Two Months

Supply points had been set up to guard against small-group members getting injured or poisoned during patrols, or encountering danger with damaged Signal Boxes.

They were there just in case.

The things inside were not valuable, but they were all practical. Under certain extreme circumstances, they could genuinely save lives.

It had to be said, having someone like Old Wells around was reassuring.

"Having an old man at home is like having a treasure... That saying was right."

After completing his routine inspection, Ronan turned around and saw Jacob sprawled over an old tree root, exhausted as a dog.

This guy's stamina was terrible, about the same as Ronan's had been when he had first crossed over. The patrol was not even over yet, and he was already about to collapse.

"Forget it."

Considering the guy had gossiped to him all the way here, Ronan sympathetically said, "I'll handle the rest by myself. Hurry back and get some rest."

"Is... is that appropriate, Lord Ronan?"

Jacob panted heavily, sounding a little embarrassed, though his face plainly showed how tempted he was.

Ronan could not be bothered to say more. He waved him off and continued forward on his own.

"The next point is..."

Ronan glanced at the map, and his expression shifted slightly.

The map showed that he was now close to where the Half-Elf siblings lived.

With a measure of anticipation, Ronan headed over.

The place where the Half-Elf siblings lived was rather remote. The surrounding area was thick with lush shrubs and weeds, and Ronan even spotted several man-made traps along the way. Fortunately, his physical abilities were strong and his reflexes quick, or he would have fallen victim to them.

There was no need to guess who had set them up. It had to be the Half-Elf siblings.

After much effort, he finally caught sight of the treehouse in the distance. Before he could get any closer—"Whoosh—"

A sharp whistle suddenly sliced through the air. Ronan's scalp tingled, and he instinctively dodged to the side.

"Thud—"

A dark black arrow slammed into the trunk of a tree beside him, its arrowhead buried deep in the wood while its white fletching still vibrated at high speed.

"Damn it."

Ronan turned with an ugly expression and saw a tall figure hidden in the shadows of the trees slowly lowering a greatbow.

Before he could speak, a cold, rough voice drifted over from afar.

"There's no need to patrol around here. We'll handle it ourselves."

Beneath his robe, Ronan's hand tightened around the hilt of his One-Handed Sword, then loosened. In the end, he slowly lowered it with a dark expression, turned around, and retreated from the woods.

Thinking of their first meeting, Ronan took a deep breath and cursed fiercely.

"What a lunatic!"

Only then did he feel a little better.

After making a brief round near Jacob's house, Ronan headed to Linas's residence, the last stop.

The moment he arrived, Ronan saw Linas sitting on the grass beneath a tree, drinking tea. A voluptuous woman leaned against him, and the two were huddled together talking about something. From afar, Ronan could hear the woman repeatedly letting out chicken-like giggles.

Linas noticed Ronan's arrival from a distance, but after giving him a cold glance, he paid him no further attention.

Naturally, Ronan was not about to press his warm face against someone else's cold ass. After making a round, he left directly.

Aside from the first patrol in the morning, when Jacob had accompanied him for half the route, Ronan completed the remaining two alone.

After an entire day, he was not exactly tired, but Ronan found it tedious and time-consuming.

But since he had already decided to join, there was nothing to complain about.

Two Months later.

"Buzz—"

Ronan parted his lips slightly, uttering nameless syllables that made the air vibrate.

The next second, a large swath of light before him twisted. A sphere of light as large as a watermelon, deep blue bordering on black, condensed out of thin air and immediately shot forward with a howl.

The light sphere skimmed across the lake, shattering the emerald-blue, mirrorlike surface.

The dark blue sphere dragged a long white wake across the water. Just as it was about to reach the center of the lake, it exploded with a boom, blasting up waves and water columns more than ten meters high.

Ronan stared intently at his Character Panel.

A moment later, disappointment and helplessness appeared on his face.

"Still no good."

Over the past Two Months, Ronan had already trained Energy Missile to its limit at Expert Level.

Yet no matter what he did, he could not raise that final sliver of proficiency needed to break through Expert Level.

"Still not enough? I've cast it so many times already. Why haven't I accumulated enough insight?"

Ronan frowned. He could feel that Energy Missile was separated from the next level by only a thin layer of paper, yet whenever he tried to pierce that layer, he was always just a little short.

"I can only keep grinding away at it slowly. At least an Energy Missile that's nearly maxed out at Expert Level is much more powerful than before."

Ronan comforted himself, then turned and headed toward the forest.

Hoddam was already in autumn.

Walking across the slightly yellowed grass and looking into the distance, Ronan saw the vast forest rolling beneath the orange glow of the setting sun, its colors fading from dark green to golden yellow.

The view was as beautiful as an oil painting.

Unfortunately, beneath that beauty, turmoil and chaos were escalating ever more fiercely.

Stepping on thick fallen leaves as he entered the forest, Ronan suddenly stopped after only a short while.

He slowly walked toward a raised pile of leaves. When he drew close, he casually picked up a dead branch and gently moved them aside.

Before long, a pale, twisted female corpse was revealed beneath the leaves.

She had probably been dead for less than two days. Her body had not yet begun to swell.

The woman was completely naked, and everything on her had been stripped away. Judging by the purple bruises covering her neck and collarbones, she had likely suffered abuse before she died.

Her face was twisted in pain and despair, and her gray-white eyes stared fixedly at Ronan, as if silently accusing him of something.

Ronan remained silent. He picked up the fallen leaves and covered the woman's face again. Then he gently raised his hand. A red ring on the ring finger of his right hand flashed faintly, and a scarlet fireball appeared the next second, shooting swiftly forward.

The pile of leaves and the woman's corpse within were consumed by roaring flames.

"...May truth guide you, and may your soul dwell forever in the Land of Peace."

Ronan murmured. As the flames were about to spread outward, he uttered the syllables of a spell and raised his hand to summon a sphere of frost radiating chilling cold, which he threw out.

"Crack—"

The ice sphere exploded, and the surging cold froze the remaining flames along with the ashes within them into frost.

Only after finishing all this did Ronan turn and leave.

This was already the third corpse Ronan had encountered in the forest.

Since last month, the chaotic situation in Hoddam had become increasingly uncontrollable.

Exorbitant prices, intense unease, an anxious and tense atmosphere, and increasingly frequent reports of Black Robe Wizards appearing—many wizards who had exhausted their savings and wandered in despair had become desperate enough to start robbing and killing.

Academy Wizards were stationed in the town's residential area, so order was still barely being maintained there.

But in the wilderness, which was not a safe zone, the situation was far worse.

Fighting and killing happened every day. Even Ronan had run into it once.

Half a month ago, when he went into town to sell runes, he encountered a group of robbers on his way back.

Fortunately, it had been a close call without real danger. They had been busy with another job at the time and had no time to bother with him. That was when the benefit of being part of a group became apparent.

Because people nearby already knew that several wizards had banded together, and Linas had even forcefully killed two Level Three Wizard Apprentices he had clashed with during a solo patrol, displaying the formidable strength of an intermediate apprentice, his reputation had spread. The wizards active in the forest area all knew their group had a Level Five apprentice powerhouse watching over it.

But the forest had become increasingly chaotic lately, and the Treehouse Area was nearly deserted. Old Wells and the others had already discussed moving into town together in the next few days.