Windfall

The rising sun bathed the land in morning light.

Dago walked out of his inn room with a yawn, activating the runes on his apprentice robe with his mental power. The robe, which had been torn in several places, immediately became spotless again.

In order to open the storage pouch as soon as possible, he had worked late into the night.

The process had also indirectly improved his Meditation Technique.

Otherwise, in town, it was difficult for him to improve most of his skills. It was nothing like the forest, where he could use his skills to chop down trees every day.

Dago began to miss the shelter in the forest. Once the war had settled down, he would go back and take a look.

Just as Dago was reminiscing about his days at the shelter, he suddenly spotted Selena emerging from her room as well.

Selena stretched lazily by the doorway. Then, she suddenly noticed Dago watching her...

Her little face instantly flushed red, and she stammered shyly, "Da... Dago, good morning. Want to have breakfast together?"

Dago nodded, indicating that he had no problem with that, and the two of them left the inn together.

Looking at the town that was about to come alive, Dago said, "Another beautiful day."

Selena nodded like a pecking chick, and before long, the two were having breakfast at a nearby restaurant.

Together, they discussed the requirements for growing Moonlight Flowers.

"Captain, based on the soil from Moonlight Lake that I brought back last time, the first requirement is soil nourished by magical power."

"The simplest way to obtain magical soil is to irrigate it with large quantities of magical beast blood. The other way is to let it receive prolonged exposure to the Origin Moon in a damp, cool environment. Only then can it grow quickly."

When it came to magical plants, Selena was clearly much more confident.

Dago quietly listened to her. It seemed there was still hope for large-scale cultivation, but with the war underway, it was difficult to find somewhere peaceful and tranquil.

For now, they could only set the matter aside and make proper plans after this wizard war was over.

The two chatted while leisurely enjoying their breakfast. Only an hour later did they slowly leave the restaurant and return to the inn.

Three days passed peacefully like that.

At night, in the wizard inn, Dago's forehead was covered in fine sweat. He was only a tiny step away from opening the rune on the storage pouch.

Finally, ten minutes later, Dago's mental power completely erased the mental imprint left behind by its original owner.

"Phew..."

Dago let out a long breath. Over the past three days, he had spent most of his time on this matter.

He slowly seeped his mental power into the rune until the entire rune was activated.

Dago "saw" the space behind the rune. It clearly existed, yet it was not within his actual field of vision.

It was like ice elements—on the same plane, yet on a different layer.

It was a spherical space about one cubic meter in size, filled with all sorts of clutter.

The spatial rune sat at the center of that space, connecting reality with the extradimensional space.

He tried using his mental power to draw an item toward the spatial rune. With a pull, it instantly appeared inside the pouch.

It was like Doraemon's magic pocket, slowly pulling an item out of an extradimensional pouch.

It was a black robe. Dago was very curious how such a large piece of clothing had fit into a pouch the size of his palm.

He then stuffed the robe into the pouch with force, but there was no reaction whatsoever.

It seemed mental power was the key. Dago wrapped the robe in his mental power and pushed it into the pouch.

As if endowed with magic, the pouch swallowed the robe in an instant, and it appeared in the extradimensional space.

Dago thought to himself, This is fun. It really is like a magic pocket.

He even caught a moth and tossed it into the extradimensional space. The result was that it died instantly, as though its soul had left its body.

When he threw in a brass pocket watch, time continued to move. Just as Dago had guessed, this was another layer of space that did not permit souls to exist.

After finishing his experiments, Dago took out all the Black-Robed Wizard's belongings from the space and laid them out before him.

Aside from some common daily necessities, there were forty Magic Stones, a palm-sized Duskblood Council emblem, several wizard books, a beast-hide scroll, several bottles of potions, and some miscellaneous items.

Seeing the pile of Magic Stones on the table, Dago knew he had struck it rich. His heart practically burst with joy.

Wasn't his eagerness to open the storage pouch all because of his craving for Magic Stones?

Now that he had opened it, he felt as delighted as an old farmer harvesting grain.

Among that small pile of Magic Stones was one that was more crystalline and gorgeous than a Low-Grade Magic Stone.

It was a full size larger than a Low-Grade Magic Stone, roughly the size of a quail egg.

Dago placed the Magic Stone beneath the kerosene lamp and examined it closely, figuring that this was probably a Mid-Grade Magic Stone.

In the wizard world, one Mid-Grade Magic Stone was worth ten Low-Grade Magic Stones.

After gazing at it wistfully for a while, he put it back into the storage space.

Dago casually flipped through the wizard books. They were all local legends about wizards and monsters from the Dark Crystal Highlands, more like story magazines meant to pass the time.

Dago's assessment was, "Useless." He then put them back into the storage space.

He picked up the remaining beast-hide scroll, stained with dark red blood, and unfolded it.

The opening was filled with praise for some great existence.

"Your tentacles mend life and death. Your Duskblood nourishes eternity—Esog, master of the Duskblood Sea."

When Dago silently recited those words in his heart, the wick of the kerosene lamp suddenly flickered, as if faint ripples had appeared across a tranquil lake.

The remaining content gave thanks for Esog's blessing and recorded a spell called the Blood Mist Technique.

Dago remembered this spell. It was the one the Black-Robed Wizard Morlock had used to kill Gavin.

This spell actually suited Dago's requirements for defensive means quite well. The detailed inheritance and casting process were all included. It could be said that it was a spell prepared specifically for Dago.

"But if I learn Darkblood Magic exclusive to the Duskblood Council, the academy will probably immediately brand me a traitor and blast me to pieces..."

Dago pondered it internally, struggling for quite a while before slowly putting it back into the storage space without another glance.

At this critical time, when the Duskblood Council was massively invading the Emerald Forest, he did not dare court death by having even the slightest connection to that terrifying wizard organization.

Dago did not touch the several potions containing obvious dark red impurities either.

There were also some miscellaneous things that disgusted Dago, such as eyeballs soaked in bottles of special solution, a dried section of finger, and Dark Crystal powder. They looked like materials for wizard alchemy.

Without a second thought, Dago threw them back into the storage space. Later, he would find an open patch of ground and burn them all.

"No wonder Morlock had a storage pouch. So he was an alchemist in the Duskblood Council. That's one of the three most lucrative professions in the wizard world."

Dago immediately understood why the Black-Robed Wizard Morlock had been so wealthy.

In truth, there were not many things Dago could actually use, but the Magic Stones alone had already satisfied him.

After putting the storage pouch away close to his body, Dago finally went to sleep, fully content.

As the leaves of the Emerald Forest gradually fell away, the war between Ainak Wizard Academy and the Duskblood Council entered its most intense stage.

Wizards dressed in gray-white robes continuously led groups of well-equipped warriors out of town.

Sometimes, one could even see wizards floating through the air like blazing suns, flying out alongside Silver-Pattern Airships.

Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, and Dago tightened his thick apprentice robe around himself.

"Good thing I didn't sell the Shadow Leopard fur, or I'd freeze to death in this weather."

He muttered as he walked along the town's central avenue.

Ever since he had opened the storage pouch ten days ago and obtained a large number of Magic Stones,

his anxiety over Magic Stones had eased considerably, so his search for cheaper lodging had naturally been put aside.

These days, he had been staying at the wizard inn with Mariko and Selena.

Now that he had Magic Stones, he found a meditation room in the town's Wizard Hall specifically meant for apprentice wizards to train, all for the sake of cultivation and improvement.

Dago stepped on the snow covering the street, leaving behind footprints neither shallow nor deep.