"Hey, friend, are you adventuring in the Dark Forest alone?" the swordsman called softly while he was still some distance from Han Shuo.
Han Shuo had spotted the six of them long ago and had already put Little Skeleton away again, not wanting to reveal his identity as a necromancer. Hearing the call, he raised his head and nodded at the swordsman. "That's right."
The harpy circling noisily overhead saw the six adventurers meet up with Han Shuo and dared not continue testing his patience. She flew a little higher and watched their movements from the sky.
The six adventurers consisted of three warriors, two mages, and an archer. The archer was a female elf. The three male warriors were one advanced swordsman and two intermediate swordsmen, while the mages were a male intermediate mage and a female high mage.
After taking part in the academy's test last time, Han Shuo had learned something about the ranks and insignia of the Mages' Guild and the Swordsmen's Guild.
Mages had exquisite miniature magic wands embroidered on the shoulders of their magic robes to indicate their strength. Starting with one wand emblem as a junior mage, they could add another for each rank they rose. Swordsmen and knights used a similar system, except that swordsmen used sword emblems and knights used warhorse emblems.
These adventurers' swordsmen and mages all appeared to have received recognition from the Mages' Guild and the Swordsmen's Guild, so their clothes bore insignia representing their strength. Han Shuo could easily tell how strong they were at a glance.
The six were not weak, but they would be somewhat outmatched if they ventured deeper into the Dark Forest. That explained why the harpy had dared to keep following them even after discovering there were six of them. If they