Cowens's Stomach Pouch

Vilan's invitation cast a shadow over Roger's heart.

The joy from slaying the Corpse Demon was instantly washed away.

All that remained in his mind was a sliver of anxiety and a few points of confusion.

The anxiety stemmed from Vilan's formidable strength.

In Roger's memory, Vilan was an Archmage of level 89. He not only held significant influence in his home territory of Lubei County but was also a favorite of the Moranti royal family, with apprentices and connections throughout the entire duchy. Vilan possessed True Dragon blood, hence his rare vertical pupils. The number of super-magic feats he possessed was outrageously high. His combat style was unpredictable, and his fighting skills were incredibly refined—in short, he was an extremely difficult opponent.

In his previous life, Roger had been utterly dominated by him ninety-nine times. At that time, Roger was using a warrior character, level 90-plus with dual-class feats, and still wasn't Vilan's match. If he encountered Vilan now, he probably wouldn't even get the chance to be dominated. He'd be instantly killed!

The confusion arose because, in his ten years of transmigration, he had never heard of place names like "Lubei County" or "Moranti Duchy." This point put Roger slightly at ease. After all, it meant that even if he had transmigrated into the game, he and Vilan should be quite far apart.

"I should have paid more attention to the background lore when I was playing the game."

Roger couldn't help but give a wry smile. When he played games, he never bothered with the background stories; he just stacked stats and mowed down monsters.

"What normal person reads background stories!"

That was Roger's catchphrase back in the day. Now, all that remained was endless regret! If he had read more of the background stories, perhaps it would have been of great help in his current predicament. He had just killed Vilan's apprentice and suspected friend. Who knew if the man would come looking for him! This made Roger's need for power enhancement even more urgent.

On the other hand, he also harbored a vague suspicion. Was all of this too coincidental? He had just decided to leave the novice village and kill a BOSS, and he had indirectly provoked his nemesis from his previous life. It smacked of a conspiracy no matter how you looked at it. However, this was just speculation. Without concrete evidence, Roger wouldn't waste too many brain cells on it. He'd just keep it in the back of his mind.

This invitation absolutely could not remain in his possession. It had to be dealt with! But not now. Roger casually put the invitation back into its hidden compartment and continued to participate in the spoils distribution meeting for the Corpse Demon.

Next up were the equipment. As the greatest contributor to the Corpse Demon's demise, he still had priority selection rights, with a quantity of three items. Roger surveyed the items and ended up selecting a piece of high-quality Dragon Lizard Leather Armor, a thick piece of waterproof cloth, and a small, jet-black demon statue with mysterious patterns. He hadn't actually examined them closely; the reason for choosing these items was simple—the omen from the Qi Divination Technique was purple qi. In Roger's experience, purple qi was basically equivalent to good stuff. At least, it wouldn't be worse than the Suicide Ring! The remaining items were all mundane, worth at most a few copper coins, so Roger lost interest. He waited patiently for a while, and seizing the opportunity when everyone was caught up in the lively atmosphere, he finally managed to slip away. Roger quickly left the encampment.

He walked for several kilometers under the cover of night.

He found a river that was suitable in both width and depth.

There were fish and shrimp in the river.

There were also a few monsters foraging by the riverbank in the middle of the night.

Seeing someone approach, the monsters immediately surrounded him with menacing glares.

Roger held the Green Money, unleashing his full power, and in the blink of an eye, he had turned all these monsters into sieves.

"You have killed a Blue Fish Monster"

"You have gained 1 XP"

"Your hair growth speed has been slightly increased"

"You have killed a Red Fish Monster"

"You have gained 1 XP"

"Your fingernail growth speed has been slightly increased"

"The experience points (XP) are too low."

"The stat gains are as sloppy as ever."

"When will I find cute monsters like Magic Explosion Frogs!"

Roger glanced at his status screen with a hint of melancholy.

With his current strength.

Tongma Town and its surrounding areas were indeed no longer suitable for him.

He needed stronger opponents to grind experience points, and more diverse monsters to exploit for stats.

"After this subjugation mission ends, it's time to move on."

His first target was Gem City, the most coveted destination for adventurers in Tongma Town.

He just wondered if there were any monsters there that would allow him to grind extensively.

Roger pondered as he waded into the water to catch fish.

As a Yuntai Mountain Frog Hunter, catching fish with his bare hands was a piece of cake for Roger.

Before long, he successfully caught a suitable large fish.

He folded the invitation into a small roll, inserted it into the fish's belly through its mouth, then released it back into the river and turned to go ashore.

Watching the shadow of the big fish disappear into the riverbed, Roger let out a soft sigh.

This was the best way he could think of to handle it at the moment.

These Big Dragon Fish were often active in the rivers of Mystra during the summer.

But when winter arrived, they would flow downstream and return to the sea.

Even if Vilan eventually found this place, it would likely take him a lot of effort to thoroughly track down the invitation.

By then, Roger would probably be long gone.

"I'm safe for now."

Roger comforted himself silently.

It was already past midnight when he returned to the camp.

As Roger was about to head back to his tent to sleep, he noticed a figure inside.

"Dorothy?"

Roger asked in surprise, "What are you doing in my tent?"

The dying campfire illuminated the girl's slightly flushed face.

For some reason, Dorothy, who was usually straightforward, seemed a little shy.

"I, I came to give you the last portion of the spoils that were classified as miscellaneous items."

Dorothy pointed to the messy pile of things on the ground, feigning a complaint:

"Why did you sneak away halfway?"

"As the newly appointed captain of the subjugation squad, I have to ensure the fair and just distribution of spoils, right?"

Roger smiled and thanked her.

He bent down to tidy up and found that she had brought quite a lot of things.

Although they were all miscellaneous trinkets, they could still fetch a good price when piled together.

"How did so many end up here?"

Roger was a little surprised.

"Yes, this is just a small token of everyone's appreciation,"

Dorothy explained.

"You only took three pieces of equipment, so everyone thought they'd give you more of the miscellaneous items. Of the remaining miscellaneous items, each of us picked one useful thing, and the rest are all here."

"Don't refuse it. Who told you not to be present during the distribution?"

Roger was somewhat speechless.

His teammates were truly too simple.

It was only in a small place like Tongma Town that such an atmosphere could be maintained.

"Thank you all."

Roger sincerely thanked them again.

Dorothy bit her lower lip, looking a bit conflicted.

"Besides thank you, don't you have anything else to say to me?"

Roger shook his head. "No."

The girl stomped her foot and walked away in a huff.

Roger was a bit confused, but he didn't want to dwell on it.

He was leaving soon, so it wasn't appropriate to get caught up in such trivial matters.

He rested for a bit, then began to sort through the spoils of war.

Just then, an accident happened—as he was packing up the thick waterproof cloth, he actually found a unique little item inside.

It was a crumpled, pocket-like object of unknown material.

From the outside, it looked like a small glove.

But if it were a glove, it was too small, only suitable for a child.

Roger noticed that on the inside of this "glove," there were some faint purple mysterious patterns.

Roger had previously wondered why a piece of waterproof cloth would emit a purple aura.

Now, he realized that the truly valuable item must be this small glove! With this thought, Roger no longer hesitated and activated a deeper level of inspection.

After a moment.

Lines of data entered his vision.

"Cowens's Stomach Pouch"

"Rating: A+"

"Slots 4 Texture 7 Durability 4 Magic Pattern 1"

"Special Effect: Double Capacity"

"Double Capacity: Temporarily increases storage slots to 8, consuming 1 point of durability (when durability reaches 0, this item becomes invalid)."

"Cowens... Was that the Flesh Golem?"

Roger's heart leaped with joy.

Who would have thought this thing was a spatial item, extremely rare in Mystra!