22 Counting the Spoils of War

Chapter 22: Counting the Spoils of War

By the campfire, Luo Ning inventoried the items of the mage Pedro.

Aside from four sheets of parchment, the small black pouch held 3 gold, 57 silver, and 256 copper coins. Adding the 2 gold, 18 silver, and 153 copper coins taken from the two slain knights, Luo Ning's monetary gains were quite substantial.

Oh, right—the armor from those two knights had also been stripped and claimed by Luo Ning. Two sets of full plate armor, not top-tier but far from shabby, likely worth no less than 30 gold each. Two sets made 60 gold coins.

Unfortunately, Luo Ning's build didn't fit them well, so he could only award one set to Macken and keep the other as a spare.

When he packed away the armor, Cain, the Green family knight, was practically drooling with envy.

Too bad for him—Luo Ning had saved his life and was a member of the Wushan family, so Cain could only stare helplessly.

In truth, Luo Ning had considered taking the Intermediate Knight's equipment from the Green family warrior as well, but after some thought, he decided against it.

He was a kind-hearted man, incapable of such excessive behavior.

Beyond these obvious spoils, Pedro also had a fine quill pen (though Luo Ning wasn't sure if it was actually goose feather), three small crystal bottles, and a thumb-sized purple crystal.

Luo Ning opened a bottle cap, and a foul, fishy odor wafted out. He examined it closely—within the liquid, there seemed to be tiny, glistening specks.

"These three bottles should contain the Monster Heartblood Pedro used to make spell scrolls, right?"

Pedro had mentioned earlier that crafting spell scrolls required Monster Heartblood mixed with Magic Core Powder or Magic Crystal Powder.

This small bottle of material was likely worth a fortune.

Finally, Luo Ning stared at the purple crystal, his emotions churning violently.

"Could this... could this be a Magic Crystal??"

A Magic Crystal was worth over a hundred gold coins. If this thing was a Magic Crystal, Luo Ning would have hit the jackpot.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find any memory of Magic Crystals in his previous self's mind to confirm it.

As for asking the Green siblings...

Luo Ning would never be foolish enough to do that. What if they demanded a share?

"I'll keep it for now. I'll figure it out someday."

Luo Ning stored all the spoils into his Spatial Ring. This rescue mission had been incredibly rewarding.

Truly, transcendents had money to spare. One robbery—no, one rescue—yielded such generous gains. It was genuinely uplifting.

So, sometimes, a person needed a bit of a sense of justice, just like Luo Ning.

He chuckled happily for a while, then pulled himself together to get down to business. He picked up the Clear Wind Spell parchment and studied it carefully.

The spell's Spell Pattern was clearly depicted, along with the sequence of Spell Nodes to be traced with Mental Power.

"I get it!"

Luo Ning memorized the Clear Wind Spell's Spell Pattern, then stored the parchment back in his Spatial Ring.

"You can think of the Spell Pattern as the Big Dipper connected by lines. What I need to do is start from the first star of the Dipper, use Mental Power to guide Magic Power to light up the nodes, then connect them."

"If the starting position is wrong, you can't form the ladle shape, and the Spell Pattern collapses."

"If the mental power line connecting the nodes bends, and it doesn't match the straight lines in the Clear Wind Spell's pattern, that won't work either."

"Only by drawing it all in one go, with the node order and lines perfectly correct, can the spell be released."

With this understanding, Luo Ning spread his palm and made his first attempt to use Mental Power to guide Magic Power in tracing the Clear Wind Spell's Spell Pattern on his hand.

He considered himself quite talented, but after several tries, he couldn't successfully condense the Magic Power into the Spell Nodes of the pattern, leading to repeated collapses.

Still, he wasn't in a hurry. Learning magic wasn't like learning swordsmanship from Macken—this was a field he'd never touched before. Failure was understandable and acceptable.

"This time, the failure was because the first node was drawn too hastily, without enough Magic Power to sustain it."

"This time, the failure was due to a lack of focus, causing a break in the Spell Pattern between the second and third nodes."

"This time, the failure..."

Luo Ning failed again and again, tried again and again. Finally, after over a dozen failures, a complete Clear Wind Spell Spell Pattern formed above his palm.

Then, the pattern flickered, and a clear breeze sprang from Luo Ning's palm, blowing forward.

In that instant, Luo Ning sensed that the Magic Power consumed was several times greater than when drawing the Spell Pattern.

But at last, he had succeeded.

Luo Ning broke into a joyful smile.

"Ah~"

A soft exclamation interrupted Luo Ning's focus. He looked up ahead and saw Miss Marina of the Green family pressing down on her skirt, barely avoiding the embarrassment of it being lifted by the wind.

"Good... good evening, Your Excellency Luo Ning!"

Marina's face was flushed even redder by the campfire. "The wind is a bit strong..."

Luo Ning rubbed his nose. It seemed she hadn't noticed he'd used magic.

Indeed, the Clear Wind Spell wasn't as conspicuous as the Wind Blade Spell.

"Good evening, Miss Marina. What brings you out?"

Just after dinner, Luo Ning had a brief gathering with the Green family siblings, a short encounter.

"I can't sleep." Marina lifted her skirt and walked over, sitting down beside Luo Ning.

A gentle breeze blew, and Luo Ning caught a faint scent of perfume.

He lightly sniffed twice but couldn't identify what materials the perfume was made from.

"After this afternoon's danger, it's normal not to be able to sleep."

Luo Ning comforted her. "But everything is over now. Tomorrow, I'll have my team escort you all to Lakeside Town."

"I'm so grateful to you, Your Excellency Luo Ning!"

Whether from excitement or something else, Marina grabbed Luo Ning's arm and pressed half her body against him. Luo Ning felt a softness.

"Do you know? From this afternoon until now, my mind has been full of the image of you on horseback cutting down the assassin. I think I'll never forget it for the rest of my life!"

Luo Ning: "..."

Were girls from another world this direct?

He could believe that even if he pulled Marina into his arms and kissed her, or even took her to his tent for the night, she wouldn't resist—and might even be more proactive.

But, well, Luo Ning admitted he was still a bit of a looks person; he wasn't interested in Marina.

Besides, after midnight, he still had to welcome his Light Attribute Mage, which was far more important than fooling around with a woman.

Most crucially, he, Luo Ning, was someone who would become a Major Lord—how could he start messing around before even getting started?

"Ahem..."

Luo Ning quietly pulled his arm free, then stood up. "Miss Marina, the wind is strong outside. You should go back and rest. I still have sword practice, so I won't keep you company."

With that, he walked to the side and began swinging his longsword.

Rejected, Marina wasn't angry. Instead, she watched the man practicing swordplay with a smile.

She had heard about Luo Ning, and all of it was bad rumors—even the Heide family's young lady had committed suicide after accidentally sleeping with Luo Ning.

But seeing him today, not just her, but also her younger brother Malik and Cain, all felt that Luo Ning was completely different from the rumors.

This was clearly a man with courage, strength, and good looks.

The face beneath that silver hair, illuminated by the firelight, grew more and more captivating.

"If only I could sleep holding Luo Ning," Marina thought to herself.

Knight Cain, meanwhile, watched Macken and the others training from a distance.

He didn't grasp the meaning or value behind this training, only subconsciously feeling that it might be a new dance invented by the "playful" grandson of the Marquis?

A dance performance made up entirely of men—how rare. Could this be the legendary Baron Luo Ning's unique hobby?

But he had to admit, when these guards shouted their slogans in unison, it had quite an aura and was rather eye-catching.