Chapter 38: Orc Attack, [Message]

"The assessment just finished, and the Mage told me some news: the Orcs are coming! He told me to get ready."

At the mere thought of the cruel, savage Orcs, Dien's voice actually carried a trace of trembling; he was clearly terrified, even going so far as to say he regretted promoting.

Xia Duo was also shocked when he heard this. He knew a little bit from some game backgrounds before he transmigrated, but it was only a little. He didn't have much of a concept of real Orcs, only having heard the Adventurers in town talk about them.

Orcs are savage, cruel, and possess immense strength; as long as you encounter them in the wild, people will inevitably die. Every Adventurer Xia Duo knew would show a look of fear whenever Orcs were mentioned.

Now, listening to what Dien meant, it seemed the Mage Tower wanted the Apprentices to participate in fighting the Orcs?

Xia Duo hurriedly said, "Dien, calm down. This is the Mage Tower; the Orcs won't run in here to eat you. What exactly is going on with the Orcs coming? Does the Mage Tower have any plans?"

"The once-a-decade Orc Tide is coming, how could I have forgotten about this!" Dien pulled at his hair with his hands. "Xia Duo, you should prepare in advance; the Mage Tower will be conscripting us soon."

Dien was very panicked, blurting out what he knew and what he had heard from the assessment Mage in bits and pieces. Xia Duo filled in the gaps in his own mind and realized that things were quite serious.

Since the Great Arcanist Iolum led the Netheril army to ruthlessly purge the Orcs within Netheril over a hundred years ago, the Orc Tide had decreased from once every five years to occurring only once every ten years or so.

But the losses caused each time were still extremely heavy. Material losses were secondary; the key was the loss of population, which often left Netheril severely weakened.

The Savile Territory had been developing for ninety years, and the population had always hovered around tens of thousands, largely due to the influence of the Orc Tide. It was hard enough to recuperate for ten years and grow the population, and then the Orcs would come.

To deal with this Orc Tide, all Official Apprentices would be conscripted to join the Territory Army. Although they weren't cannon fodder, going to the battlefield was no joke; who knew what would happen.

Xia Duo did not think he would necessarily survive.

……

After sending Dien away, Xia Duo sat still and thought carefully about the impact of the Orc Tide on him. It was just that he hadn't seen many things with his own eyes, and he hadn't even read books about them. Judging only from hearsay and rumors, this time was dangerous.

Even after "lights out," Xia Duo was still thinking about how to enhance his self-preservation ability so as to survive this crisis.

The next day, Xia Duo arrived at the first-floor restaurant of the Mage Tower with two dark circles under his eyes. The restaurant was unusually noisy today, and the Apprentices were all talking about the Orcs attacking.

However, Xia Duo didn't see many Official Apprentices; they were all "nameless" Ordinary Apprentices.

Xia Duo didn't want to stay long. After getting his breakfast, he headed to the Arcane Garden. Sami and Dewan had already arrived before Xia Duo. The expressions on their faces were very grave, and they were whispering about something, their eyes drifting toward the Elevator from time to time, as if they were waiting for Xia Duo.

When Xia Duo stepped into the Arcane Garden, the two walked toward him at the same time. When they got close, Sami whispered, "Xia Duo, have you heard the news? The approximate time for the Orc Tide has been determined."

"What?!"

Last night, the news Dien brought didn't have the approximate time for the Orc Tide, only that there would be one. He didn't expect that after one night, even the time had spread.

"I heard it was news personally scouted by the Lord's followers. I think it should be true."

"When?" Xia Duo asked.

"At the end of this month."

"What! So soon?!"

Xia Duo was quite surprised. The month was already half over; in other words, there were only ten-plus days until the Orc Tide. What more could he prepare in just ten-plus days!

"This is just a conservative estimate. If it's fast, the war will start in less than ten days."

Sami's words made Xia Duo fall silent. He pondered in his heart. First of all, he couldn't run away. As a Mage Apprentice, leaving the town when the Orc Tide was coming—that wasn't how you looked for death.

The only possibility of survival was to follow the arrangements of the Mage Tower and try his best to improve his self-preservation ability. He believed the Mage Tower would not easily let them fall into danger.

"By the way, what did you want with me?"

Sami was stunned. He exchanged glances with Dewan, and finally, Sami stated their purpose, "We know you still have the exchange Permission Level for a Learning Scroll. We want to buy an exchange Permission Level from you."

"Why? What about yours?" Xia Duo didn't refuse directly because he had no expectations for the Orc Tide, and the Gold Coins on him were almost all spent. He needed to prepare for the Orcs' arrival.

"We don't have the exchange Permission Level for learning; it can only be obtained by completing a certain number of Territory Tasks. But the prerequisite for accepting Territory Tasks is that one must master 5 Ring Spells, including Message and Detect Poison. We are both stuck on these two Spells."

Sami's attitude was very low, and he even told Xia Duo which Spells he had mastered.

"Then what Spell Learning Scroll do you want to get?"

No refusal? Sami and Dewan were overjoyed and spoke in unison, "Message!"

Xia Duo was thoughtful. These two would definitely not choose Message just to accept Territory Tasks; otherwise, they would have definitely mentioned Detect Poison as well.

Message must be helpful for the battle in half a month, which is why they chose it. With the help of a Learning Scroll, half a month was enough for them to master this Spell proficiently.

After thinking about it, Xia Duo shook his head, "The Learning Scroll exchange Permission Level is limited. I can't sell it to you, but I can rent it to you for 8 hours."

Hearing that the Scroll wasn't for sale, Sami immediately became a bit anxious, as if he wanted to argue something. Dewan pushed him, and then he heard Xia Duo's follow-up about renting. Sami hurriedly asked, "Rent? How to rent?"

"I exchange for the Scroll, and the three of us transcribe it at the same time. As for the price, I need your Spell Notes on Daze."

Trading Knowledge for Gold Coins is the biggest loss; trading for Spell Notes, which are also Knowledge, is best. A control-type Spell like Daze might come in handy later.

"I agree." Dewan agreed immediately.

Then he looked at Sami, because Xia Duo wanted their notes. Sami hesitated for a moment and said, "I haven't learned this Spell."

Xia Duo was a little disappointed. He had hoped to learn a new Spell from their notes. Now that one person was missing, Xia Duo suddenly lost interest, "Besides this Spell?"

"Is Mending okay?"

Of course not. Xia Duo had already exchanged for the Mending Learning Scroll and didn't need his notes at all. If it were an Official Mage's notes, that would be fine, but unfortunately, Sami didn't have any, and even if he did, he might not be willing.

After thinking about it, Xia Duo chose Gold Coins, "Give me Gold Coins, 15 Gold Coins."