Well-Stocked, Well-Prepared

After dealing with the most dangerous Spined Devils, the remaining Lemures were no longer a problem.

Spined Devils were challenge rating 2 devils, while Lemures were so weak they did not even have a calculable challenge rating. Even a level 1 adventurer could handle several of them.

Still, to prevent any further surprises, Marvin did not hold back even against weaker foes. His musket fired continuously as he and his companions wiped out every Lemure as quickly as possible.

The midnight woods returned to silence, and the thick smell of sulfur in the air gradually dissipated.

Marvin gained 270 experience points from this battle, 240 of which had come from the two Spined Devils.

After all, this had been a group battle, so he could not keep all the experience for himself.

Even so, his experience had now reached 882/900. He was only one step away from reaching level 3 and touching the second layer of the Weave.

Naturally, there was no need for a wizard like Marvin to handle the tiring, filthy work of cleaning up the battlefield.

"Toad" eagerly took out his silver-plated shortsword and began dissecting the Spined Devils' corpses.

Slicked-back Hair frowned slightly and approached Marvin. "These devils actually left corpses behind. That means they weren't projections summoned into the Prime Material Plane—their true bodies somehow came here. Could you use your extensive planar knowledge to clear up my confusion, my friend? How did these devils get to Faerûn, and what do they want?"

Marvin folded his right arm across his chest and pinched his chin with his left hand, striking the classic thinking pose.

"The Blue Creek Valley region was once affected by the [Second Sundering]. Its planar boundaries are fragile and unstable, and spatial rifts occasionally appear. It isn't impossible that one such rift leads to Hell, allowing a small number of demons to wander in by accident.

"That's the optimistic possibility.

"The pessimistic one is that some schemer is up to no good, using Blue Creek Valley's abundant ambient magic to open a portal and bring devils here..."

After hearing Marvin's analysis, Slicked-back Hair's face immediately turned grave. "When I first learned that devils had appeared in Blue Creek Valley, I didn't think much of it. Now, it seems the matter isn't so simple."

"We have limited intelligence right now. Wild speculation won't help. In short, we can only proceed cautiously and prepare as thoroughly as possible for unexpected situations."

Slicked-back Hair nodded in agreement.

The next second, his expression shifted from solemn to delighted, as though he had spotted a pile of gold. "Haha, at least we stumbled upon one good thing.

"Opportunities to kill devils in their true bodies and harvest all sorts of materials from them are rare. Devil hide is fireproof and poison-resistant, and it offers additional protection against metals other than silver and cold iron. It's an excellent material for making armor."

The hides of the two Spined Devils, along with the flaming forked spears in their hands, would sell for at least 2,000 gold coins.

They had made a killing in this fight!

Marvin waved a hand and let Slicked-back Hair deal with the Spined Devil corpses.

He returned to camp, cast another [Alarm] over it, then went back to sleep.

Eight hours later, Marvin emerged from his tent refreshed and with his spell slots restored.

It was almost eleven in the morning by then. It seemed they would not reach the druid herb garden today.

Still, unless they were in a desperate hurry, it was common adventurer knowledge that it was better to travel slowly while remaining in good condition. The entire party had no objection to reaching their destination a day later.

At that moment, Slicked-back Hair and the other two were taking stock of their consumed supplies.

When the battle began in the early morning, the flying Spined Devils had attacked from the air and bypassed the camp's early warning measures, catching the party in a rather embarrassing situation.

But once they got through the initial panic, the battle had gone smoothly.

No one had been injured, and no healing potions or other medical supplies had been used. Their reserves remained plentiful.

Their weapons and equipment had suffered only minor damage, which would be easy to repair.

Other common consumables, such as rope, iron nails, burlap, candles, lamp oil, and glass bottles, were also still sufficient.

The only things they had used in significant quantities were Marvin's bullets and the priest's holy water.

"Captain, can you make some more holy water?" the rogue asked.

Considering they might encounter devils again on the rest of their journey, it was a very good suggestion.

Slicked-back Hair spread his hands helplessly. "I'd like to make more holy water too, but we don't have purified water. And I didn't prepare [Create Water]."

Although Blue Creek lay just over two hundred feet away, its water was fine for drinking but did not meet the magical definition of "purified water."

That was because the entire Blue Creek Valley region was saturated with all kinds of mixed magical energies, and its water sources were no exception.

Using such water to make holy water would, at best, weaken its effects and, at worst, render it completely useless. It would only waste divine spell slots for nothing.

Just as his companions were worrying over the issue, Marvin took out the Packhorse Sack and called out, "Give me a hand and help me move the water barrels out!"

He was only a wizard with 10 Strength. Heavy labor was better left to the dwarf with 16 Strength.

"You actually brought such a huge barrel of water?" Slicked-back Hair asked in surprise.

"There's more than just this one. There are twenty barrels of drinking water in the sack, weighing 800 pounds in total—enough for us to drink for two months. There's also 1,000 pounds of food, including bread, jerky, vegetables, nuts, fruit, seasonings, and more.

"So even if some accident suddenly sent us to some godforsaken plane and forced us into wilderness survival, we'd still last at least two months."

The other three party members were left staring at Marvin in stunned silence. It took them a long while to recover.

Toad gave him a thumbs-up, expressing his complete agreement.

Cellar burst into laughter, then muttered, "Why didn't you pack any alcohol?"

Slicked-back Hair mumbled things like, "Capital should stay in circulation. Adventurers shouldn't hold heavy assets; it's wasteful," with a thoroughly baffled expression.

The essence of these storage-type items was actually to use magic to open a passage between the Prime Material Plane and the Astral Plane, isolating a small independent space.

The Astral Plane was unaffected by the passage of time and contained no microorganisms. Food stored in the Packhorse Sack would not spoil, so Marvin did not consider it wasteful.

It never hurt to be prepared. Only by bringing enough food and water on an adventure could one travel with peace of mind.

After that small interlude, Marvin began replenishing his spent ammunition.

During the previous battle, he had not spared any ammunition in order to end it quickly. He had unleashed full firepower, his flintlock firing silver bullets one after another and sending the numerous Lemures back to Hell.

Only after taking stock did he realize he had just two boxes left, containing twenty-four silver bullets in total.

Reaching the druid herb garden, gathering herbs, and returning safely would probably take another two or three days. If they encountered several more battles with devils along the way, his silver bullets would definitely not be enough.

He could only make more on the spot.

He took his coin pouch from his storage ring and counted it, finding eighty silver coins in total.

"Not enough. I need more silver."

With that thought, Marvin went around asking each of his three companions and exchanged for another 104 silver coins.

After piling the silver coins together, he took out the Elemental Machine Badge.