Subtle Influence

The scorching sun, together with the boiling desert, made the entire air appear hazy and distorted. With the heat outside combined with the surging effects of the Blood Qi Potion inside their bodies, even though every one of them was in excellent physical condition, it was still far hotter than an ordinary person wrapped in a quilt and roasting by a fire in summer.

After taking the Blood Qi Potion, Luo Luoji led several people away from the employers and wandered aimlessly nearby, looking as though they had gotten lost.

The air around their bodies was even more distorted than the air above the desert surface, and their surging Qi and Blood was almost visible to the naked eye!

Faint white mist, like steam, rose from their heads.

If ordinary magical beasts or bandits saw such a phenomenon, they would naturally understand that these were vicious characters and avoid them at all costs.

However, in the eyes of most Undead, who lacked fear and the ability to think, such vigorous flesh brimming with Qi and Blood was as bright as a lamp in the darkness. The fearless Undead, even low-level ones, would swarm over like moths flying into a flame!

Still, this place was quite far from the actual range of influence of the Necrotic Tower. Apart from occasionally encountering one or two Wanderers, they had not even encountered two at once, let alone the Advanced Undead and the Wraith mentioned by the employers.

Wraiths were incorporeal soul-type Undead creatures. They possessed one of the rarest traits among the Undead: the ability to think in simple terms!

Unlike ordinary Undead, Wraiths possessed an instinct for avoiding danger. Combined with traits such as their incorporeal, intangible bodies, physical evasion, and Mind Scream, they were extremely rare Undead creatures that were even harder to hunt.

Of course, when facing a Mage known for his breadth of knowledge, Dean had still managed to come up with a feasible solution at this critical moment.

No matter how special Wraiths were, they could not change the nature of being Undead. Although they knew how to avoid danger, they did not possess true intelligence.

In theory, with enough fresh meat, they could still be lured out—especially when the strongest member of this delicious bait team was only a late-stage One-Star Guardian, who posed no threat to them.

In reality, however, Xuan Ye and the others wandered around with their eyes wide open for an entire day. Apart from encountering a few low-level Wanderers whose bodies were worthless as materials, they gained nothing.

As the red sun sank more than halfway below the horizon, the Silver Moon—which appeared to occupy a stretch of sky far larger than the sun—had already risen. Xuan Ye was beginning to lose patience.

"I say, Uncle Luo Luoji, could the employers have miscalculated? We've been at it all day and haven't even seen a single hair of a Wraith. Staying on guard against surprise attacks all day with our nerves wound tight is getting unbearable. If we keep going in this heat and exhaustion, we're really going to run into danger."

To ensure that his personality remained intact, Xuan Ye had sealed the Database deep within his soul while retaining his humanity. Even though he had begun paying more attention to training, he had only come from an age of peace, and in terms of spirit and willpower, he was still far behind Warriors who had survived through chaotic times.

Being able to remain mentally tense for an entire day without resting in such a harsh environment was already an exceptional performance. This was partly thanks to his modified Basic Breathing Technique and partly to the strengthening effects of the Blood Qi Potion.

"The Mage Lord's speculation should be correct. That thing has probably already set its sights on us. It's just that Undead creatures hate the scorching sun, so it probably intends to act at night. Everyone should rest for now and recover your energy."

Luo Luoji and the others had long since grown accustomed to this kind of high-intensity activity. Although they had also expended energy, their condition was indeed much better than Xuan Ye's. It was like an ordinary person who had just graduated from university suddenly entering a factory assembly line working three shifts—they definitely would not be able to endure it, and could not compare with experienced workers.

"Whew~"

Hearing that they could rest, Xuan Ye tossed his sun hat to the ground without the slightest concern for his image, then sat on it, exposing his smooth, completely bald head.

After that, he was even too lazy to speak. Forcing down the urge to rest and sleep, he began using his modified Basic Meditation.

That was right. Along the way, with his current Level 7 Knight Attendant physique, his body could still handle it. What he could not endure was maintaining such a highly tense mental state. At a time like this, meditation was undoubtedly the better way to recover.

For Knight Attendants, a relatively strong ordinary person might obtain the rank of Level 2 or 3 beginner Attendant after simple training. Mage Apprentices, however, were completely different.

Although an ordinary person's Spiritual Power was roughly equivalent to that of a Level 1 Mage Apprentice, without the talent for active Spiritual Power required to become a mage, their fixed Spiritual Power could not be improved through meditation. They could only strengthen their will through advancement in physical professions.

Fortunately, Xuan Ye had no such concern. The former Xuan Ye had already possessed low-level active Spiritual Power because of his Bloodline. On top of that, his soul—now active enough to drift through the universe—had been infused into this body. Combined with the modified Basic Meditation, he naturally took to it like a fish to water.

After expending his mental energy while remaining tense all day, Xuan Ye took advantage of his fatigue to forcibly enter a state of tranquility through meditation. His Spiritual Power recovered at an astonishing speed. After filling up, it rapidly overflowed and continued to rise, producing a much better effect than his meditation over the previous few nights!

This was definitely not cultivation assistance that the Blood Qi Potion, which focused on the physical body, could provide. It should have been a special enhancement triggered by the massive expenditure of mental energy.

Crack! Without the slightest obstruction, the Spiritual Power level he had gained from the fusion of two souls, originally equivalent to that of a Level 2 Mage Apprentice, successfully stepped into the Level 3 Apprentice realm that night.

This left Xuan Ye feeling utterly clear-minded. Compared to the Level 6 Knight Attendant body he had picked up as soon as he arrived, he felt even more accomplished by this Mage Apprentice rank he had advanced through step by step himself.

The emotional fluctuations even caused him to automatically leave his meditative state after advancing. For a moment, he felt that his perception of the entire world had undergone subtle changes. This was different from using Perception Inner Mansion to strengthen his five senses; it was an enhancement of his sixth sense. It even seemed that there was an intricate interaction between Perception Inner Mansion and Spiritual Power.

"Huh? Another Wanderer is coming. Tsk~ What bad luck. Its materials aren't worth anything, and it reeks horribly. It's disgusting."

After returning to his senses, Xuan Ye easily detected a Wanderer slowly approaching after climbing over a distant sand dune, thanks to the renewed improvement in his Spiritual Power and perception.

After coming into contact with these zombie-like creatures several times, Xuan Ye finally understood what Luo Luoji's look of disdain had meant the first time they encountered one.

Even low-level magical beasts weaker than Wanderers, or ordinary wild animals, could at least provide fresh meat after being killed, even if they were not worth much. But Wanderers... ugh~

"You take care of it. Get some practice shooting at night."

After the others also discovered the rat-dropping-like creature one after another, none of them showed the slightest interest. During the day, they had taken turns killing the first few Wanderers they encountered, coating their weapons in foul-smelling pus and making themselves sick.

Moreover, Wanderers were at most equivalent to Level 4 Attendants, and most were only Level 2 or 3. After being killed, the amount of Essence they released was pitifully small to several Advanced Attendants. Besides, the aura released by killing Undead was not as suitable for human absorption as that of magical beasts. Absorbing too much could even harm the body. After suffering from that themselves, they handed all the later ones over to Xuan Ye. Who could blame them? His attack range was longer.

Although Xuan Ye complained a few times, he still stood up. The original owner of this body understood the most basic techniques for using arrows to lure monsters, and during the several days he had traveled with the group, Xuan Ye had absorbed the original owner's archery skills completely, like a sponge. Thanks to his passive ability to read parameters, he had even surpassed the original owner.

Even so, he understood that he had gained his current shooting ability entirely through his cheat-like advantage. If he wanted to continue improving his technique, he still had tremendous room for growth in this area.

Since a rare live target had appeared, he was happy to use it for practice.

The bow was a weapon that was difficult to learn and even harder to master. Xuan Ye had obtained results so quickly only because of his physical strength and passive ability. Otherwise, in the army, even veteran archers needed to work with their teammates to use barrage fire and increase their hit rate.

At such times, they could use arcing shots from atop a city wall with the wind behind them to cover several hundred meters. But when using a bow alone, the hit rate of arcing shots was terribly low.

The advanced compound bows used in Earth's Olympic Games had a range of seventy meters. However, that only meant hitting the center of a target; their killing power and destructive force were useless in actual combat on Reizel.

Normally, ordinary Apprentice Rangers and hunters traveling alone could only use direct shots. Under normal circumstances, those who had not entered a profession had a combat range of around thirty meters, ensuring accuracy and power.

Even a Professional Rank Ranger, without using any techniques, had an optimal sustained shooting distance of within one hundred meters for direct shots. Within one hundred meters, they could hit regularly moving targets without fail, shoot through three layers of leather armor, and fire thirty consecutive arrows without resting. These were the basic skills required of a qualified One-Star Ranger. (Against targets that required no consideration of armor penetration thresholds, or ordinary humans, this distance could be doubled.)

Of course, that was only a basic attack. If they sacrificed sustained firepower to use arrow techniques, Professional Rangers could achieve a range and power more terrifying than those of snipers!

The heavy bow in Xuan Ye's hands was already sufficient for an ordinary Professional Ranger. It was worth at least seven or eight hundred silver coins. It was Luo Luoji's weapon for luring monsters, and now, the moment the Wanderer entered a range of one hundred meters, Xuan Ye had already raised his bow and nocked an arrow.

His basic draw was steady and solid, without the slightest flourish, standard and textbook-perfect. The others repeatedly nodded in appreciation. Of course, if they knew this was the only stance Xuan Ye currently knew, they probably would not have reacted that way...

The draw force he used, the arrow's expected release speed, the Wanderer's movement speed and patterns, the wind speed and direction, air resistance, the effects of temperature changes on the air, and various other parameters all appeared in Xuan Ye's mind passively.

Because he had not activated Bloodline Power, these parameters surfaced relatively slowly and gently, giving him ample time to absorb them. Although this made his reactions half a beat slower, it would not expose any openings or create danger during a long-distance attack.

"Go!"

The fingers drawing the bow beside his cheek relaxed. The arrow instantly tore through the air, and in the next moment, it appeared in the Wanderer's eye socket. The powerful impact even sent it flying backward one or two meters, spraying pus and brain matter everywhere.

Shooting distance: ninety-three meters!

"Take care!"

Xuan Ye rubbed his slightly sore shoulder, a trace of delight appearing on his face.

The others had watched Xuan Ye shoot with the attitude of waiting for a good show. After seeing him dispatch the target so cleanly, however, astonishment flashed across all their faces at the same time.

They were not surprised that Xuan Ye could deal with such a simple target. What surprised them was that, in the desert at night with the night wind blowing, he had directly hit the target from this distance and killed it in one shot!

That was already extremely close to the casual shot of a Professional Rank Ranger!

It was also an attack powerful enough to injure a Professional Rank Expert!

Although Xuan Ye's strength and stamina did not allow him to continuously perform shots of this intensity, and the target had only been a slow-moving Wanderer, this was still an astonishing achievement!

At the very least, aside from Luo Luoji, the other Advanced Knight Attendants present all felt a chill in their hearts. If they were separated by distance, they would have no way to close in!

At a distance of one hundred meters, with the detours needed to evade the shots, unless they withdrew out of range or focused entirely on dodging without considering closing in, even Jack—the strongest among them—was only confident of avoiding one or two arrows. At night, being unable to determine the arrows' trajectories made it even more dangerous!

When had this kid...

Already become capable of defeating him with archery alone...?

Remembering the steel saber that had been knocked flying in close combat back then, a trace of bewilderment appeared on Jack's face.

However, at that moment, Xuan Ye had just finished killing the target and was still wondering whether he should abandon the foul-smelling arrow when his expression suddenly changed.

"Not good! There's something wrong with that Wanderer. Something is hiding inside its body and coming over!"