Heading Out

That was perfect.

A few minutes later, under Hada's enthusiastic invitation, Yun Xi enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast, then followed the Village Chief and Hada out of the village.

"Grandpa, Big Brother, you have to come back safely!" As the young girl's childish voice rang out behind them, the figures of Yun Xi and the other two gradually faded into the distance.

Unlike the village, which was surrounded by a Spiritual Energy formation, the wilderness was constantly shrouded in eerie mist.

Even in the bright morning sunlight, the view was still gloomy and sinister.

The Village Chief clearly had plenty of travel experience. After they had walked about five hundred meters from the village, he began ordering Hada to use Appraisal Skill from time to time to check the road ahead.

"Village Chief, how far are we from Qinglan Town?" Yun Xi asked.

"Not far. About two hundred kilometers."

That's not far? All right, by the standards of the Godfall Continent's map, two hundred kilometers was indeed quite close.

If they walked without stopping, it would probably take about fifty hours. Including rest periods, they would reach their destination in just four or five days.

"Village Chief, do you often go to Qinglan Town?"

"Not often. Perhaps once every three months. Mainly to replenish our daily necessities and sell the pollution-free plants and other goods we grow ourselves."

"Yun Xi, Qinglan Town is very large. Once you get there, be careful and don't casually provoke powerful people."

"With your talent as a sorcerer, you can choose to join a sorcerer organization, but you must not sign a contract blindly. Examine it carefully."

The Village Chief had a very favorable impression of Yun Xi, so he offered several extra warnings.

"But you don't need to worry too much. There are certain regulations for newly descended adventurers like you. Within towns, people aren't allowed to cause you trouble without reason."

Yun Xi truly hadn't known about this in her previous life.

"All right. Thank you for the warning."

"Grandpa, can I stay in Qinglan Town and train for a while too?" Hada listened to their conversation and couldn't help asking.

He had only been to Qinglan Town once, the year before. That enormous town was worlds apart from their village, and he yearned for it intensely.

"No. You can leave to train only after your Fireball Technique reaches LV11. When that time comes, I won't stop you from going wherever you want."

"What? Who knows when that'll be! Grandpa, you're too cunning!"

That was indeed the case. It was extremely difficult for sorcerers to raise their skill levels.

As far as they knew, sorcerers could obtain only one Freedom Skill Point each time they leveled up. To upgrade Fireball Technique, they first had to raise Spiritual Energy Control.

Even though Hada was already an LV11 Intermediate Sorcerer, all his skill points had to be allocated to Spiritual Energy Control.

That was because a sorcerer's exclusive class skills could not be improved by grinding proficiency. They could only be raised by spending points.

Fireball Technique had no such restriction, but—

Skills from LV1 to LV10 required proficiency equal to the current level multiplied by ten, while LV11 to LV20 required the current level multiplied by one hundred, and so on.

If Hada raised Basic Fireball to level eleven without spending points, he would need to practice it (470 + 1,100) = 1,570 times.

That number might not seem high, but there was one prerequisite: every time he practiced a spell, he had to consume the maximum amount of Spiritual Energy available at his current level to gain proficiency.

If Hada had no White Crystal to replenish his Spiritual Energy and relied only on natural recovery, he could practice only once or twice a day at most. And that was assuming he did nothing else all day and focused solely on absorbing Spiritual Energy.

Even at the maximum of two practices a day, 1,570 ÷ 2 = 785 days. It would take about two years to train Fireball Technique to LV11.

And all of that assumed Hada had already reached level eleven.

With the Village Chief helping him level up, Hada should have little trouble reaching level ten. But the jump from level ten to eleven was a threshold that ordinary people found difficult to cross.

For an ordinary person, the time and effort required would certainly be more than two years...

Yun Xi shook her head. She was only level four right now, so there was no point thinking that far ahead.

Time passed slowly. As the three of them traveled, they occasionally encountered a few low-level monstrosities, but the Village Chief killed them instantly every time.

As they walked along the roadside, they saw many wild fruits. Nourished by Spiritual Energy, they grew exceptionally well. Unfortunately, every one of them had been heavily contaminated by sinister energy and was completely inedible.

Seeing Yun Xi's curiosity, the Village Chief specifically explained a few things.

"Yun Xi, after you reach Qinglan Town, you can buy a few books related to plants.

"If you encounter a relatively rare natural treasure in the wilderness, someone will buy it even if it's contaminated.

"As for these ordinary fruits and foods, they're basically worthless. Purifiers won't waste their energy on them."

Yun Xi nodded in understanding. She already knew about this information.

The buyers were precisely the organizations that possessed Purification Technique. The Purifiers they carefully trained devoted nearly all their energy to practicing Purification Technique.

No matter how severely contaminated a natural treasure was, they could completely purify it and use it for food or medicine.

According to her previous plans, the next spell she would learn would be Fireball Technique or Appraisal Skill. Purification Technique would have to wait.

As for which spell to learn first, she would decide after settling down in Qinglan Town.

They walked and rested along the way, but nothing dangerous happened. Yun Xi also took part in several battles.

She killed five level-one monstrosities and one level-two monstrosity, gaining a total of 50 + 20 experience and rising from level four to level five.

[Level: 5][Experience: 50/60]

Total gained: (6 + 2) Free Attribute Points (killing monstrosities + leveling up), and (1 + 1) Freedom Skill Points (killing monstrosities + leveling up).

She allocated the Free Attribute Points to Spirit and Constitution, and gave the skill points to Light Control Technique.

[Spirit 42][Constitution 19]

[Basic Light Guard LV3: Consumes 10–300 points of Spiritual Energy to condense a halo, applying 138–326 points of defense to the user (Spirit × skill level + Spiritual Energy consumed). It can be stacked indefinitely with no limit. Spell cooldown: 2h.]

With her Spirit Attribute increased to forty-two, the maximum shield from casting Light Control Technique once was 326. Thus, if she cast it eight times a day, she could increase her shield by 2,608 points.

After she finished allocating her points, they also reached the outskirts outside Qinglan Town.

"Once we pass through this forest, Qinglan Town will be on the other side." After traveling for more than four full days, even the Village Chief couldn't help feeling somewhat exhausted.

Hada's Constitution was even worse. His dark circles were practically hanging down to his chin, and his face looked utterly haggard.

Yun Xi's Constitution was about equal to that of a level-ten pure martial artist. Her stamina far exceeded that of the grandfather and grandson, and she was hardly tired at all. Still, she couldn't make it too obvious.