Chapter 135: Magic Net Abnormality

When Xia Duo escorted the two Goblins back to the previous battlefield, Wuke had already finished cleaning up; the corpses of Goblins were scattered everywhere on the ground, and the villagers had been temporarily driven into the olive grove.

What happened next depended on these two Goblin captives; Xia Duo poked them with the tip of his sword again and scolded, "Where are the 'tasty things'? Find them, quickly!"

The two Goblins appeared timid and fearful; seeing the humans with swords around them looking at them with ill intent, they became obedient again, stretching their necks and sniffing wildly in the air.

Soon, as if they had discovered something, they prepared to run over, but subconsciously glanced at Xia Duo. After receiving a signal from Xia Duo, they trotted over on their short little legs.

"Wawa—wa—"

As soon as they reached their destination, the two Goblins began to shriek excitedly. This was a clearing between some bushes; of course, the bushes had long since been cut away, and the scattered branches had long been trampled into the mud.

Xia Duo looked at the surrounding environment and saw nothing peculiar. He entered a state of Spellcasting Focus, but the Magic Net showed no abnormalities. He began to doubt the Goblins' judgment.

However, seeing the relaxed expressions on these two Goblins, as if they had forgotten the fact that they were being threatened, and seeing them squinting their eyes as if enjoying something, it was clear they had indeed discovered something.

Xia Duo turned his gaze to Wuke, who was following behind him. "Captain Wuke, what do you think?"

Wuke's expression was extremely serious at this moment. He carefully observed the behavior of the two Goblins, then said solemnly, "Mage Xia Duo, I think we should report this immediately. These Goblins were clearly lured here on purpose."

Being able to find the reason for the Goblins' unusual movements was naturally something to be happy about, but in Wuke's eyes, reporting it was the most important thing. This would not only wash away the mistakes of the past few days, but might even earn him a commendation.

"Not so fast, Captain Wuke. We have only confirmed that someone is playing tricks, but we haven't found the real reason. I don't think it's appropriate to report it yet."

In truth, reaching this level was already enough for Wuke and the others, but for Xia Duo, it was not. Could it be that just coming over for a stroll and discovering some abnormalities was worth 20 Gold Coins?

Then these Gold Coins would be too easy to earn.

After soothing Wuke's restless emotions, Xia Duo prepared to take the Goblins to the olive grove to see if there was anything unusual over there.

But no matter how many times he poked them with his sword tip, the Goblins, who had seemed much more obedient before, now completely threw Xia Duo's threats to the back of their minds, only obsessively reveling in some kind of invisible thing.

"Number 1! Number 2! Get down immediately!"

When called by code names like "Number 1" and "Number 2," the two Goblins reacted; their bodies shook involuntarily, but then they became unresponsive again.

Words had minimal effect. Xia Duo pierced the palm of Number 2 with his sword. The intense pain immediately pulled it back to reality. Seeing Xia Duo's unkind expression, it immediately lay on the ground, shivering.

Number 1 also seemed to sense that the atmosphere was abnormal. It glanced at Xia Duo and met his emotionless eyes; Number 1 was also frightened into lying on the ground.

"Go over there!" Xia Duo pointed toward the olive grove and ordered.

Number 1 and Number 2 stood up immediately and walked slowly toward the olive grove, but Xia Duo could see that their movements were very resistant. "Stop!"

The two Goblins stopped and even backed away. Xia Duo pointed toward the olive grove and asked the Goblins, "Are there any 'tasty things' over there?"

"Wuwawa—" The two Goblins gestured wildly, waving their hands back and forth. It took a long while for Xia Duo to understand that the so-called "tasty things" only existed here.

Then why did these Goblins gather in such numbers to attack the olive grove, and even destroy the olive trees?

Xia Duo could only attribute it to the influence of Magic for the time being, but he knew nothing about what kind of Magic it was; he hadn't even discovered any abnormalities in the Magic Net here.

If he was like this, one could imagine that if others came, they would probably just clear out the gathered Goblins, and that would be the end of it.

"Captain Wuke, take these two Goblins somewhere else. I want to check again."

Xia Duo wanted to cast a Spell. Although "only Magic can deal with Magic" was not a universal truth, in many cases, it was a rule of thumb.

After Wuke drove the two Goblins away to a distance, Xia Duo began to attempt it.

Although he couldn't see any abnormalities in the Magic Net right now, when he cast a 1st Circle Spell and drew upon the first layer of the Magic Net, the mutual interference of the Magic might just make that mysterious Magic reveal some flaws.

Xia Duo currently mastered two 1st Circle Spells, or more accurately, only one: the 【Steam Ray】 he had researched and created himself. As for the Sorcerer's Spells, they were less like Spells and more like an ability.

Although it could also draw upon the first layer of the Magic Net, this ability did not have a clear set of rules; instead, it followed Xia Duo's intent, causing the Magic Net to automatically provide feedback. Every time, the Spell structure and elements were not exactly the same.

However, the scope of these Spells was limited to things related to water, and because of this, Xia Duo called this ability 【Water Control】.

This ability was used as he pleased and did not need to be cast strictly according to certain rules like a Mage's Spell. Xia Duo's probing was done using this ability.

A huge water ball appeared out of thin air in front of Xia Duo. The moment it appeared, in Xia Duo's Magic Vision, the Magic Net was being strongly "pulled."

Xia Duo controlled the water ball to sweep back and forth over the location where the two Goblins had been lingering; the source of the Magic Net's fluctuations moved back and forth along with the water ball.

But at this moment, Xia Duo's attention was not on the effect of this Spell, but on the background fluctuations of the Magic Net. He keenly perceived that the Magic Net he was observing now was not natural; it seemed to have undergone some kind of artificial interference, appearing somewhat "stiff."

He hadn't felt it much before, but when Xia Duo added his own interference factors to the Magic Net, this sense of dissonance became stronger and stronger. Finally, he discovered the abnormality—

A set of elements entirely based on operations on the surface of the Magic Net had successfully connected to the first layer of the Deep Weave and was hidden within the fluctuations of the Magic Net's surface.

Xia Duo had never seen such precise and cumbersome operations. Originally, if he hadn't had his Bloodline Awakening, he would have used a similar method to break through the surface of the Magic Net and enter the Deep Weave.

It was just that Xia Duo's idea hadn't been truly realized yet when he underwent his Bloodline Awakening, allowing him to directly "observe" the first layer of the Magic Net without needing such cumbersome steps.

But here, his idea had truly been realized. The purpose, of course, was not to break through the Magic Net, but to hide the Magic Net's fluctuations, or rather, to hide the Magic Aura.

With such a continuously active Magic in place, if it weren't hidden, any Apprentice could discover it. What would be the point of the painstakingly arranged Magic then?

However, now that these were displayed before Xia Duo, the mysteries within were also what Xia Duo desperately wanted to know. He carefully maintained his Bloodline Spell, keeping it in a state of constant interference with the nearby Magic Net.

At the same time, Xia Duo hurriedly took out his notebook and called Wuke over to help him hold the ink bottle.