Although Yinsen had not understood Isendra's words, he had been busy for half the day, and the sky was growing darker, affecting his vision. He had already been planning to return to camp.
So even though the two of them had failed to communicate properly, Yinsen still brought Isendra to the Rogue Encampment.
The wooden walls and the Rogues patrolling and standing guard at key points told Isendra that this was not the town she had been seeking. But after their earlier encounter, she had also realized that she and Yinsen could not communicate smoothly, so she suppressed her questions and quietly followed behind him.
"Glad to see you returned safely."
The Rogue standing guard at the entrance greeted Yinsen, then stopped Isendra and asked about her purpose.
"I am a Mage from the East, traveling the lands these past few years. Recently, I sensed that the Dark Energy in this region has been growing stronger, so I came specifically to investigate."
"Greetings, honored Mage. Welcome to the Rogue Encampment. I believe Lady Kashya can give you a satisfactory answer."
After greeting her fellow guard, she led Isendra away to find Kashya.
Yinsen did not go with them. He took the herbs he had gathered directly to Akara. He had little interest in the coming conversation between Kashya and this world's "protagonist," especially since he would not understand it anyway.
Besides handing the herbs over to Akara in exchange for his reward, he wanted to see whether he could learn her skill at making potions.
He did not need to master it immediately. As long as he could memorize the knowledge and practice it slowly later, that would be enough.
He had not considered this before. It was only while gathering herbs and fighting zombies that he realized that, in that ocean-covered world, he could not guarantee that he would not fall ill or even be injured. Without companions, it was necessary to learn some medical methods.
After counting the herbs, Akara handed Yinsen the prepared food, fresh water, and some gold coins. When she learned that he wanted to help make Magic Potions, she nodded.
"The Dark Energy's corruption is becoming increasingly severe. These herbs inevitably contain stronger and stronger Dark Energy as well. Before they can be used, that energy must be removed, and that costs me a great deal of effort." Akara looked helpless in the face of the worsening situation. "So I truly do need someone to help. Unfortunately, the sisters of the Blind Eye are all busy, and there is simply no one to spare for such trivial work."
"If you are willing to help me handle those trivial matters, I can teach you the knowledge needed to make Magic Potions..." Akara considered it for a moment. "As for the Healing Spell, you may not be able to learn that."
After asking a few simple questions, Yinsen learned that the Blind Eye's mainstream spells were founded on devout faith. Compared to the spells many Mages used to achieve their goals through various energies, the Healing Spell used by the sisters was closer to divine magic, borrowing power from deities.
"So that was how it worked."
Fortunately, Yinsen was not a greedy person to begin with. He was already delighted to be able to learn how to make Magic Potions. The painful part was that before learning potion-making, he needed to memorize an entire massive introductory textbook on herbalism.
According to Akara, he first had to learn to identify different types of herbs and the various medicinal properties they contained before he could begin learning how to properly use them to make Magic Potions with different effects.
Carrying the introductory book Akara had given him, Yinsen returned to his tent in frustration. He truly did not know what use such a book would be to him.
"Could herbs from the Diablo World really be found across every plane?"
His only hope now was that the herbs recorded in the book possessed greater "universality," allowing them to be found in more places. Otherwise, even if he memorized it all, it would be useless once he left this world.
"Huh?"
Once he opened the book, he realized just how wrong he had been.
The introductory herbalism book he had received from Akara did not record herbs according to the fixed shapes, fixed colors, or even fixed medicinal properties he had imagined.
Instead, it was an introductory guide on directly using Mental Power to identify the "energy characteristics" contained within herbs. Its method of classification was likewise based on the nature of the energy contained in the herbs. From the very beginning, it taught how to use Mental Power to determine what effect a plant could produce and what sort of potion it was suitable for making.
As for appearance and color, there were no rigid descriptions. According to the book's classification, anything containing effects such as stopping bleeding or stimulating wound recovery could serve as the main ingredient of a Red Potion. Even two herbs with radically different appearances would be placed in the same category in this book if they could yield the same properties and be made into the same potion.
"So that was it!"
This book was actually an introduction to herbalism suitable only for Mages. It pointed directly toward the essence of Potionology—extracting the properties of plants, amplifying their effects, and accelerating the duration of those effects. Therefore, it would not become completely useless just because he left the Diablo World.
In fact, the ability to make Magic Potions was even more important than Yinsen had imagined.
Once he realized the book's enormous value, Yinsen immediately lost his former lack of interest. He hugged the book and studied it through the entire night. By the time he came back to himself, Akara had sent a sister to call him over to help, and only then did he realize that dawn had arrived.
"I don't feel tired at all!"
Aside from some stiffness and discomfort from sitting all night, Yinsen did not feel the slightest mental fatigue. In his previous life, this would have been unimaginable. Even when he had been in his best physical condition, after a tiring day followed by an all-nighter, he would have been exhausted.
"Was this because my Mental Power had improved?"
Mental Power came from both the body and the soul. Neither could be lacking if one wanted to grow stronger.
Yinsen's body was still developing rapidly, and there were no hidden problems. It was not especially strong, but it was above the acceptable standard.
His Mental Power had originally been merely ordinary, but because of the Space-Time Pointer, he had spent several years practicing control over it. His foundation was exceptionally solid.
On top of that, after possessing this body and crossing worlds, aside from the Mental Power his own soul had brought with it, remnants of the original owner's consciousness remained in this body. Those traces would originally have dissipated over time, but Yinsen had happened to obtain a method for training Mental Power in time. After persisting in cultivation for a while, he began automatically absorbing all energy in the body that could enhance his Mental Power, naturally entering a period of rapid growth.
The growth of Mental Power would in turn stimulate improvements to his physical condition. The increase was actually very slight; simply put, stronger Mental Power made the body's cells more active, accelerating Yinsen's development and improving his recovery. This change would normally have been inconspicuous. If he wanted earthshaking changes in a short time, he would need more profound and powerful magic.
But Yinsen himself was already in a period of rapid development, and he had suddenly absorbed a considerable amount of residual Mental Power. That was why the change had become so obvious all at once.
"Looking at it this way, Mages aren't frail either!"
Come to think of it, the Mages of the Marvel Universe were all close-combat fanatics, each of them wielding a pair of pancake-like weapons with practiced ease.
That white-bearded old man from The Lord of the Rings, wielding a longsword in one hand and a staff in the other, was even more of a benchmark for melee Mages.
It was said that even the famous Mage from the legends of King Arthur had actually been a close-combat fanatic, preferring to chop people down with a holy sword rather than use magic.
Yet in so many games and novels Yinsen had played or read before, Mages were always described as especially weak, as though their bodies were their greatest shortcoming. But when he thought about it carefully, that was impossible.
In many adventure stories, Mages traveled great distances alongside their companions, crossing mountains and rivers as though walking on level ground. Try making someone physically weak walk like that for a month. Not to mention that Mages could enter combat at any moment and fight fierce battles with their enemies.
Surely they could not spend an entire day walking, finally encounter an enemy, and then have the Mage be too exhausted to get up from the ground? That scene was simply unbearable to imagine.
Even setting that aside, Mages often stayed in their laboratories for long stretches without resting in order to conduct all kinds of experiments. If their bodies were weak, they would have dropped dead long ago. At the very least, Yinsen had never seen a story featuring a Mage who had died from overwork. At most, they got themselves killed by an uncontrollable accident during an experiment.
"So an outstanding Mage must have a body of steel and iron? Or rather, is a good body the foundation for becoming a Mage?"
Yinsen stepped out of his tent, doing some simple exercises as his thoughts wandered. When he turned his head to stretch his neck, he saw a familiar figure emerge from a nearby tent. It was Isendra, the female Mage he had met only yesterday. It seemed she had earned Kashya's approval and had settled down in the camp as well.
Isendra saw him too and walked over with her staff in hand.
"Hello, Yinsen. Thank you for showing me the way yesterday."
Rather than speaking in a language Yinsen could not understand, Isendra used Mental Power to communicate with him. And to show him respect, she first used her Mental Power to "knock on the door," only forming the connection after receiving Yinsen's permission.
"You're welcome. Even if you hadn't met me, you would have found the Rogue Encampment soon enough."
"By the way, where are you a Mage from?"
There were only a handful of Mage organizations in this world, and they had even established a dedicated Mage Council. No matter which group someone came from, there should not have been a language barrier. That was why Isendra was so curious about Yinsen.
"The East. My teacher isn't well-known."
"The East?" Isendra did not believe him. Most Mage organizations were currently located in the East, and she could not believe that a Mage from there would be unable to communicate.
Yinsen sensed Isendra's suspicion, so he added, "Farther away than that. I accidentally ended up here while using a Town Portal Scroll, so I'm not sure exactly how far away it is."
"Oh... somewhere even farther away?" Isendra was only half-convinced. "By the way, I'm going to find Akara. Kashya said yesterday that she might need my help. Do you know where to find her?"
Yinsen, who had been agonizing over how to continue making things up, finally breathed a sigh of relief when the subject changed. "I'm going to see her too. Let's go together."
Before you continue