Harvests Came One After Another

"It's really great!"

"Senior Roy was right! These mermen aren't well-defended at all. There are plenty of opportunities!"

Everyone's morale soared after their victory.

But it was still too early to celebrate. The group quickly butchered the mermen, removed their pearls, and handed the spoils to Roy for safekeeping.

They then mounted their horses and continued upstream while seizing every opportunity to rest and recover before throwing themselves back into battle.

The night was unfavorable for travel, but humans were well-balanced in all aspects. Compared to the somewhat night-blind mermen, they undoubtedly had an advantage. Before long, they scored another series of victories, harvesting three merman sorcerer pearls.

This was an enormous haul!

Exchanging them for around a thousand magic stones as they had in the past would already have been a waste.

The reason was that the Witch Tower had recently introduced a support policy benefiting low- and intermediate-level apprentices, allowing them to obtain some of the primary materials for non-inheritance-level Mage Body Modification.

That alone was enough to create three veteran apprentices. With a little accumulation, they would be no weaker than Potterning and the others before they had mastered witchcraft!

Even without the talent and aptitude to master Spell Models, and thus unable to become Advanced Apprentices for the time being, they might still slowly rise to that level after several years of accumulating experience.

Besides that, there were Magic Pearls, blood coral, mutated fish scales, Elite Warrior merman pearls...

They had seized a huge pile of various materials. Conservatively, their value was estimated to be more than seven or eight thousand.

What was more, the mission itself also came with a reward!

Taken together, these gains would amount to a considerable sum.

Even though Roy had already advanced to an Advanced Apprentice and could no longer divide the spoils equally with them, he would still be able to obtain quite a lot.

Realizing this, everyone's blood began to race, and they were filled with energy.

"The fifth sorcerer pearl!"

Before long, it was the afternoon of the second day.

The group encountered two more merman tribes in succession and wiped them out.

Without realizing it, their coordination grew more and more seamless, and their gains naturally became increasingly abundant.

"Everyone has been fighting continuously for so long. You should all be tired. Let's rest for a while."

After another intense battle, Roy had Renion and Andov stand guard on a nearby high slope while the others sat down individually to rest.

He also put away his longsword and hair, then exhaled a long breath of stale air. "Has everyone noticed? There are more and more mutated mermen."

Everyone agreed. "Yes. This tribe has only a little over a hundred members, yet it has more than ten Elite Warriors. That ratio isn't normal!"

"It's probably also the result of the radiation pollution from Chalk Country..."

"The monsters are getting harder to kill...

This time, we were still able to succeed through a Sneak Attack. But if we encounter tribes with even more Elite Warriors, we might be in danger!

And besides..."

Roy thought silently, turning his gaze to the side.

Renion, Andov, Nia, and the others had also taken turns fighting.

Every one of them had been wounded.

If the tower hadn't produced various ointments, and if Healing Potions hadn't taken effect so quickly, they would probably have already lost their combat strength.

Even so, everyone looked utterly exhausted, and all the potions and supplies they carried had been used up.

They had almost no fighting ability left.

"It's time to stop. We've nearly exhausted our dried food and fresh water. Even our limited Mild Healing Potions are gone, and only a little ointment remains."

Hearing this, everyone fell slightly dazed.

Then, inexplicably, they felt reluctant to stop, as though they still hadn't had enough.

"Let's quit while we're ahead!"

Roy, however, remained clear-headed.

This time, it was he who tried to persuade everyone not to advance recklessly.

"Before those monster armies truly notice us, we need to leave this area completely!"

The others could only agree.

However, another day later, they suddenly discovered several corpses on the riverbank ahead.

Although everyone was exhausted, the enormous harvest had left them relaxed and cheerful, chatting and laughing along the way. At the sight of the corpses, they immediately became vigilant.

Renion cautiously approached to investigate. "They're Intermediate Apprentices from the tower. They haven't been dead long—sometime this morning!"

Aimo and Tigro exchanged a glance before saying solemnly, "These wounds... They must have been caused by that merman sorcerer who could discharge electricity, the one we mentioned before!

"It must be somewhere nearby!"

Discharging electricity...

That was merely the common way of describing it.

Roy guessed that it was a mutated merman chieftain who had mastered some powerful Lightning Element Spell Ability.

He dismounted and examined two corpses that had been scorched black by lightning.

"The lightning's energy didn't cause much damage to the surrounding terrain. And these two people look agile enough to dodge slow, orb-like Elemental Attacks...

"It was probably a spell like 'Electric Claw' or 'Lightning Bolt'!"

As Lightning Element magic, there were many different spells by name.

"Lightning Shock," "Electric Ball," "Electric Claw," "Thundercloud"—all of them were common enough.

A monster like a merman sorcerer definitely had no way to learn and master them through witchcraft or arcane methods.

It was much more likely that it relied on its bloodline.

So there was more than a seventy percent chance that it was using "Electric Claw" or "Lightning Bolt."

Roy pondered briefly. "Search around and see if there are any traces of where a merman stood.

"These monsters constantly secrete a kind of fishy slime. If it stopped to cast a spell, it should have remained in one place for a while."

At his words, everyone hurried to search the surroundings.

Sure enough, Andov quickly discovered something. "There are traces of dried slime on these rocks! The fishy smell is so strong!"

Roy went over and took a look. "It must have been dozens of feet away—nearly a hundred."

A foot in the Wizarding World was about 0.3 meters. In other words, the enemy had killed these people from twenty or thirty meters away.

"It must have been that merman sorcerer! It was too strong. It only pointed from a distance, and our leader was already dead!"

Aimo and Tigro recalled the scene, speaking with lingering fear.

"That fits, then. The only problem is that the true 'Lightning Bolt' is a Level 1 Spell. It probably requires several dozen points of Spell Power."

Roy reached his conclusion.

"Perhaps its bloodline isn't yet powerful enough to release the complete spell, but its Spell Ability is already sufficient to imitate its form!"

He thought silently for a while, then used the longsword in his hand to cut open the victims' chests and abdomens. He frowned as he examined them.

"Just as I expected. The organs haven't been completely charred...

"It should have had single-digit Spell Power!"

This was more or less consistent with their previous judgment. The merman sorcerer was stronger than a chieftain but weaker than a hero—a Lord-level monster.

"So there really is a powerful mutated monster wandering around nearby..."

"What should we do if it suddenly comes charging out?"

"It can launch attacks from that far away. This is dangerous!"

Worry appeared on everyone's faces. They felt as though danger lurked everywhere, with every rustle of wind and blade of grass putting them on edge.

The atmosphere around them grew tense.