Journey

Inside the moving carriage, Rhode took a few deep breaths, trying to adjust his state to the best it could be.

After a night of rest, Rhode's mental state had recovered.

Rhode planned to take this opportunity to attempt deep Meditation.

Rhode didn't know how long the merchant group's journey would take, but for himself, who had a soul mission restriction, no matter how much time the journey took, he couldn't waste it. Instead, he had to seize every moment to improve his strength.

For the current Rhode, the only way to improve his strength was through deep Meditation.

Previously, Rhode had already performed Meditation multiple times, but all of them were shallow Meditations, which were vastly different from deep Meditation.

The primary purpose of shallow Meditation was to increase maximum Mana and improve the speed of Mana recovery. Shallow Meditation could be easily exited under any circumstances, without the risk of backlash. It could even substitute for sleep to a certain extent, but deep Meditation was completely different.

The first step in deep Meditation was to disperse Mana to establish a connection with the surrounding Magic elements, and then continuously deepen this connection through self-exploration of the spirit.

During deep Meditation, one's spirit had to remain focused at all times, constantly sensing and exploring the surrounding Magic elements. In deep Meditation, the connection between a Mage and Magic elements was generally maintained by an uninterrupted supply of Mana.

Once deep Meditation began, as the connection with Magic elements deepened, the entire person would fall into a state of being, losing all perception of the outside world. Unless the Mana was completely depleted, it could not be easily dispelled.

If this state was forcibly broken by an external force, the person undergoing deep Meditation would suffer backlash based on their remaining Mana. The more Mana left, the greater the backlash to the body. For Archmages, this backlash could even cause their bodies to collapse.

This was why ordinary Mages would choose an absolutely safe environment when performing deep Meditation. Besides minimizing the influence of the external environment, it was more about preventing this backlash from occurring.

Rhode knew about the backlash of deep Meditation, but he still chose to perform it here.

The reason Rhode did this, besides wanting to seize every moment to improve his strength, was more importantly because the experience accumulated from his past life as a Mage gave him a unique understanding of deep Meditation.

If the Silver Seal Merchant Group chose to attack him while he was in a state of deep Meditation, Rhode could use some special means to avoid the damage from the backlash. Although his Mana might be gone, it would not affect his melee combat strength.

Rhode did not inform anyone else in the merchant group not to disturb him. According to the intelligence provided by the maid, there was a spellcaster of unknown strength within the merchant group.

Because he needed to establish a connection with the surrounding Magic elements, the Mana fluctuations caused by deep Meditation were easily detectable by spellcasters of any rank.

Although Rhode did not explicitly state his intentions to the merchant group, his actions were a signal.

Rhode believed that, based on the merchant group's previous behavior, they would not maliciously interrupt him after sensing that he had begun deep Meditation. Instead, they would choose to coexist without interference.

The merchant group wanted to safely transport the Soul Crystals to Dya and would not deliberately provoke powerful enemies, while Rhode had no intention of snatching the merchant group's Soul Crystals.

Since the carriage was not spacious, Rhode placed his hands flat on his lap and changed his equipped achievement to Beginner, preparing to enter a meditative state.

While Rhode was meditating, the Silver Seal Merchant Group was advancing along a main road. The sides of the road were lined with dense forests, with tall trees.

The road the carriage was traveling on had been specially chosen by the merchant group. Although there were dead branches and fallen leaves piled on the ground, the road was wide and free of obstacles, facilitating the carriage's movement.

The sky was already bright, but due to the obstruction of the surrounding dense forests, the light on the road remained dim.

In the center of the merchant group, Yusuf, standing beside the largest carriage, was directing the group's progress.

Unlike his casual attire yesterday, Yusuf was now wearing a silver-white armor and riding a brown horse. He carried no weapons, but wore a Space Ring on his hand.

At this moment, Yusuf was listening to his subordinate Scout's report on the surrounding situation.

This Scout was no longer young. Compared to other Scouts who relied on their agility, this Scout was clearly inferior. However, he possessed rich experience in scouting the surroundings, and was intimately familiar with the road to the City of Wailing.

From Yusuf's gaze, which kept looking in one direction, the Scout could tell that Yusuf's attention was not on the information he was reporting. Since there were no unusual circumstances, the Scout quickly finished his report and returned to the front of the caravan to scout.

Yusuf was still looking in the direction of the merchant group's flank. In Yusuf's mind, the safety of the merchant group was clearly more important.

Those two Necromancers of unknown origin were clearly what Yusuf was concerned about. Yesterday, out of necessity, to prevent the leak of information, he could only let them become passengers. Yusuf was now contemplating how to deal with them.

Although he had already assigned his best thieves to monitor them, Yusuf still felt uneasy.

It wasn't until the Scout had been gone for a while that Yusuf finally shifted his gaze. Just as he was about to give some instructions to his subordinate Scout, he realized that the subordinate had already finished his report and had gone ahead to scout.

Yusuf felt helpless and could only turn his attention back to that carriage.

Last night, Rhode could sleep peacefully in the carriage, but for the Silver Seal Merchant Group, the preparations had just begun.

Unlike Rhode, because Rhode had entered the Silver Seal's encampment and said those words, Yusuf had to change his plan. He packed everything overnight and, disregarding whether others might notice anything unusual, departed early this morning.

Now that the merchant group was on the road, Yusuf was starting to feel troubled by the two Necromancers in the group.

Yusuf understood that Necromancers understood the value of Soul Crystals better than anyone. If there were dangers on the road, the greatest hidden threat would come from the Necromancers within the merchant group.

Although the two Necromancers had not made any demands of him, only wanting to go to Dya, Yusuf could not believe that Necromancers, known for their schemes, would have no thoughts about the Soul Crystals.

Even though they were under his surveillance and had shown no unusual behavior, Yusuf could not feel at ease. Instead, he believed they were plotting something.

Because he was unsure of their strength, Yusuf dared not act rashly. The only thing he could do was to increase the intensity of their surveillance.