No Useless Spells

On another stone pillar.

The young man leaned on his sword, his messy black hair plastered against his cheeks and forehead, damp with moisture. His eyes, hidden behind the strands, stared fixedly at Anse.

"You're a spellcaster, aren't you? You must have a way out of this, right?" His gaze betrayed a glimmer of hope.

But seeing Anse begin to gather his spoils without acknowledging him, he grew anxious.

"Hey, brother, nice work back there—" His voice was clear and bright.

Anse tossed the collected weapons, pouches, and other miscellaneous items onto the ground and walked to the edge of the stone platform.

"Don't be impatient, I haven't forgotten you. The pillars are about to collapse; we must save ourselves as quickly as possible." He held up a rope salvaged from a goblin's pack to signal his intent.

The two pillars were about twenty meters apart. The other pillar was several meters lower and was taking the direct brunt of the water flowing from above, making it significantly more dangerous.

"I get it, I get it. My name is Brat. Is your rope long enough?" Brat grinned, revealing a set of slightly yellowed teeth.

Anse untied the rope and laid it on the ground to measure it. It was about ten meters long—nowhere near enough.

"It's not enough!"

Brat's face fell, and he said helplessly, "Do you have any other way?"

"I'll go up first, then find a rope to save you." Anse had already considered this.

The spells he had chosen were highly functional and specifically suited for the current situation.

If he didn't have a rope, he would use Mold Earth and Leap Spell, combined with his climbing ability, to scale the wall directly.

With the rope, it would be even simpler.

"Ah? Alright, I... I'll wait for you." Brat lowered his head slightly, the hope that had just ignited instantly extinguished.

With monsters rampaging above, once the other man reached the top, he would likely flee immediately, making the chances of him returning to save him slim to none.

Anse didn't say much, as he wasn't even sure himself if he would return to save anyone.

The apprentice who had fallen with him was nowhere to be seen—likely dead. Life was fragile, and staying alive was what mattered most.

He bundled the weapons, coin purses, and other valuables onto his back, tossing the rest of the clutter aside.

"Mage Hand" (Draconic language)

Following a low, majestic incantation in the Draconic language, a floating spectral hand appeared on the cliff wall diagonally above him.

This was the zero-ring spell, Mage Hand—something the original owner had obsessed over for years but could never learn.

The spectral hand lasted for one minute. It could fly and was as nimble as a human hand, but it could carry no more than ten pounds and could not stray more than thirty feet from the caster.

The sensation of having an extra hand was marvelous. A faint smile touched the corners of Anse's mouth as he controlled the spectral hand with his mind, guiding it to probe the wall for stability and to avoid cracks or loose soil and rock structures.

Time was of the essence. After quickly selecting the first foothold and mapping out a climbing route on the cliff face, he cast another spell.

Cantrip: Mold Earth!

After a short, forceful incantation, a section of the cliff wall above writhed like mud, instantly transforming into a small stone platform with a fixed ring.

It was nine meters high—the standard casting range for both Mage Hand and Mold Earth. He felt he could have pushed it further, but for the sake of stability, he chose not to.

"Hoo—"

Anse took a deep breath, limbered up his body, and calmed his restless spirit.

Cantrips did not require his own mana, drawing instead from the ambient magic in the air, but the chaotic state of the Weave made casting significantly more difficult and placed a certain burden on his mind.

He grabbed the rope and threw it upward with force. The spectral hand caught the end easily and tied it to the fixed ring.

The rope was rough hemp, about the thickness of a thumb. Anse gave it a hard tug; it felt sturdy enough. Without further hesitation, he gripped the rope and climbed upward, using both hands and feet.

It took him a dozen seconds to easily vault onto the stone platform.

"Simpler than expected. Keep going!"

The following process was a repetition of his previous actions. Finally, just as the second Mage Hand was about to expire, he climbed onto the fourth platform he had shaped.

This platform was located one meter below the edge of the pit—a position he had chosen deliberately.

He didn't rush to climb out. Instead, he crouched on the platform and listened intently.

It was nearing dusk, and the sky was dim. The light and shadows around the giant pit were chaotic, and the roar of the water was mixed with the sound of frantic footsteps.

"People!"

The spot where he was climbing was not far from the Mage Tower. The foundation here was solid, and the risk of collapse was relatively low.

The Mage Tower was located in the southeastern part of the Brampton District, overlooking the mighty Chongsa River to the south. To the east lay the Outer City—the Rollover Zone—at the foot of Dust Eagle Mountain. The two districts were separated by a city wall and connected by the Cliff Gate.

"The Underdark Creatures' landing point is to the northwest. There are fewer monsters here, so the refugees are likely trying to pass through the Cliff Gate to escape to Dust Eagle Mountain." Anse understood the refugees' motives after a moment's thought.

He peeked out and scanned the area. Scattered groups of people were running toward the southeast, their footsteps erratic. They glanced around as they ran, panicked like birds startled by a bowshot.

"Are they running in the wrong direction?" Anse felt a surge of doubt. He glanced at the breached Chongsa River. "Could it be... that the Cliff Gate is blocked?"

He had previously noticed several sections of the wall between the two districts had collapsed, creating a path, but it was difficult to traverse unless absolutely necessary.

The situation was unclear, but he hadn't encountered any monsters yet. Now, he had two choices: either run for his life immediately or find a way to save Brat.

He tilted his head to look into the deep pit at his feet. A black silhouette stood silently on the edge of a stone pillar, half its body battered by the waterfall. It did not cry out, its eyes hidden in the twilight like a statue.

This temperament... is quite extraordinary.

Anse withdrew his gaze, yet he decided to save him.

If Brat had acted maliciously earlier or lacked the wit to avoid being detected by the Gray Dwarves, he wouldn't have made it up so easily.

With a preliminary foundation of trust established, they could attempt to flee together. He also needed a helper, someone who could serve as a "frontline" to take hits for him during combat.

"First, go to the wizard tower to find a rope."

After confirming there were no monsters nearby, he climbed onto the ground and, clutching the crystal in his left hand, snuck toward the tilted wizard tower dozens of meters away.

The sky was dim, and the entire city was shrouded in gloom, with hardly a single light to be seen.

Most Underdark Creatures possessed Darkvision; this level of visibility was no different from daylight to them, while the city residents were too busy fleeing for their lives to dare light any lamps.

Anse avoided the debris scattered everywhere, frequently using shadows to conceal himself as he crept toward the entrance.

The wizard tower had six stories and stood nearly twenty meters tall, once the highest building near Cliff Gate. Now, it was dilapidated, tilting at an angle of over ten degrees, its walls covered in massive cracks—a true hazard.

It won't collapse, will it?

However, Anse reconsidered; those Underdark Creatures likely wouldn't want to stay in a dangerous building either, which meant it should be safe here.

He peered inside through the shattered gate, seeing only a few human corpses, with no sign of monsters or other strange noises.

He stepped inside on tiptoe, hugging the wall as he slowly circled the hall, finally confirming that the monsters had left.

He bent down to pick up a short rod and tore a piece of rag from a corpse to cover most of it.

"Light Spell."

As mana poured in, the rod immediately lit up, casting a bright white glow that illuminated most of the hall.

Anse quickly covered it, wrapping it in several layers of cloth until only a tiny bit of the tip was exposed, causing the light to dim accordingly.

"That should do it."

The Light Spell allowed an object to emit bright light in a 20-foot (≥6 meters) radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet, lasting for an hour—it was quite effective.

But being too bright wasn't necessarily a good thing.