Light Spell

Toward evening, Soren brought Vivian back to their little house in the Slums.

He had bought back 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 around the Gnolls' territory to Autumn Leaf City. That was where Half-Elves gathered, though Dream Forest was still nearly five days away. Travel was a troublesome matter in this era. Soren had spent half a day finding a caravan bound for White Horse City, then paid five Gold Daler to travel with them.

The Agate River ran from north to south, and Amber City had developed because of it.

But water transport was only one channel. Even more goods had to be carried to various places by caravans.

It was perfectly normal to seek out a caravan when traveling through the wilderness, because most caravans had guards of their own. They might have been hired by a wealthy merchant, or several merchants might have pooled their money to hire them. If others wanted 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 some assistance. Most caravan guards were Warriors with respectable backgrounds. Some had even formed teams directly affiliated with the Adventurers' Guild. It was somewhat like an escort agency, a trade that depended heavily on reputation.

After all, wilderness travel involved far too much risk. One's entire fortune and life were on the line, and any accident could mean losing everything.

So not every Adventurer could become a caravan guard.

Trust.

It was important. Extremely important!

Under the dim candlelight.

Vivian was sorting through her little cloth bag. It contained all sorts of odds and ends, even small items like needles and thread.

Without a set of Supernatural Equipment, there would always come a time when such things proved useful.

Soren was sorting through his things as well. The three-foot Bag of Holding looked fairly large, with nearly one cubic meter of space, but it was nowhere near enough for actually carrying supplies. Once he had packed several sets of clothes for the two of them, along with prepared rations and camping tools, nearly half its space was gone. At this stage, a Ten-Foot Bag of Holding was something Soren did not even dare dream about. Though its capacity was only roughly three times greater, its price had soared to more than thirty times as much!

Ten-Foot Bags of Holding were used as small warehouses.

The little girl carefully arranged her belongings. She placed her beautiful, delicate deerskin boots beside the bed, and every time she looked at them, a faint, delighted smile appeared on her face. Though Soren had told her to wear them now, Vivian insisted on waiting until the day they departed. The roads in the Slums were simply too terrible. One careless step could land in filth or mud; even the wilderness outside was better than this place.

The little girl did not have many things.

She quickly finished sorting them, then tilted her head as she watched Soren busy himself, a sweet smile lingering on her lips.

The Bag of Holding still seemed so novel. This world had so many things she did not know about. Her brother said he would take her to the land of the Elves. Were the Elves there truly as beautiful as the legends said?

She wanted to see them soon!

The young girl had no awareness whatsoever of the exhaustion and danger of the journey. She was only indulging the curious fantasies in her heart.

After all, she was only eight years old by nominal age.

Soren fastened a leg strap and belt clasp, tested whether they fit properly, then took out sharp Throwing Daggers one by one and carefully slid them into place. There were small pouches to secure them. Naturally, one had to be fully prepared for wilderness adventures. With a Scimitar at his side, it was inconvenient to carry a bow or Heavy Crossbow, so bringing Throwing Daggers was necessary.

Even 1d3 damage could save a life!

Rogues dealt in delicate work. Soren modified the Heavy Crossbow firing mechanism, removing its casing and repeating trigger, turning it into a single-shot Wrist Crossbow.

That made it small enough to hide inside his clothes.

Its killing power would be greatly reduced, but it had the advantage of concealment and could be used for sneak attacks.

Open and aboveboard?

That had nothing to do with Rogues.

Whoosh!

Soren pinched a Throwing Dagger and flicked it out. It struck the doorframe in an instant. Calculating his accuracy and force, he muttered, "With my current strength, the effective range is only ten meters at most. That should barely be enough for wilderness combat."

The two of them actually had quite a lot to bring.

Besides filling the Bag of Holding to the brim, Soren had also prepared a bundle.

The caravan would leave the day after tomorrow, so tomorrow he still needed to take Vivian to buy a mount. A warhorse was completely out of the question; even if he bought one, he could not afford to keep it.

He could prepare a packhorse, though. It would cost around ten Gold Daler.

Many people naively thought horses lived on grass, but in truth, most horses ate grain. Even inferior packhorses needed regular feed mixed with beans, wheat, bran, and grass, otherwise they would lack stamina. Superior warhorses treated beans, rice, and wheat as part of their staple diet, with eggs and other food mixed in regularly.

Otherwise, how could they possibly bear the charge of a Heavy Knight!

Other special mounts needed meat as feed, and their daily upkeep could exceed ten Silver Daler.

"Go to sleep."

Soren pulled out the Throwing Dagger, then removed his equipment and said softly, "We'll buy a few more things tomorrow."

"We leave the day after tomorrow."

"The journey may be hard, so get some proper rest now."

Vivian obediently nodded. Then she curled her tiny body farther inward and said softly, "Brother."

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

Soren smiled and rubbed her little head. Lying flat on the bed as he organized his thoughts, he casually asked, "What is it?"

"This."

The little girl climbed up. Her adorable face looked rather serious as she said earnestly, "Look!"

"Ua..."

A strange monosyllabic sound came from her mouth, and then a burst of intense light suddenly erupted from her fingertips.

In an instant!

Soren suffered.

One second earlier, Soren had turned toward her after hearing the little girl speak. Then the sudden burst of bright light dazzled his eyes, leaving his vision completely white.

It was like being hit by a flashbang!

"Flare?"

Soren closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Only after a while did he recover. He stared at her in disbelief. "How did you suddenly learn a Spell?"

No!

This should be Light.

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

His past memories remained. Soren knew quite a bit about low-level Cantrips and quickly overturned his earlier judgment.

But none of that was important!

What mattered was why Vivian could suddenly cast a Spell!

Even the lowest-level Cantrip seemed to require a long time to memorize and comprehend, didn't it? She had only been apart from him for two days. How could she have mastered a Spell so quickly?

The little girl looked confused as well. After hearing him, she replied, "I'm not too sure either."

"That day, I saw Sister Anyali use it once. I got curious and tried it, but I didn't expect it to succeed right away!"

Divine Magic?

Transcendent Wisdom?!

A shocked expression appeared on Soren's face.

Then his expression became more serious than ever as he asked, "You really only watched it once?"...

"Mm."

Vivian lightly nodded and asked in confusion, "Is this Spell difficult to learn?"

It was more than difficult!

If one lacked talent, many people would never learn a Spell in their entire lives.

Could Vivian possess an innate Wisdom of 20?

Otherwise, how could she directly learn a level-zero Divine Magic Spell in one go? She had not even undergone a baptism ritual, much less worshipped any Deity!

"Sit properly."

Soren sat up with a serious expression and had Vivian sit up straight as well.

He extended a hand and waved it before the little girl's eyes. Then, with a turn of his wrist, he produced a Gold Daler between his fingers, and with another flick, it vanished.

Soren's fingers moved rapidly. The Gold Daler appeared one moment and vanished the next.

Sometimes there was one coin, sometimes two. Finally, he clenched his fist and held it before Vivian, asking in a deep voice, "How many Gold Daler are in my hand?"

20 points of Superhuman Dexterity.

Soren's neural reflexes far exceeded those of ordinary people, and the flexibility and speed of his fingers surpassed the limits of what the naked eye could catch.

You could guess at his Cantrip, but it was difficult to see through it.

An ordinary person waving their fingers back and forth could leave afterimages. If they bent a finger during that motion, the naked eye would find it hard to catch, much less someone like Soren, a top-tier Rogue with 20 points of Superhuman Dexterity.

Vivian wore a troubled expression and scrunched up her little face. "Brother."

"I couldn't see it!"

"Why don't you give me a hint?"

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

"Use your intuition."

The little girl nodded as though she understood, then tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Like this?"

"Then I guess there are two."

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

"Ah!?"

Vivian said in disappointment, "I guessed wrong."

Not Wisdom.

If she possessed an innate Transcendent Wisdom of 20, she would automatically gain the Racial Feat called 'Sixth Sense.' It was an exceptionally powerful ability.

To some extent, it could even be considered one of the top talents!

Not only could it see through a trivial trick like guessing coins, but it could also allow someone to sense an enemy's sneak attack through intuition alone.

Then!

If it was not Transcendent Wisdom, there was only one answer!