At night, he meditated through the entire night.
Now that he had truly settled down, Dodu felt his spiritual power growing rapidly. In a single night, it increased more than it had back in the city. With all his recent reading and experiments, his thoughts felt light and nimble; he could gain roughly one copper coin's worth of spiritual power each night. By his estimate, advancing from a senior apprentice to a first-rank Wizard required around two hundred copper coins' worth of spiritual power. He only had seventy-six now—still far, far short. Even at a rate of one copper coin per day, it would take nearly half a year.
Slowly does it.
Before long, the night had passed.
Early the next morning, just as dawn broke, he set off alone with a bundle on his back and a sword hanging at his waist.
Bal had vanished without a trace these past few days, off carousing somewhere. Dodu simply could not find him.
In the mountains and forests, probably no one was Bal's natural enemy. Even across all of Chris County—perhaps the entire Northern Kingdom—there were few who could match him evenly, so there was nothing to worry about.
All he needed to worry about now was himself.
Victor's visit last night had not merely been a warning. He had also brought a map showing the locations of the traps. Dodu needed to study it carefully and make sure he did not stumble into one.
Though his spiritual perception was powerful and he was extremely sensitive to changes in his surroundings, it was no use against fixed, lifeless things like traps. He had to stay safe—this was Dodu's rule for survival.
Following the river upstream, he passed above the village. After going past the highest watchtower, Dodu entered the ridge. He