. Little did he realize that he had brought great misfortune upon himself…
Of course, Lin Li was not really looking for any magical beast in the forest, knowing that Emendas had a hidden motive.
Less than half an hour into the forest, Lin Li found a rock blocking the wind and hid behind it, warming his legs as he opened the Ring of Endless Storm. He took out a sleeping bag and some fire-starting tools that he had prepared earlier before lighting a small bonfire behind the rock where it was s.h.i.+elded from the wind.
Lin Li had already decided before entering the forest that he was not going to look out for any magical beast—since he was going into the forest anyway, he would hang around for a few hours, and then tell that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Emendas that the forest was empty and very safe.
Lin Li did not really care whether it was really safe.
Anyway, even if they met a powerful magical beast when they entered the forest the next day, Lin Li would have a good enough excuse for not finding it—he was supposed to be a level-10 Magic Shooter, after all, so it made sense that he was not able to detect the presence of a magical beast, didn’t it?
After the bonfire was up and going, Lin Li sat at the side and drank some of the hard liquor he had brought from the camp as he finally felt his cold body warm up.
“If only I had some food…” Lin Li could not hold his liquor well; after taking it on an empty stomach, he felt his insides burn. Unfortunately, all he could find in the Ring of Endless Storm was a great deal of condiments and seasonings instead of actual food.
These condiments and seasonings had been in the Ring of Endless Storm for a long time as they were left behind from when Lin Li practiced cooking when he was bored in the Endless World. He had put in a great deal of effort to practice cooking, and besides trying all kinds of ingredients, he had tried all the animals he could find in the Endless World except for dragons.
And then there was all the seasonings.
These were not just your everyday seasonings like salt and vinegar—once someone became a Master at cooking, the seasonings they used were nothing short of lavish. Many of these were precious magic ingredients; one of them was the Blue Gra.s.s, which could be used to remove the b.l.o.o.d.y taste of meat and make tough meat amazingly tender.
However, Blue Gra.s.s itself was a precious magic ingredient, and mages often dried it to grind into powder. If a little bit of Blue Gra.s.s powder was used during magic, a mage could easily execute a level-15 spell without wasting their mana.
Back then, Lin Li had caused quite a stir in the Endless World when he bought a lot of Blue Gra.s.s in one go. All the mages were making conjectures that some twisted union wanted to monopolize the trade of Blue Gra.s.s, and many mages formed protest groups because of that. Unfortunately, they had been chanting their slogan “stop corrupt businessmen, stop monopoly” for a month, only to find out that some b.a.s.t.a.r.d had bought a bunch of Blue Gra.s.s simply because he was trying to perfect his barbecuing skills…
“Oh, right, so what if I don’t have food? I can just make some myself, right? It’s been a long time since I’ve done so anyway…” When he thought of that, Lin Li grabbed a bunch of Blue Gra.s.s from the Ring of Endless Storm and muttered a spell: Life Detector.
Given his abilities now, he was able to detect all life forms within a 100-meter radius with just one Life Detector spell. He had initially thought that there should be quite a few magical beasts in this gloomy forest, only to find out that there was nothing within a 100-meter radius—not even a single rabbit…
“That’s strange…” Lin Li inhaled, and his expression froze.
This was the Blackstone Mountains, where magical beasts roamed, after all. Wasn’t it strange that he could not find even a single magical beast in this forest?
Lin Li refused to believe it, and pumped in more mana to increase the Life Detector’s radius to 200 meters. However, the result was the same: there was no trace of life in the area he searched.
“How can this be…” Lin Li gritted his teeth, and decided to fly above the forest with a Levitation Spell. Then, he flew to the other end of the forest.
As he was flying, he continued to use the Life Detector to scan the forest beneath him.
He spent about half an hour to scan the entire forest before reaching the edge of the forest, where he finally found a trace of a magical beast’s Scent of Life. It was a level-10 Blood-toothed Wild Boar, one of the lowest-level magical beasts of the Blackstone Mountains. The Blood-toothed Wild Boar was already low in level, yet it did not even inherit any magic of its own; the only thing worth mentioning was probably the brute force hidden within its body.
But this brute force was no match for a mage—especially a starving mage. The boar met a sad end…
Served the Blood-toothed Wild Boar right for its bad luck—it had just come out of its den when Lin Li rushed down from the sky. The boar had just lifted its head before it felt a bone-chilling cold…
Lin Li had not even landed before he used a Death Frost spell, and a white fog started spreading throughout the place. The poor Blood-toothed Wild Boar could not even make a sound before it was completely frozen by the Death Frost. Lin Li then tightened his grip on the Aether Staff again before another loud booming noise followed as something exploded within the white fog…
At the same time, Lin Li landed on the ground. When he emerged from the fog and flames, he was already holding onto a bare Blood-toothed Wild Boar!
Even Andoine would smile rea.s.sured if he saw this display of fire and ice magic—this fellow was now able to execute these two kinds of magic almost perfectly. He used a Death Frost to freeze the Blood-toothed Wild Boar, and followed up with an Endless Flames spell to melt the ice—they were both level-16 magic, yet he was able to control them with incredible precision. The Endless Flames could be used to melt the ice, and at the same time rid the Blood-toothed Wild Boar of its thick coat of fur while not harming its flesh at all. Besides the fact that the Blood-toothed Wild Boar’s heart ceased to beat and its blood no longer flowed through its body, it was no different from when it was alive, its body remaining warm for a long time after that.
WIth his Master-level cooking skills, Lin Li only used 10 minutes to prepare the Blood-toothed Wild Boar. He had made a simple roasting rack with just a few branches and rocks, and the Blood-toothed Wild Boar was stuffed with Blue Gra.s.s and skewed on a sharp wooden rod as it sizzled beautifully above the fire.
The fragrance of the Blue Gra.s.s penetrated the meat and fused with it, forming a mouth-watering aroma. Lin Li rotated the wooden rod carefully to roast the boar evenly as he retrieved a small silver knife from his pocket to slice off a piece of meat from its hind leg.
“Not bad…” He was surprised that he still had his skills—this Blue Gra.s.s roasted boar tasted as good as those he had made before. If he had to find something bad to say about it, it would be that there was not enough seasonings to really emphasize the taste of the meat.
But, he could not help it. The Ring of Endless Storm was only used to store valuable items, and common ingredients like salt and vinegar were not carried in it. Well, since he was in the wilderness, he could settle for this, and make up for it by making some more roasted boar meat another day. He had enough Blue Gra.s.s in the Ring of Endless Storm to make a few dozen more roasted boars anyway.
Just as Lin Li was lamenting about this, he heard a soft noise coming from the forest.
Lin Li froze immediately after hearing the soft noise. After all, he did not retract the Life Detector he’d used earlier, and no movement within the area surrounding him could escape his knowledge. How could there still be something approaching him without him knowing?
There were only two possibilities…
One, it was a high-ranking Bandit skilled at shadowing and able to escape the Life Detector with his well-honed techniques, or two, it was something way more powerful than him if it was able to escape the Life Detector’s detection unknowingly…
The scariest thing was that Lin Li could feel a huge force coming from the forest—it was a fierce and especially majestic aura, making him want to submit unconsciously. Lin Li knew that such a ferocious aura could only belong to a magical beast, but the aura coming from the forest was unlike that of any magical beast that Lin Li knew of. Besides being a fierce aura, it was majestic and commanded absolute respect—not even the aura of the Crimson Python and the Salamander made Lin Li feel so oppressed. If he really had to find a comparison, it would have to be the Dragon of Destruction, Azardas, that had died a wrongful death in the Endless World…
Many thoughts flashed through his mind, and while it sounded complicated, it had only taken no longer than a second. Just as he heard the sound, Lin Li grabbed his Aether Staff unconsciously, and a large fireball was hurled into the air with a loud ‘boom’ as the Dragon’s Eye glimmered…
This was the Pyroblast Lin Li had stored long ago in the Dragon’s Eye, and was meant for unexpected situations like this. Mages were not as physically strong as Warriors, after all, and they could only rely on high-level magic already stored in their magical equipment like that.
A loud booming noise was heard—the forest turned into a sea of fire as the Pyroblast exploded in it. Red flared in the pitch-black darkness as a blinding trail of fire shot up into the night sky.
Lin Li dared not stop at just a Pyroblast, and used a Levitation Spell to fly into the sky before throwing out a Warlock’s Eyes as he floated soundlessly into the forest under the cover of the flames.
Through the Warlock’s Eyes, Lin Li could clearly see what was happening within the raging fire—there was a black-cloaked figure strolling casually towards him…
“It wasn’t a magical beast?” Lin Li could not believe his eyes. He’d never thought that a human—and not a magical beast like he had thought—could give off such a ferocious aura…
This was not good…
Lin Li brushed his nose as he felt embarra.s.sed.
He had thought that it was a powerful magical beast, and did not bother reasoning with it as he thought that it was to his advantage to strike first no matter what creature it was. However, little did he know that it was a human walking out of the forest. This was complicated now—they might just have been pa.s.sing by and meant him no harm, but it might be a different story after the Pyroblast he pulled off earlier…
Then, Lin Li saw the figure reach out a hand and wave gently before the Warlock’s Eyes fell into their palm like a falling leaf…
Lin Li could not see anything after that…
His heart sank as the Warlock’s Eyes disappeared…
If Lin Li had doubted the capabilities of the other person earlier, he was now completely sure that this person was way more powerful than he was. While the Warlock’s Eyes was called an ‘eye’, it was not actually one—instead, it was formed from a mage’s mental strength combined with mana and thereby forming an extension of his senses. Through this sliver of mental strength, the mage was able to get a clear grasp of their surroundings, and in order to destroy the Warlock’s Eyes, one would have to be able to grab this sliver of mental strength.
Mental strength was in itself an incredibly abstract existence, especially for someone as talented as Lin Li—he had already trained his mental strength such that he could wield it easily as he pleased. As long as he wished to, n.o.body would be able to catch that sliver of his mental strength even if they set up an elaborate trap to do so.
Earlier, however, that black-cloaked figure merely gave a gentle wave before that sliver of mental strength seemed to be sucked in by a vortex and fell easily into their grasp…