"Master Aige! Could you please be a little patient?"
The priestess was annoyed that he doubted her abilities, and she raised her voice a notch. "You only have seven slots in your hero minion space. There's nothing you can do about that. If you want to summon a new creature from another card, you can wait until a recruit dies and frees up a slot. You also have the ability to make any creature in your minion space disappear outright..."
At that, the priestess gazed at Aige with a trace of awe. "I hope you won't use that ability on me without a good reason. It wasn't easy for me to get out and enjoy the sunlight, so please do your best to protect me. At least let me enjoy it a little longer before my energy runs out, all right, Master?"
To emphasize her point, she hurriedly added, "If necessary, I can fight and kill for you. That kind of sacrifice would have value. But please don't make me sacrifice myself needlessly. Even though my attack isn't high, I really want to experience more of this world, even if it's only for another minute..."
Aige seemed to understand how she felt and shared her feelings. Besides, he wasn't a heartless person to begin with and didn't have the bad habit of treating lives as worthless. He hurriedly patted his scrawny chest and gave her his word...
"Perhaps you should find some better clothes to cover yourself, Master..." the beauty said.
The young master looked at his beggar's outfit, which left his arms and thighs exposed, scratched his head, and said awkwardly, "How about some dog meat?"
To his surprise, the beauty readily agreed.
According to her, the creature minions who could be sealed into cards were truly alive, but they were kept in a cramped, dull space all the time. They wanted to try things like roast meat too, making the most of every moment they could spend in this world to experience and feel things...
Of course, they had missions of their own. If they went too far, they might make the hero dislike them. Wouldn't it be a huge loss if he didn't summon them next time?
Eating with the beauty and watching her tear the roast meat into tiny pieces, even the young master himself seemed to feel that perhaps the meat, which had no seasoning at all, really did taste pretty good...
"Buzz... Buzz..."
Perhaps it saw that Aige was busy talking to the beauty and ignoring it as it waited eagerly for healing. Unwilling to be left out, the wisp buzzed, trying to get everyone's attention...
It succeeded. Aige casually dismissed it back into the hero minion space... The priestess, who had been preparing to help the young master with the healing, was dumbfounded!
Under her disdainful gaze, he sheepishly pulled the poor wisp back out. (Aside from destroying a card to recruit a minion initially, minions who had already been summoned could freely enter and leave the hero minion space and the real world under Aige's control, at no additional cost. This made it very convenient for him to hide his minions or bring them quickly into battle...)
"Lesser Heal!"
The wisp had one star of health. After a flash of Holy Light from Aige's hero ability, which healed two stars, it was immediately back to full health...
The Holy Light in the Northshire Priest's hand also rippled. Soon after the wisp was fully healed, it gathered into a Holy Light magic circle...
"Reporting for duty!"
A human recruit appeared in full armor, carrying a sword and shield in both hands. (His template was the recruit summoned by the Paladin hero ability, except that his weapon was a longsword rather than a hammer, as longswords were more commonly used.) With a loud report, he officially joined Aige's team... This new minion had one attack and one health, and enough energy to remain in the real world for up to one day!
At the same time, the system helpfully notified him that a human recruit with one attack and one health had joined the team thanks to the Northshire Priest's ability.
So far, three slots in Aige's hero minion space were occupied: a Northshire Priest with one attack and three health, who could remain until six the next morning; a human recruit with one attack and one health, who could remain until six the next morning; and a white, excellent-quality wisp with one attack and one health, who could remain indefinitely as long as it didn't die!
Lesser Heal was also on cooldown and wouldn't refresh until after six the next morning. There were still eight points of Arcane Dust in the hero space, but he couldn't craft any cards with them at present. Finally, there were twelve wild dog corpses...
His most pressing task now was... to find some clothes to cover himself!
Revenge? It was never too late for a gentleman to take revenge, even after ten years! Aige definitely wouldn't wait that long. Within a month at most, he would make Frank's family pay their blood debt in blood.
Now? He wasn't strong yet, but he had tremendous potential and needed a little time to develop in hiding. Otherwise, the private soldiers kept by that corrupt noble and the local army, which might turn hostile, could be enough to kill Aige before he even got started, leaving heroes forever weeping into their robes!
Besides, becoming a fugitive wanted by the entire human race just to kill his enemy wasn't a worthwhile trade. He still had to make his way here in the future. Once he was strong enough, he could kill that corrupt noble with a flick of his hand, so... he had to wait patiently!
Aige walked alone along a country road. He was headed for a market not far from Northshire Abbey, where he could easily trade for the clothes, shoes, and headwear he needed most, as well as necessities like a knife, seasonings, and lamp oil. His only bargaining chips at the moment were those wild dogs!
Traveling with the three minions would have attracted too much attention, so after getting everyone's agreement-really just the Northshire priestess's-he had them return to the hero minion space for the time being. Otherwise, with their appearances, those fellows would definitely have brought him plenty of trouble in a busy marketplace... For now, he just wanted to keep a low profile and develop. At the very least, he had to raise his mage level a little first. What kind of state was level two?
According to the information Aige had obtained from his soul, levels zero through nine were only equivalent to a first-tier warrior on the continent, hardly a powerhouse at all... That meant if he dared to show off, he would definitely die a miserable death! There were plenty of first-tier warriors in Northshire, and quite a few second-tier ones too. There were even third-tier warriors, whose strength was equivalent to someone over level twenty. Crushing him, Young Master Aige, would be as easy as turning over a hand... Even if he could summon three helpers, their one-star attack wouldn't cause such an opponent much trouble.
Northshire lay in the heartland of human territory and could be called a cradle for low-level human warriors, sending large numbers of qualified warriors to Stormwind City and the Alliance every year. It wasn't a war outpost, but that didn't mean there was no fighting. In fact, it could be said to be a mixed bag, frequented by large numbers of commoners, nobles, warriors, mercenaries, bards, thieves, bandits, and even grave robbers, though farmers made up the majority... It was not only the birthplace of human warriors, but also the backyard for the empire's various taxes.
The most famous place in this part of the continent was undoubtedly Northshire Abbey! A third-tier expert held the fort here, and numerous instructors for the various combat classes had established bases and held classes in the abbey. The classes were warrior, rogue, mage, priest, paladin, hunter, and warlock.
Since humans were truly unsuited to training as Druids, a class attuned to nature, there were no Druid instructors here. There were no Shaman instructors either, since Shaman was a class unique to the Horde and had extremely strict requirements for ancestor worship! But that didn't stop the place from being known for producing large numbers of outstanding human warriors, mages, paladins, and priests...
There were several markets around Northshire, basically one in each direction. Aige had now arrived at the eastern market, the one closest to his home...
Inside a butcher shop, Young Master Aige was haggling with the butcher. Butchers here generally slaughtered livestock such as sheep and pigs, rarely killing cattle or horses because they were needed for labor. As for dog meat, little of it was sold. Poor families couldn't afford to keep dogs, while well-off families wouldn't sell their own dogs for meat. Raising dogs for meat wasn't profitable, because dogs put on weight slowly, unlike pigs and sheep...
There were wild dogs, but most people were lucky enough not to be eaten by them. Who would deliberately go after beasts that moved so quickly and liked to gather in packs?
When Aige tossed a wild dog's corpse out of his space for the owner to see, the shrewd man's eyes narrowed... This shabby-looking little fellow was no simple character. He seemed to have spatial equipment on him!
Spatial equipment wasn't particularly common on the continent, but it wasn't rare either. Combat professionals could generally obtain some through various channels, such as a small spatial pouch that could hold about one cubic meter. Such things were relatively expensive, and a mercenary group would generally have one or two of the lowest grade. Of course, high-grade spatial bags existed too. Rumor had it that some spatial pouches could hold dozens of tons of supplies without adding any weight, so anyone could carry one around. Such spatial equipment, however, was worth a fortune.
When Aige produced a wild dog's corpse out of thin air, the owner judged that this customer had some background and must not be offended! The owner was perceptive. As a local who ran a legitimate butchering business, he wouldn't entertain any crooked schemes, nor did he have the strength to act on them. It was merely a businessman's instinctive shrewdness...
"I can butcher this wild dog for you for free, but you'll have to give me a lower price on the meat..."
"You can sell the four canine teeth to the smithy to the east. Fine canine teeth like these make natural arrowheads. I'm sure the old blacksmith will give you a good price."
"I'll skin it for you. Since the hide has burn marks on it, it'll be troublesome to process. I can offer twelve copper coins for the whole hide."
"This is a good cut of meat, no question, but not many people eat dog meat these days. I'll give you eighteen copper coins for it. How about it?"
The potbellied owner's eyes gleamed with the shrewdness of a crafty merchant. Someone who carried spatial equipment and could hunt wild dogs was definitely a combat professional...
The owner didn't want to cross someone who lived on the edge of a blade, but that didn't mean he couldn't, when it came to the price... You know!