Light Spell

At dusk.

Soren returned to the small shack in the slums with Vivian.

He had bought many things. After all, the journey might take as long as a month. They had to travel from Amber City to White Horse City, then detour from White Horse City to avoid the Gnoll activity zones before heading toward Autumn Leaf City. That was a gathering place for Half-Elves, yet it was still nearly five days' journey from the Dream Forest. Travel in this era was a troublesome affair. It took Soren half a day to find a caravan heading to White Horse City, and he paid five Gold Thaler to accompany them.

The Agate River ran from north to south, and Amber City had developed based on this advantage.

However, water and land transport was only one channel; many more goods required caravans to be transported to various regions.

It was very common to seek out caravans for travel in the wilderness, as most caravans employed their own guards. These could be hired by a single wealthy merchant or by several merchants pooling their money together. If others intended to travel with them, they had to pay a certain price depending on the distance. In return, the caravan would protect them along the way and provide a certain level of assistance. Most caravan guards were warriors with clean backgrounds, and some even formed organized teams directly affiliated with the Adventurers Guild.

It was somewhat like a security escort agency, a profession that relied heavily on reputation.

After all, the risks of wilderness travel were too great. One's life and livelihood were gambled on the journey, and any accident could lead to total loss.

Therefore, not just any adventurer could become a caravan guard.

Trust.

This was important, extremely important!

Under the dim candlelight.

Vivian was organizing her small cloth bag, which contained many odds and ends, even small items like needles and thread.

Even if you possessed a full set of extraordinary equipment, there would always be times when you needed such things.

Soren was also organizing his belongings. The three-foot Bag of Holding did not look small, with nearly one cubic meter of space, but it was not quite enough when it came to actually packing things. Just by putting in a few sets of clothes for the two of them, along with some prepared dry rations and camping tools, nearly half the space was already taken up. At this stage, a ten-foot Bag of Holding was something Soren didn't even dare to think about. Although the space only expanded by about three times, the price skyrocketed by more than thirty times!

Ten-foot Bags of Holding were usually used as small warehouses.

The little girl was carefully organizing her things. She placed her beautiful, exquisite deerskin boots by the bedside, and every time she looked at them, a joyful smile would inevitably appear on her face. Although Soren told her to wear them now, Vivian insisted on waiting until the day they departed; the road conditions in the slums were too terrible.

One might accidentally step into feces or mud at any moment; even the wild fields outside were better than this place.

The little girl didn't have many things.

Soon, she finished organizing and tilted her head to watch Soren busy at work, a sweet smile hanging on the corners of her mouth.

She still found the Bag of Holding novel. It turned out there were so many things in this world she didn't know about. Brother said he would take her to the land of the Elves; were the Elves there really as beautiful as the legends said?

She really wanted to see them soon!

The young girl was completely unaware of the fatigue and dangers of the journey, merely satisfying the curious fantasies in her heart.

After all, she was only eight years old this year, and that was by nominal age.

Soren fastened a leg strap and a belt buckle, testing them for fit before taking out his sharp Throwing Knives one by one. He carefully inserted each into the small, dedicated pouches on his gear. Adventuring in the wild naturally required thorough preparation; since he was carrying a scimitar, it was inconvenient to also carry a bow or a Heavy Crossbow. Therefore, keeping some Throwing Knives on his person was a necessity.

Even 1d3 damage could save a life!

A Rogue's trade was all about precision. Soren had modified a Heavy Crossbow mechanism, removing the casing and the rapid-fire trigger to convert it into a single-shot Hand Crossbow.

It was small enough to be concealed inside his clothing.

Although the lethality would be significantly reduced, its advantage lay in concealment, making it perfect for sneak attacks.

Fighting fair and square?

That was something that had absolutely nothing to do with a Rogue.

"Swish!"

Soren gripped a Throwing Knife and flicked it out. It struck the doorframe instantly. He calculated his accuracy and force, muttering to himself, "With my current strength, the effective range is at most ten meters. It'll barely suffice for combat in the wild."

The two of them actually had quite a lot of things to carry.

Aside from the Bag of Holding, which was packed to the brim, Soren had also prepared a separate bundle.

The caravan was departing the day after tomorrow, so he still needed to take Vivian to buy a mount tomorrow. A Warhorse was out of the question; he couldn't even afford to feed one if he bought it.

A Pack Horse, however, was manageable, costing around 10 Gold Thalers.

Many people naively assumed that horses only ate grass, but in reality, most horses required grain. Even an inferior Pack Horse needed to be fed a mixture of beans, wheat bran, and fodder regularly to maintain sufficient stamina. If it were a superior Warhorse, beans and grains would be a staple, often supplemented with eggs and other foods. (Wild horses spend most of their time eating. -- Futu.)

How else could they sustain the charge of a heavily armored knight?

As for other special mounts, they required meat, costing over a dozen Silver Dalers every single day.

"Time to sleep."

Soren pulled out the Throwing Knife, stripped off his gear, and said softly, "We'll go buy a few more things tomorrow."

"We set out the day after."

"The journey might be tough, so you need to get some good rest now."

Vivian nodded obediently, her petite frame shrinking into the bed as she whispered, "Brother."

"There's something I haven't told you yet."

Soren smiled and ruffled her small head. He lay flat on the bed, organizing his thoughts, and asked casually, "What is it?"

"It's this."

The little girl climbed up, her cute face looking quite serious as she said earnestly, "Look!"

"Ua..."

A strange, monosyllabic sound escaped her lips, and suddenly, a burst of intense light erupted from her fingertips.

In an instant!

Soren suffered the consequences.

Rewinding one second, Soren had turned his head upon hearing the little girl speak, and the sudden explosion of light blinded him; his vision was now a complete, blinding white.

It was as if he had been hit by a flashbang!

"Flare?"

Soren closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. After a while, he recovered, his face filled with disbelief. "How did you suddenly learn magic?"

No, that's not right!

This should be Light Spell.

Flare was an enhanced version of Light Spell, requiring an extra syllable to cast.

His past memories remained, and Soren knew quite a bit about low-level cantrips, so he quickly overturned his initial judgment.

But none of that mattered!

What mattered was why Vivian could suddenly cast a spell.

Even the most basic cantrip required a long time to memorize and understand, didn't it? She had only been separated from him for two days; how could she have mastered a spell so suddenly?

The little girl's expression was also one of confusion. Upon hearing his question, she replied, "I'm not really sure either."

"I saw Anyali use it once that day, so I tried it out of curiosity. I didn't expect to succeed on the first try!"

Divine Magic?

Supernatural perception?!

A look of shock appeared on Soren's face.

His expression then turned unprecedentedly serious as he asked earnestly, "You really only saw it once?"

"Mm."

Vivian nodded gently, asking in confusion, "Is this spell hard to master?"

Hard? It was more than just hard!

Without sufficient talent, many people would never be able to learn magic in their entire lives.

Could Vivian have 20 points of innate Perception?

Otherwise, how could she have learned a level 0 Divine Magic cantrip just like that? One had to know she hadn't even undergone the Baptism ritual yet, let alone offered faith to any deity!

"Sit up straight."

Soren sat up with a serious expression and gestured for Vivian to sit properly as well.

He reached out a hand, waved it in front of the little girl's eyes, then flipped his fingers to produce a Gold Thaler, which vanished as he twirled his hand.

Soren's fingers moved with lightning speed; the Gold Thaler appeared and disappeared in a blur.

Sometimes there was one, sometimes two. Finally, he clenched his fist, held it in front of Vivian, and said in a deep voice, "How many Gold Thalers are in my hand?"

20 points of extraordinary Dexterity.

Soren's neural reflexes far exceeded those of an ordinary person, and the agility and speed of his fingers surpassed the limits of the naked eye.

You could try to guess his sleight of hand, but it was nearly impossible to see clearly.

An ordinary person could create afterimages just by flicking their fingers back and forth. If there was a subtle curling motion involved, it was impossible for the naked eye to track, let alone when performed by a top-tier Rogue like Soren, who possessed 20 points of extraordinary Dexterity.

Vivian revealed a troubled expression, her little face scrunching up as she said, "Brother."

"I didn't see it clearly!"

"Could you give me a hint?"

Soren's expression stiffened. He glared at her, annoyed, and said earnestly, "Just guess!"

"Use your intuition."

The little girl nodded as if she understood, tilted her head to think for a moment, and said, "In that case."

"I guess there are two."

Soren frowned slightly and slowly opened his palm. There were actually three Gold Thalers inside.

"Ah!?"

Vivian said with some disappointment, "I guessed wrong."

It wasn't Perception.

If she had an innate 20 points of extraordinary Perception, she would automatically possess the 'Sixth Sense' talent feat, which was an incredibly powerful ability.

To a certain extent, it could even be considered one of the top-tier talents!

Never mind a petty trick like guessing coins; even if an enemy tried to launch a sneak attack, she would be able to discern it through intuition.

Then!

If it wasn't extraordinary Perception, there was only one answer!

(ps: Suddenly feeling a sense of déjà vu like Detective Conan.)