Chapter 59: 58. Adventure Experience

58. Adventure Experience

Li Ang didn't respond, so Dorothy moved her joined hands forward a bit more.

"What I'm thinking about right now is whether to knock you out and let you mistake seeing me for a dream."

Doing this was, of course, unreliable, and he didn't actually intend to do it; he simply couldn't fathom the thoughts of the lady before him.

"Oh," Dorothy gave a light hum, "Are you going to leave me behind again?"

"Again? Why 'again'?"

"Anyway, take me inside to look around."

Wiggling her waist as she walked to the wardrobe, Dorothy was insistent about this.

Just then, the sound of footsteps came from outside her room; the person was very energetic, approaching at high speed with a half-skipping gait, then knocked on the door with a thud-thud.

"Senior, are you there? It's Leona!"

It was the half-dragon girl he had seen before.

Dorothy did not show the joy of seeing a friend; she sighed softly, did not open the door, and only gently pushed the porcelain basin containing the blood from her wrist-slitting under the bed.

Leona continued to knock: "Senior, we haven't had a bedtime chat in a long time. I brought bedding from next door."

Dorothy's expression was indifferent, as if happiness had immediately departed from her.

She said blandly to Li Ang: "Let's go, don't let anyone see. Just leave me here alone to rot."

"..."

Outside the door, Leona knocked louder and louder; she really wanted to come in for a bedtime story session, almost as if she were ramming the door.

Li Ang scratched his hair and gestured: "Let's go, let's go."

He stepped into the wardrobe's secret passage, and the lady's icy expression instantly melted as she followed him in with interest.

Closing the wardrobe, darkness enveloped them, cutting off the knocking sound as if they had arrived in a new world.

Dorothy walked down the stone stairs and sighed: "It's so dark."

Li Ang lit his adventure lantern and took a magic lamp down from the side of the door to hand to her: "This was prepared by the previous owner of this house."

Taking the magic lamp, Dorothy stared at it in a daze.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know how to use it."

"This is a bit old-fashioned; you twist off the top cover, take out the wick inside, inject magic power, and then put it back."

She first carefully wiped a bit of dust off the top with her index finger, looked at her fingertip with disdain, and then, with the difficulty of making a major life decision, took a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the dust away.

Throwing the handkerchief onto the ground, she fiddled with the magic lamp for a while and looked up at Li Ang.

"Can't open it?"

Dorothy nodded up and down.

Trying his best not to sigh, Li Ang took the magic lamp, opened the casing, injected magic power, and handed it back to her.

The warm yellow light shone on the lady's expressionless face.

She didn't speak, and Li Ang stepped forward as she followed.

The secret passage was narrow and winding, so they couldn't walk side-by-side, and Li Ang couldn't keep checking her state, only confirming that she was following.

After walking for a while, Li Ang asked the question in his heart: "Did I leave you behind before?"

Bringing her in was partly because he wanted to figure out whether he had actually done anything in the past.

He noticed the lady's aura behind him change, and after a moment, she replied: "That's why I'm here, doing boring official business day after day."

If she yearned for freedom, then repeating the same life was indeed torture.

"How did I leave you behind?"

Dorothy took a breath and said: "You said, let's team up, go on adventures together, and so on. I... you didn't take me in the end, you know that yourself."

"Is this what you asked before, whether my word counts?"

"Yes."

Li Ang always felt something was wrong.

"I remember you, but I don't remember such a thing happening. I might have said those words, but..."

Eight years ago, Li Ang started looking for reliable, permanent partners. Before meeting the old captain, he had indeed invited many reliable Sky Knights he met on adventures to team up, but due to the issues with the Cursed One profession, none succeeded.

Since he remembered that Dorothy was skilled with healing spells, it was highly likely he had invited her to team up.

"But if you had agreed, I would have had no reason not to bring you along."

Dorothy stopped talking.

Li Ang pointed to a newly reached secret door and said: "We're on an adventure now; regardless of whether I did it or not, just consider this making up for your experience."

He found the mechanism and slowly pushed the door; Dorothy poked the stone door with one finger, providing only a sense of participation.

The stone door opened, and Dorothy leaned her head in; the scene behind the door made her scream.

Several skeletons were piled together; the dry basement hadn't turned them entirely into bones, and they were still covered in shriveled fascia.

Li Ang didn't get close to touch them, but used the Dragon Tooth Sword to poke them and separate them.

There were six skeletons in total. Based on their attire and the environment of the basement, a battle had occurred here where five soldiers besieged one spellcaster; in the end, the spellcaster was pierced by weapons, but also released flames that burned the entire basement, dying together.

Most of the soldiers' equipment was Tier 1; over the long years, their spirituality had drained away, and they were as brittle as tin foil, shattering at a touch. One sword appeared to be of Tier 2 quality, but its spirituality had more than half drained, and it had no value.

On the spellcaster, Li Ang found a piece of equipment, which counted as the promised harvest of a hidden location.

[Grasp of Sparks]

[A meticulously sewn leather glove, containing the spirituality of fire; guiding magic power into it can cause sparks to fly.]

[Tier: 3]

[Category: Glove]

[Equipment Skill: Spark Jet]

This was a spellcaster's piece of equipment.

The equipment needed by fighters often didn't need to be too flashy; weapons emphasized sharpness, and armor emphasized toughness, which was basically enough.

For them, it was best if the attached skills matched their own profession or combat style; if they didn't match, then passive skills were even better than active ones.

But it was completely different for spellcasters. If equipment could provide additional spells, they wouldn't need to spend too much time channeling magic power, allowing for more reaction methods in critical moments.

The early-game god-tier gear for low-tier spellcasters was a pile of extra spells, which could be projected all at once in an instant, acting as a temporary pseudo-turret.

[Skill: Spark Jet]

[Activation Method: Magic Excitation]

[The thrill of striking a flint, magnified a hundred times.]

[Effect: Cone-shaped jet of scorching sparks.]

After secretly obtaining an energy source, this glove wouldn't be of much use in Li Ang's recent battles, but if the market price was decent, it could be sold, or used if there was a spellcaster in the team.

Putting it into his bag, Dorothy, who was beside him, glared over: "You just stuff things from dead people into your bag?"

"That's what an adventurer is."

One glove certainly couldn't be considered the entire harvest; there should be other things in the city's interstitial space.

After exploring the room, Li Ang returned to the secret passage and headed toward the next secret door.

On the way, he asked: "So, you want to step into the world of adventure again?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"With the things you've said and done, it's hard not to see it, right?"

"Fine." Dorothy admitted it.

"Don't want to get married?"

"I don't want to marry someone I hate, and besides—"

The lady had other reasons, but she didn't continue.

"Then refuse decisively," Li Ang said.

"Refuse? You don't know, he's from the First Heaven Group."

"Oh?"