Trouble

After weighing the pros and cons repeatedly, even with the meager survival experience Xuan Ye had accumulated in this other world, he still judged that it was best to keep the matter of encountering the second wraith buried deep in his gut.

Mm, otherwise, he really had no way to explain it, and the mysterious database at his Soul Core was the greatest secret concerning his very life and existence. Xuan Ye himself wasn't entirely sure of the value of this secret, but he estimated that even the legendary gods might take an interest in such a thing.

"Hey, didn't think you guys were half bad."

After it was all over, Ye Man, who hadn't contributed much, looked at the somewhat dispirited Scavenger Squad and spoke in a simple tone that could be taken as either praise or mockery.

Although Ye Man was a Three-Star Professional Rank Warrior, and his head-on combat ability was theoretically no worse than a Three-Star Paladin, his output methods were far too singular. He had the attack power, but his versatility was far inferior to that of special professions. Facing a Wraith that was nearly immune to most physical attacks, he could only stand by with a bottle of Holy Water and let the professionals handle it.

"Lucky break. Our little Apprentice Ranger friend here spotted it approaching ahead of time. If it had managed to possess a Wanderer and get close, the sudden Mind Scream attack might have caused damage even I couldn't withstand."

Letting out a deep sigh of relief, still breathing a bit heavily, Luo Luoji spoke with a look of gratitude spreading across his bearded face as he said this.

He was a 'Guardian' who had condensed his Professional Core within the Qi and Blood Inner Mansion, and had also awakened the perfectly matched Skin of Steel. His physical defense was extremely powerful. If he was prepared, even letting a Senior Knight Attendant attack him freely would probably leave at most a few marks.

But when it came to Spiritual Power, the Guardian was only at an average level. He didn't have the firm faith of a Knight to protect him, and his willpower bonus was only so-so. He was relatively weak against several of the Wraith's attack methods.

Coupled with the suppression of rank, being ambushed at close range would have been a disaster. At this moment, he was quite grateful that he had had the sudden whim to pick up that dried fish. Sure enough, doing good deeds brings rewards.

"Hmph, an Apprentice Ranger is only useful for this much. When the fighting starts, all he can do is watch from the sidelines. If there were another one, he'd just be dead weight."

Blue-haired Aide still had anger in his heart, sneering coldly.

"Haha, alright, the mission's done. Even though Mind Scream isn't a lethal move for them, after it hits, combined with the Wraith's unique 'Fear Art', while they're affected by the scream, it can connect their inner fears from the depths of their hearts and devour them clean, turning them into a new Wanderer under its control. They still took quite a risk."

Dean was studying the scroll, Aitiya was staring blankly at the moonlight, and the idle Ye Man was amusing himself by continuing to tease the group. Even this big simpleton knew the characteristics of Wraiths.

Through some of his chatter, Xuan Ye once again confirmed the cause of death of the Wraith that had attacked him. It had indeed died from its own recklessness. At the same time, regarding this talkative axe-wielder, who was now almost the only one he could communicate with among the four, Xuan Ye shook his head. Ah, this young man was still too naive. Although his strength was considerable, his experience wasn't as deep as Xuan Ye's own. It was easy to draw out some information he wanted. Being around someone like this gave him a greater sense of accomplishment.

Dealing day in and day out with old hands like Luo Luoji, he often found himself feeling foolish and naive, making him look like a clown.

Among the four, the research fanatic Dean, the daydreaming fanatic Aitiya, and that Aide with his 'I'm the main character' expression were all hard to approach. Only this axe-wielder, Ye Man, was easy to get along with.

Although he often did some inexplicable things, like catching a sand rat for a snack or sticking his head into a water basin, making him act like a humanoid husky, he was still the friendliest one.

"We might be in serious trouble."

However, just as Xuan Ye was pondering whether to exchange the promised opportunity for alchemical potions for something else, Dean, who had been sitting on his Small Carpet studying the scroll, raised his head with a grave expression.

"The 'Fear Art' and 'Mind Scream' magic runes that Wraiths naturally possess are one of the sources of human research into fear-type spells. Most of the literature passed down from the near-ancient era has been thoroughly studied. The magic rune for 'Fear Art' has already been researched to the point of being fully understood. But... the structure of the 'Fear Art' rune inside this Wraith is extremely peculiar. It doesn't match any innate rune of any Wraith. The number of 'AND Gate' usages reaches as many as forty-two, exceeding seventy percent of the total. Theoretically, this structure is logically chaotic and unstable..."

As Dean launched into his professional ramblings, everyone present except for the first half of his speech felt like they were listening to a foreign language. As he continued on and on, seemingly unwilling to stop until he had explained the entire variation, it was the axe-wielder Ye Man who couldn't hold back and interrupted.

"Speak human."

This snapped Xuan Ye, the only listener who had been enjoying the show, back to reality. Uh, well, aside from meditation, he didn't have a single bit of magical knowledge. Even though he had a vast amount of data stored inside him, he still couldn't understand what Dean was saying. But that didn't stop him from forcibly memorizing this information and storing it away. It might come in handy later.

Seeming to realize that he had gotten a bit too deep into his zone at the wrong time, Dean blushed slightly after being interrupted, then coughed and said, "To put it simply, the master of this Wraith is no ordinary figure. Their attainments in necromancy are extremely profound. I'm afraid..."

After saying this, a bitter smile appeared on Dean's face.

"Afraid of what?"

Xuan Ye cooperated and asked curiously.

"I'm afraid that behind this incident is a professional-rank Arch-Lich. Not just us, even if our mentor were to step in, they might not return. We need to send for help from the academy."

After Xuan Ye asked, Dean finished his words with a hoarse voice. Hearing the content of the 'trouble' he had mentioned, everyone except the Saint Knight girl, who was always daydreaming, had their expressions change drastically.

Hearing this, Xuan Ye almost spat out a mouthful of old blood!

Are you kidding me?!

Aside from that reckless Wraith, any random professional-rank creature could easily make his life a living hell. And now he's telling me that behind this matter is a professional-rank Necromancer, an Arch-Lich?

What the hell!

There isn't a single professional-rank existence in all of Stanrosai City!

Professional-rank individuals are already among the top fifty strongest. The peak Six-Star Professional Experts belong only to the top three major forces! At most, you could add in that lone mage!

And what is called a professional rank? It's when a Six-Star Professional Expert has all six inner mansions in their body, or all six Star Palaces in their Sea of Spirit, fully opened, and all cores condensed, leading to a core sublimation! Advancing to become a senior-level existence among professionals!

If a professional-rank Ranger's basic attack has an effective range of a hundred meters, then a professional-rank Ranger's casual strike is measured in kilometers. This is on a completely different level! It's already superhuman!

Moreover, behind this is a professional-rank mage, and a Necromancer at that. From Dean's situation as a Ninth Grade apprentice, it's clear that even at the same rank, a special profession like a mage can easily dominate others in combat.

And this one in front of them was clearly not the 'pacifist' Necromancer that Luo Luoji had mentioned, the kind who was good at curing plagues.

A powerhouse like this, not just in Stanrosai City, but even if you added in several other nearby city-states, would be an invincible existence!

They would probably be considered a notable expert even in the entire Central Domain of the Ronald Continent, to which Stanrosai belonged. Ten years ago, the four domains of Ronald were still a single kingdom!

And yet, such a big shot was lurking in a corner like this, doing some shady business, and had the misfortune of being discovered by them. This was truly a story of getting screwed over...