132 The Dangerous Forest Part 1 (1/2)

Without Saleen, Lex’s chances of surviving would not be reduced by a great deal. However, without Lex, it would be almost impossible for Saleen to survive. Furthermore, Saleen did not have any idea how to get back to the Myers Mainland.

Even if Lex were to chase Saleen away now, Saleen would still cling to her like a parasite. He needed to protect Sika, and Lex would want to make sure Holzer and Baimeng lived on.

The new Water Windspeed spell that Saleen had acquired would allow him to travel at fifty miles an hour. And with more practice, he would be able to travel at this speed on any terrain. If Nailisi carried Saleen and ran, their speed would certainly be faster, but Sika could not travel that fast. Even if Saleen blessed her with the Windspeed skill, Sika’s maximum speed could not be increased any further, and her speed would vary according to different terrain.

Sika was only a warrior. She would never be able to comprehend the secrets of the wind.

After eating dinner in silence, Holzer returned to his sentry position and used the alchemy binoculars to observe the forest for any movement while keeping the alchemy crossbow for protection. In wet environments, the usage life of this crossbow would be shortened, but making sure that everyone stayed alive was the top priority. That was why Holzer would use the alchemy crossbow like any other crossbow instead of holding back and preserving its ammo.

Baimeng resumed his work and used his dagger to skin the beasts. The skins of the magic beasts needed to undergo refinement before they could be used to produce scrolls. Their skins were superior to any other type of magic paper used for preserving magic. With over two hundred slabs of skin, three hundred high-level blank scrolls could be produced.

Lex was a Grade 5 mage, so she could only produce scrolls that were Grade 4 or below. If she tried to produce a Grade 5 scroll through force, the success rate would be less than twenty percent. Additionally, producing a Grade 5 scroll would drain too much of her mental power. Lex would not be able to take it, and she would only be able to produce one per day. Even if she were to produce ones that were Grade 4, she would only be able to make two to three of them in a day since she was in such a perilous environment.

As long as there were enough materials, they could realistically produce scrolls from these skins.

In Lex’s room, Saleen was using powdered magic medicine to tan the sterile beast skins while Lex brought out various magic materials, wanting to make a puppet.

There were many different types of puppets. The paper puppet that Walnut made was powered solely by his strength. It was used to gather intel and assassinate enemies over short distances. However, the materials that Lex had gathered were used to build a puppet which ignited wars.

The Qin Empire had many mages, and low-level mages who could not fly were not used to attack cities. That job would be left to magic trebuchets. Both the magic trebuchets and stone artillery were enormous in size. The purpose of war puppets was to support the movements of these machines, and at the same time, fight in combat.

A fully assembled war puppet would be over five meters tall, and a large quantity of magic nuclei was needed to power it. Such a huge puppet would not be able to move through the forest. Lex needed to modify it to make it closer to the size of a human. War puppets were perishables and were very expensive, so none of the empires were willing to use them to replace traditional soldiers.

In terms of combat power, a war puppet that was worth five hundred gold pieces might only possess the capabilities of a mid-level swordsman. Furthermore, they consumed magic nuclei, so the cost of using war puppets was too high.

Lex did not care about that right now. What she needed at this moment was cannon fodder. As long as there was something to die in place of her group, price was not an issue.

On the table was a simple alchemy magic array. Lex was arranging the skeletons of the beasts to build the structures of the war puppets. War puppets could not cast spells, but their internal operating systems were based on the principles of magic, so it was best to use less metal in their structures.

Saleen did not have much knowledge in puppetry. Puppetry contained contents from the six elements, and this was the case for low-level puppetry as well. However, Saleen understood the Figaro formula, so he could still assist Lex in building the internal structures of the puppets once the bones had been refined.

”Saleen, once we enter the forest, there is still a high chance we will lose our lives.” Refining the bones was an easy job, so Lex could still afford to chat with Saleen.

”Even if we make it through the forest safely, there may be other dangers ahead,” Saleen replied casually as he inserted magic medicine into one of the skins.

”Aren’t you afraid?”

”There is nothing to be afraid of, since you will protect all of us,” Saleen replied matter-of-factly.

”I see that you have a puppet.”

”It is a witcher spider.” Saleen knew that there was nothing to hide. It would be best for them to understand each other’s capabilities since it would be beneficial for coordination in combat. If Lex wanted the witcher spider, Saleen would give it to her willingly.

”How many you can control? I mean, given that they don’t interfere with your ability to cast spells.”

”Three, mm, maybe four,” Saleen gave a conservative answer after a short analysis.

”Alright, then I will allocate three war puppets to you. Use them freely and don’t hold back. As long as all of us survive, it will not matter even if all of the puppets are destroyed.”