Deep Meditation

Yusuf was still keeping a wary eye on the necromancer inside the carriage. Meanwhile, Rhode was clearly in a different state of mind.

Rhode had no idea what was happening outside the carriage. Though he was meditating, his brow was furrowed. Clearly, things were not going smoothly.

Rhode tried to call out to every kind of magical element around him, but to his senses, they seemed utterly indifferent. Few chose to answer his call.

As things stood, Rhode had no way to get the magical elements to respond. Forget spending mana to establish a connection with them—if this continued, he might not even be able to maintain his meditative state.

Deep meditation was something only formal mages could generally master. Since Rhode's Spirit attribute was low, his repeated attempts to project his mana had come to nothing.

Rhode had never expected that deep meditation, something he had entered with ease in his previous life, would be so difficult to achieve now.

After one failure after another, Rhode had no choice but to change his plan.

Instead of calling out to every kind of magical element around him, he drew on the Beginner Fire Magic he already knew and focused solely on establishing a connection with fire elements.

At first, the fire elements around him still did not answer. But as Rhode persisted, a tiny handful of them began to respond to his call.

His experience from his previous life told him not to rush at this point. Rather than try to call more fire elements, Rhode began releasing mana, deepening his connection with the ones around him.

Feeling his mana slowly draining away, Rhode knew he had begun to connect with the fire elements around him.

Rhode focused all his attention on this faint connection, ignoring everything else around him. As his concentration sharpened, the world around him began to blur, leaving only the fire elements.

As his connection with these fire elements deepened, the others around him began to answer his call of their own accord, joining the connection one after another.

Rhode's mana began draining faster, though overall, it was still being depleted at an extremely slow rate. Now, he could sense nothing but the vast number of fire elements. All awareness of his body had faded away.

Maintaining this connection with the magical elements was an extremely taxing process. If a mage lost focus or grew drowsy, deep meditation would become far less effective—or even backfire. That was why Rhode had chosen to sleep through the night and restore his energy before attempting it.

With the experience of his previous life and his own tireless efforts, Rhode successfully entered a state of deep meditation.

Nearby, the vampire, who had been absorbing Death Energy, seemed to sense something. He quickly opened his eyes and watched Rhode for a few seconds before closing them again.

At that moment, inside a carriage in the middle of the merchant company's formation,

a blue-robed caster seemed to sense something and let out a quiet sound of surprise. He set aside the book he had been reading, opened the window beside him, and looked toward a spot not far away.

The place he was looking at was the carriage where Rhode was.

The blue-robed mage tapped twice on the edge of the window. Hearing the sound, Yusuf immediately came over and looked inside.

The blue-robed mage spoke to Yusuf in a low voice. Following his gaze, Yusuf looked toward Rhode's carriage as well.

"You mean... he's performing deep meditation?"

Yusuf's voice was full of doubt. He seemed unable to believe it.

Though he was no mage, Yusuf clearly knew a great deal about how mages cultivated their abilities. He understood what deep meditation meant to a mage, and what kind of backlash a failed attempt could cause.

When the blue-robed mage nodded, Yusuf stood there, stunned.

Yusuf simply couldn't understand why this necromancer had chosen to perform deep meditation here.

Even now, Yusuf was still trying to guess why the necromancer had come. Every possibility had crossed his mind, but he had yet to reach a conclusion.

Now, seeing this move, which seemed almost like deliberately exposing a weakness, Yusuf thought he understood. At last, he was sure. He looked deeply toward Rhode.

Inside the carriage, Yusuf still hadn't replied after some time. The blue-robed mage couldn't help asking in a low voice, "Should we take this opportunity to...?"

As a caster, the blue-robed mage understood what would happen if deep meditation were interrupted. He also knew what a golden opportunity this was, so he made the suggestion to Yusuf.

Though the blue-robed mage hadn't finished speaking, Yusuf understood what he meant. Still looking toward Rhode's carriage, he shook his head.

Seeing this, the blue-robed mage didn't press the matter.

Though he was a caster, he knew that he could offer the group leader advice, but the final decision was the leader's alone.

The blue-robed mage knew the leader must have his reasons for making this choice. He could offer advice, but he couldn't interfere too much with the leader's judgment.

Seeing that Yusuf was still staring toward Rhode's carriage, the blue-robed mage closed the window, sat back down, and resumed reading his book.

At last, Yusuf let out a deep sigh. He stopped looking toward the necromancer and turned his gaze to the front of the formation, preparing to go there and take charge.

Even after reaching the front of the formation, Yusuf was still thinking about the necromancer's actions.

In Yusuf's view, the necromancer had deliberately entered deep meditation.

The necromancer had done this simply to tell him, through the mage in the merchant company, that they meant no harm and only wanted to travel with the caravan to the City of Wailing.

Likewise, even though one of the mages in the merchant company was performing deep meditation, they wouldn't attack without knowing what the necromancer's group had up their sleeves. It was a matter of safety.

This seemingly submissive gesture had all but undone the effect of forcing his way into the merchant company as a traveler, putting them at ease. Yusuf couldn't help but think more highly of the necromancer.

Suddenly, a strange thought crossed Yusuf's mind.

Ever since the necromancer had entered the merchant company's camp, everything Yusuf had done had been within his expectations. The necromancer had seen through all of Yusuf's plans, from the cargo they were transporting to the fact that they certainly wouldn't attack them now.

Though they had never actually fought, this series of deductions had convinced Yusuf that the necromancer who had spoken earlier was no ordinary man.