Intercept and Kill

As Arnold and Teren chatted, the topic suddenly shifted to Pitero. "That kid Pitero clearly has far greater talent as a warrior than in magic, yet he stubbornly clings to magic. After spending several years on it, he's only barely reached the level of a Second-level Mage. Do you think he's overestimating himself, my lord?"

Hearing Teren speak of him like that in front of a mage, Pitero indignantly prepared to argue, but Arnold spoke first.

"You can't really call it overestimating himself! From a practical standpoint, if someone has greater talent as a warrior, focusing on cultivating battle qi to become stronger is certainly a good choice. But interest is important too. For example, you may have great warrior talent, but if you aren't interested and don't put your heart into training, you won't achieve much as a warrior either, right, Uncle Teren?" Arnold said with a sigh.

"Mm, Lord Arnold is absolutely right." Since the middle-aged, plump Teren was much older than Arnold, Arnold called him Uncle Teren. Teren was rather pleased; this was a mage's praise for him. Though he would not become disrespectful because of it, he was still quite proud.

"Lord Arnold, when I practice magic, could you give me a little guidance?" Pitero asked hopefully, having gathered his courage.

"Mm, once the caravan reaches a town on the Yulan Continent, I'll be leaving." Pitero was greatly disappointed upon hearing that, but Arnold immediately added, "Still, I can occasionally guide you during this time."

"Thank you, Lord Arnold," Pitero said excitedly.

"Lord Arnold is so kind-hearted. Pitero, you need to serve Lord Arnold well during this time, understand?" Teren said to Pitero.

"Mm."

Not long after they finished speaking, a booming voice rang out. "Everyone, get ready! We're setting off!" Then, those resting beneath the carts began climbing back aboard. The entire caravan started its journey toward the Magnolia Empire...

Once they reached the main road, the caravan guards all watched the direction of the Warcraft Mountain Range warily. Naturally, this was because of magical beasts and bandits. This road lay along the border between the O'Brien Empire and the Magnolia Empire, and it was not far from the Warcraft Mountain Range. Magical beasts occasionally emerged from there, while bandits were unavoidable as well.

The carts creaked rhythmically as they rolled along, while Arnold kept drinking wine.

This wine really tastes good. Why had I never tried it before? Arnold praised inwardly. In the past, he had drunk some fruit wine with Yale and the others, but fruit wine and fruit juice were entirely different from this kind of strong liquor.

Red-Eyed beside him was also leisurely eating the meat Arnold had personally roasted.

From chatting with the seasoned old hand Teren, Arnold had learned quite a bit about the Magnolia Empire.

For several days in a row, the caravan traveled without incident. At night, the guards took turns keeping watch, and everything remained peaceful.

On the third night, most people had returned to their carts to sleep, while a few guards patrolled the surrounding area. Pitero and Arnold, however, sat cross-legged directly on the ground. Pitero was making full use of the time to meditate, while Arnold was doing the same—except Arnold was merging himself into the wind elemental essence.

Pitero really is hardworking, Arnold sighed inwardly. Yet no matter how diligent Pitero was, his training remained difficult.

A mage's advancement required both spiritual force and magical power to reach the required standard. For mages with good talent and high elemental affinity, the amount of magical power they could refine in an hour was more than ten times that of mages with low elemental affinity. Thus, talented mages could spend much more time meditating to increase their spiritual force.

Teren had told Arnold that Pitero's affinities for both wind and fire were low-grade. When he had been tested in the past, even his innate spiritual force had only barely met the standard. Pitero had to spend a great deal of time refining magical power, leaving him only the hours he should have spent sleeping for meditation.

Late at night, Arnold was still merging with the wind elemental essence, comprehending the boundless wind between heaven and earth.

As he constantly sensed the wind around him, Arnold discovered a group of people several hundred meters away approaching the caravan. They were most likely bandits.

He patted Pitero awake. Even though Pitero was in deep meditation, Arnold was still able to wake him without disrupting him.

"Lord Arnold, what is it?" Pitero could not help but marvel. He had clearly been meditating, yet Lord Arnold had pulled him out of meditation without anything going wrong.

"About four hundred meters ahead, there's a group of around a hundred people slowly approaching the caravan. They are almost certainly bandits," Arnold explained.

"Bandits?"

"Mm. Go notify Pitero and the caravan leader."

Pitero immediately climbed into the cart and woke Teren. Teren was a mercenary who had fought for his life at the edge of a blade, so he did not sleep deeply and woke at once.

"Uncle Teren, Lord Arnold says there's a group of around a hundred bandits four hundred meters ahead," Pitero said concisely.

After thinking briefly, Teren immediately went to the nearby carts and alerted the mercenaries responsible for keeping watch.

Soon, all the mercenaries had been awakened and told that bandits were coming. But when they looked around, where were the bandits? Naturally, they became dissatisfied.

However, the middle-aged, burly man Dolong, the mercenary leader, believed it. A High-level Mage whose strength he could not see through would not joke with them.

A short while later, the middle-aged burly man also heard faint footsteps.

"Bandits! Get ready, get ready..." The middle-aged man's booming voice instantly reached everyone's ears, and they immediately became alert.

More than a hundred mercenary guards quickly formed up in orderly ranks, preparing for battle.

A burst of laughter came from ahead. "Haha, Dolong, you're quite alert today. Looks like we can only force our way through." Then, one black-clad figure after another appeared directly in front of the caravan.

"Skinny Monkey Doli." When the middle-aged burly man Dolong saw the leader before him, he was not particularly afraid, though he became wary. This Doli was only a Seventh-level Upper Warrior and was no match for him. But since Doli dared show himself before this group of mercenaries, he must have something to rely on. Dolong simply did not know what that backing was.

"Are you looking to die, Dolong? I've told you countless times not to call me Skinny Monkey." Doli hated being called Skinny Monkey more than anything. When he was young, his thin and frail appearance had led many older boys from his town to bully him. "You've angered me. If you don't give us two hundred thousand gold coins this time, don't even think about leaving. Otherwise..."

The moment they heard two hundred thousand, all the mercenaries' expressions darkened. The entire reward for this escort mission was only one hundred thousand gold coins. Doli was demanding twice that amount with a single sentence. Did he really think he had them in his grasp?

"Then we'll settle this with our hands." Dolong could not be bothered to talk to him anymore. He had originally intended to offer five thousand gold coins if Doli's bandits would leave, but now he did not even feel like saying it.

"Brothers, attack." Doli waved a hand behind him.

A group of bandits immediately charged forward with weapons in hand. Archers on both sides continuously drew their bows, while the middle-aged burly man Dolong stepped forward to fight Doli. Yet to Dolong's surprise, another man came out to face him instead.

Though he did not know this man's strength, Dolong still swung his enormous battle-axe at him.

After a brief clash, both men were forced back several steps. Clearly, his opponent, like Dolong, was an Eighth-level Lower Warrior. But Doli's presence was an unfavorable factor, because on Dolong's side, no one besides himself could match Doli.