The surviving guards began clearing the battlefield under Cain's command.
They dragged the scattered bandit corpses to an empty patch beside the road, roughly stripped off whatever leather armor remained intact, and collected their weapons;
Four or five packhorses abandoned by the bandits wandered in the distance. Some guards went to retrieve them and tethered them alongside the caravan's horses;
The bodies of their fallen companions were laid out as neatly as possible, while the wounded were gathered together on the wagons for care.
But given the level of civilization in this world, without a Cleric or Druid, most of the severely wounded had only one fate: death.
Some knelt on the ground, pressing in vain against their companions' wounds, though the bleeding had already stopped; others tore off their own shirts and clumsily tried to bandage them. Suppressed sobbing came from nearby, where a young guard held his dying comrade, his voice choked as he repeated, "Hang on... please, hang on..."
"M-My lord...?" a cautious voice came from the carriage.
Ye Wei'an turned and saw Ailian peeking out from behind the carriage door, looking him up and down as if checking whether he was hurt.
"I'm fine." Ye Wei'an patted his chest to show that he was unharmed.
Only then did Ailian relax. She stepped down from the carriage, lightly lifting her skirt. As she looked at the busy, blood-soaked scene around her, especially the suffering wounded guards, her hands unconsciously clutched the hem of her clothes, and compassion showed in her eyes.
"My lord," she said softly, her voice pleading, "I... may I help care for the wounded? I learned a little bandaging from the nanny..."
Ye Wei'an nodded. "Go ahead. Be careful."
"Thank you, my lord!" Ailian seemed as if she'd been granted a reprieve. She immediately found a stack of white cloth in the carriage and hurried over to where the wounded had been gathered.
Watching the scene before him, Ye Wei'an remembered that he'd reached the experience threshold.
He recalled that leveling up as a Spellfire Sorcerer granted healing spells.
Without hesitation, he focused on the system.
[Experience threshold reached (764/600).]
[Your level has increased. Choose a class to level up.]
He chose [Spellfire Sorcerer] again.
[Your Spellfire Sorcerer level has increased to level 3.]
[You have learned the class spells: Cure Wounds, Spellfire Bolt, Spellfire Flare, Spellfire Ray, Lesser Restoration.]
[You have gained a new feat.]
[You have gained two spells of your choice.]
For a Spellfire Sorcerer, reaching level three marked a minor transformation.
Not only could he cast second-level spells, he had also learned several Spellfire spells at once.
He quickly sorted through the new spells flooding his mind:
[Cure Wounds]: A first-level spell that restores a wounded person's vitality through touch—the ability he needed most right now.
[Spellfire Bolt]: A first-level spell that forms an energy arrow dealing both fire and radiant damage, then launches it at a distant target.
[Spellfire Flare]: A first-level spell that summons an explosive burst of Spellfire energy that ignores cover. It can summon more bursts when cast at a higher level, allowing it to attack multiple targets at once.
[Spellfire Ray]: A second-level spell that fires three Spellfire rays at one or more targets.
[Lesser Restoration]: A second-level spell that removes various common negative conditions, such as paralysis, poisoning, or weakness.
All in all, these new spells not only made up for his lack of healing, but also greatly expanded his offensive options.
That meant he could focus his chosen spells on utility.
For his two chosen spells, Ye Wei'an picked the second-level [Alter Self] and [Misty Step].
[Misty Step]: You are briefly enveloped in silvery mist and teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within ten meters.
[Alter Self]: You can change your form, choosing one of three effects: aquatic adaptation, change appearance, or natural weapons.
Aquatic adaptation: You grow gills and webbing. You can breathe underwater and swim better.
Change appearance: You can customize your appearance, including your height, weight, facial features, voice, hair length, and skin color. You can even mimic another race, though you won't gain its racial abilities. However, the change cannot be too drastic.
Natural weapons: You grow an offensive feature such as claws, fangs, horns, or hooves. The damage you deal with these features is affected by your primary ability score.
[Misty Step] was essentially teleportation, an extremely useful spell for saving his life.
[Alter Self] had countless uses. Whether for infiltration, disguises, or emergency combat, it could come in handy. It was practically an essential spell for travel and for killing and setting fires.
For his feat, he chose [Actor].
[Actor]: Your Charisma increases by 1, you are harder to identify when disguised as someone else, and you can mimic the sounds made by other creatures, including speech.
Combined with the "change appearance" effect of [Alter Self], this feat would allow him to create an almost perfect disguise.
He had chosen this combination because he figured it might come in handy someday.
With the level-up complete, Ye Wei'an looked away from the system interface in his mind and focused once more on the wounded before him.
Looking at the badly injured guards, Ye Wei'an quickly assessed how much strength he had left.
He had already used quite a few first-level Spell Slots in the battle. Fortunately, leveling up also restored his reserves.
"Bring all the severely wounded over here and lay them down." He pointed to a relatively clean patch of ground beside the carriage and gave the order.
A few guards tending to their companions hesitated.
An old soldier with a scar on his face couldn't help speaking up. "My lord, they're badly hurt. Moving them carelessly might..."
"Do as Lord Ye Wei'an says!" Knight Cain's voice rang out, cutting the old soldier off.
The knight stepped forward, his gaze stern as it swept over everyone. "Have you forgotten how Lord Ye Wei'an performed just now? He's a powerful Wizard. If he says so, he must have a reason. Your job is to follow orders!"
Their superior had given a direct order, so the guards dared not disobey. They began carefully carrying their severely wounded comrades over.
Soon, six severely wounded men were laid out before Ye Wei'an. One had a gash across his abdomen; another had a broken arrow shaft stuck in his chest. The rest were all ashen-faced and breathing weakly. The man with the gash across his abdomen was especially close to death. If the guards handling him had been any rougher, he might have died on the spot.
Ye Wei'an had no choice but to do it this way.
After reaching level three, he had a total of four first-level Spell Slots, which meant he could cast [Cure Wounds] at most four times.
But there were six severely wounded men who needed treatment.
This was where the advantage of metamagic came in: [Twinned Spell] could make a single-target spell affect two targets,
and [Cure Wounds] was a touch spell that had to be triggered through contact.
To touch two wounded men at once, Ye Wei'an had no choice but to have them brought together.
Under the tense, expectant gazes of the crowd, Ye Wei'an crossed his hands and chanted the spell.
"Cure Wounds."
Whoosh—
Soft white light mingled with blue flames, gathering between his palms.
Then he activated his metamagic, [Twinned Spell].
The Spellfire suddenly swelled, then split in two, encircling his hands.
When Ye Wei'an touched two wounded men with his Spellfire-wreathed hands, the watching guards stirred uneasily.
The sight of Spellfire setting flesh alight never came.
What should have been a destructive force now became a healing light of life, seeping into the two wounded men's bodies.
The results were immediate.
Their lacerated flesh visibly stopped bleeding and drew together, while arrowheads embedded in their bodies were slowly pushed out by new tissue.
The right-hand man's face, pale as paper, quickly regained a trace of color. His weak, ragged breaths grew steady and strong.
Most astonishing was the guard on the left, whose abdomen had been nearly split open. His wound healed completely, and he even propped himself up on an elbow, trying to sit up!
"Lathander, God of the Dawn, above..." someone among the watching guards murmured.
"Thank the gods, Gareth! You're going to be all right!" someone else cried with joy.
"Long live Lord Ye Wei'an!"
When the first guard shouted, the others joined in!
"Long live Lord Ye Wei'an!"
In the guards' eyes, Ye Wei'an was nothing short of a savior.
[Name: Ye Weian Xiaxing] [Level]: LV.3 (314/1800) [Race]: Human [Class]: Spellfire Sorcerer [Background]: Noble [Attributes]: Strength 10, Dexterity 11, Constitution 11, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 11, Charisma 18 [Spellfire Energy]: 3 [Feats]: Magic Absorption, War Caster, Telepathy, Actor [Metamagic]: Twinned Spell, Quickened Spell [Spells]: Cantrips—Spellfire Flame, Light, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, True Strike, Four Symbols Method, Mage Hand, Charm Person 1st-level spells (4/4)—Mage Armor, Silver Light Sharp Tongue, Grease, Shield, Cure Wounds, Spellfire Bolt, Spellfire Flare 2nd-level spells (3/3)—Detect Thoughts, Spellfire Ray, Lesser Restoration, Alter Self, Misty Step
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