Light Spell

Late at night.

A full moon hung high in the sky, its cold light spilling over a cottage on the western outskirts of town.

A faint, wavering golden glow shone through the cottage window.

It was the orb of light gathered at He Xi's fingertips.

Practicing the [Light Spell] went much more smoothly than He Xi had expected.

Thanks to the accelerated mana recovery from [Earth Affinity] and David's notes, after a night of repeated attempts, He Xi had gradually found his footing.

He had slept in during the day, replenishing his depleted energy.

Now, after several more hours of tedious practice—

[Skill Mastered: Light Spell]

The orb at his fingertips, which had been wavering before, now shone steadily and brightly.

"I did it!"

He Xi felt a surge of joy, but then a hint of disappointment crept in.

"My Wisdom didn't increase..."

He sensed the subtle change brought by the newly mastered spell and understood.

"Looks like the effort you put in is proportional to what you get out."

"The [Light Spell] is just a simple illumination trick. It doesn't take much skill, and it barely trains your mental strength."

"Unlike the [Earth Spike Technique]. It's much harder. Without [Earth Affinity], I probably wouldn't have learned it in my whole life."

He glanced at Bruce, who was sprawled on the floor, looking utterly listless.

"Bruce, get some sleep." He Xi extinguished the orb at his fingertips. The cottage plunged into darkness, with only moonlight filtering in through the window. "We'll pack up tomorrow and get ready to leave."

"We're leaving tomorrow?" Bruce struggled to raise his heavy eyelids, his voice thick with sleep. "Is it because of those two guards who came last night? They came again this morning, didn't they? They said something about... Lord inviting you to visit the manor?"

Bruce had been through the wringer these past two days.

As a dog with a regular routine, he needed fifteen hours of sleep every day.

But for the past two days, the orb at He Xi's fingertips had kept lighting up and going out, then lighting up again. Bruce's eyes were practically blinded.

And he felt He Xi had been acting strangely ever since he learned to talk. He was listless during the day but full of energy at night! It made no sense to him!

"It's not because of them." He Xi shook his head and sat down on the bed. "They were annoying when they showed up out of nowhere and tried to chase us off, but I'd already planned to leave. If not for those notes..."

"Notes?" Bruce gave a huge yawn. "What do they have to do with anything?"

"Of course they matter! I need to learn skills. Once I've mastered two basic mage skills, I can take the entry-level certification at the Mage Guild. With a certification badge, I can register as an adventurer! And then..."

"An adventure?!"

Bruce perked up in an instant! His tail thumped against the floor as his sleepiness vanished. "Really? We're finally going on an adventure?! The legendary dragon lairs and treasures! And Dungeons!"

"Yeah!" He Xi caught Bruce's excitement. "We're not going to the manor. There's no point. The most urgent thing is... making money."

He felt the few Silver Scales and copper nails he had left in his pocket.

The money Hord had brought had dwindled away during their year and more of living off it in Plint.

Adventuring required equipment and supplies. Without money, they couldn't get anywhere.

Bruce was lost in his fantasy of becoming "Bruce the Adventurer" when his nostrils suddenly twitched several times.

"Hmm... He Xi?" He lifted his head, puzzled. "I think... there's a strange stink?"

"A stink?" He Xi sniffed, but couldn't smell anything.

But Bruce's nose never failed!

"It smells like rotten eggs, or... meat that's been left out for a long time?"

He Xi's heart tightened. He stood up at once and hurried out of the cottage with Bruce.

Outside, the moonlight flowed like water.

The stench in the air seemed even stronger.

He Xi's sharp gaze swept toward Plint Town.

In the darkness, the town's outline was hazy. It seemed... something was writhing there.

He cautiously approached the town with Bruce.

The closer they got, the more overpowering and pungent the stench became.

He Xi's heart lurched into his throat.

He raised his hand, and a ball of white light appeared at his fingertip.

[Light Spell]

The orb arced through the air and landed precisely on the writhing darkness at the town entrance!

The light drove back the shadows.

He Xi and Bruce saw the scene before them in an instant.

Several hunched creatures with sickly green skin stood exposed in the light!

They were only as tall as a human child's waist, with pointed ears and fangs. Their murky yellow eyes squinted in pain under the bright light, and their wrinkled faces twisted into savage expressions.

They covered their eyes with their claws, their mouths full of sharp teeth gaping soundlessly.

"Goblins?!"

He Xi was shaken to the core.

"How could Goblins show up here? How did they get past the town's checkpoints?"

"No... something feels off."

Though he was full of questions, He Xi didn't immediately cast [Earth Spike Technique] to attack.

Before he understood the situation, wasting mana recklessly was a mage's greatest taboo.

Just then, he felt his trouser leg being yanked hard!

He looked down and saw Bruce biting his pant leg, his eyes full of worry.

"Bruce?" He Xi had just started to ask when his voice seemed to be swallowed by an invisible sponge and vanished into the air!

He couldn't hear his own voice!

He couldn't hear Bruce whimpering, either!

He Xi immediately understood where that eerie sense of wrongness came from.

The Goblins were shrieking, Bruce was barking, and he was talking too, but all around them lay utter silence.

Fortunately, it didn't affect spellcasting.

He immediately cast another [Light Spell], making the Goblins who had tried to approach stumble backward in a frantic scramble.

Then he retreated at top speed, with Bruce close behind.

They had backed away some forty or fifty meters when the wind, the insects, and the sound of his footsteps surged back into his ears like a rising tide.

"Whew... whew..." He Xi panted heavily, his own breathing and Bruce's barking filling his ears again.

The Goblins chased them to that invisible boundary, then stopped. Inside the silent zone, they snarled and bared their teeth at them but didn't dare cross the line.

"Damn it! He Xi, I nearly shouted myself hoarse just now. How come you didn't react at all?" Bruce shouted, still shaken.

"Could you hear yourself barking before?"

"No!" Bruce answered without thinking, then caught on. "Oh! You mean near the town, we couldn't hear each other talking?"

He Xi nodded gravely. "That's right! In that area... some kind of force is blocking sound!"

He stared at the deathly silent town of Plint, his sense of foreboding growing stronger.

"Where did those little green runt things crawl out of? That stench is coming from them!"

"I don't know. Let's go around toward Eagle Claw Manor. Listen carefully. If the sounds start fading again, warn me right away."

"Got it!"

Man and dog turned west beneath the moonlight.

As they rounded the westernmost corner of town and prepared to take the main road toward the manor, a nauseating smell of blood gradually drifted through the air.

Bruce gave a low whine.

He Xi's heart sank!

Plint Town lay terrifyingly quiet beneath the night sky.

Suddenly, He Xi stopped. He noticed something hanging from the bell tower at the highest point in town, not far away.

A night breeze swept by, carrying off the clouds veiling the moon.

Brilliant moonlight poured down.

It was a doll.

As if it had been molded from black mud.

Long, jet-black hair on the doll's head swayed gently in the night breeze.