Chapter 52: Captain Jibu

Xia Duo was pondering exactly what purpose this portrait served when he bumped into the person in front of him—it was Dien.

"Xia Duo, what are you looking at so carefully? It's just a badge with an 【Arcane Mark】 cast on it! We'd better hurry and find our squad!"

"This is an 【Arcane Mark】?"

"Yeah! What's wrong?" Dien didn't understand; wasn't it obvious? What else could it be besides an 【Arcane Mark】!

"Nothing! Let's go!"

Before leaving the Mage Tower, Xia Duo had already exchanged for a 【Learning Scroll】 of 【Arcane Mark】. Although he hadn't studied it yet, Xia Duo could be certain that an 【Arcane Mark】 alone could not possibly be used to compose a flawless portrait using a large number of digits.

This completely exceeded his understanding of Ring Spells; there must be more complex Principles involved.

But there was no need to tell Dien about this. Since the other party already believed it to be an 【Arcane Mark】, why should he be unconventional? It was enough for him to know.

Putting away the badge and quickening his pace, the two soon followed other Apprentices to Training Ground No. 2. Along the way, they saw more and more soldiers, becoming increasingly dense.

Upon arriving at Training Ground No. 2, they already saw a large number of soldiers lined up and waiting.

And the Apprentices who had arrived early had already been assigned to their combat squads and were heading toward the camp with them!

No one had a choice; an officer-looking man was holding a long sword and staring coldly at the Apprentices, shouting from time to time, "Hurry up! Hurry up!"

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo gained a bit more understanding of the status of Apprentices. As a collective, the status of Apprentices was quite high, but as individuals, it was not necessarily so.

At the very least, this officer could not care less about the thoughts of the Apprentices, and did not even care if he offended future Mages.

Thinking this way, Xia Duo became even more cautious. The moment he saw his combat squad, he took the initiative to greet them, "I am Xia Duo, ordered to join your squad. I look forward to working with you all in the future."

What Xia Duo considered a very normal remark seemed almost humble to these ordinary soldiers. The squad leader, Jibu, had originally thought the newcomer might be arrogant and bossy, but he hadn't expected Xia Duo to be so easy to talk to.

Jibu took a great liking to Xia Duo. Originally intending to fight for command, his words changed to—

"Welcome to the squad. For the clearing mission, we will still prioritize Mage Xia Duo's opinions; we will do our best to cooperate with you."

Although he didn't explicitly say he was handing over command, he gave Xia Duo full respect, and the other team members showed no signs of slight.

Xia Duo nodded and said, "Then next, we—"

"Next, we will go to the Quartermaster's Office together to collect combat supplies."

As he spoke, Jibu led Xia Duo toward the Quartermaster's Office, with the rest of the team following behind. Along the way, Jibu introduced the other members of the squad to Xia Duo.

Two taciturn, burly men, the brothers Jieli and Jiexi, were soldiers from the original Territory just like Captain Jibu, and had been drafted to reform the squad this time.

As for the remaining seven, four were villagers from outside the town who had voluntarily chosen to join so that their families could enter the protection zone of the Mage Tower to take refuge.

The remaining three were recruited from the Adventurers in the Territory and were still dressed as Adventurers. Xia Duo noticed one person who was thin and had shifty eyes.

When Jibu introduced him, he only said that he had received professional Rogue training and his name was Aiwa, but Xia Duo always felt there was a familiar scent about this person.

Of course, "scent" wasn't accurate; there wasn't a trace of odor on Aiwa. It was just a feeling that made Xia Duo think he had seen him somewhere before.

While talking to Jibu, Xia Duo would occasionally glance at Aiwa, but Aiwa seemed very sensitive to others' gazes; every time Xia Duo looked at him, he would use someone else's body to block Xia Duo's line of sight.

This made Xia Duo even more curious.

"Captain Jibu, are you familiar with the area for our clearing mission this time?"

"I'm fairly familiar. I have to say, Mage Xia Duo, you picked a good spot. Most of this area consists of some arbor trees with very few dense bushes, leaving few places for Orcs to hide. As long as we are cautious, it is unlikely we will be ambushed by Orcs."

It was clear that Captain Jibu was quite satisfied with carrying out the mission in this area.

"Then, Captain Jibu, have you seen an Orc?" Xia Duo asked again.

"I have! And I even killed one with my own hands!" Mentioning this, Captain Jibu's mood became somewhat low.

Xia Duo could tell, but since it concerned his own life, he had to continue asking, "Can you tell me about it?"

"Of course! I'm sure they would also want me to tell everyone about this!" Jibu suddenly perked up and spoke slowly, "Just last year, my captain at the time took our squad to the Green Pearl Forest to clear out Goblins. I didn't expect three Orcs to suddenly charge out from the depths of the Goblin camp."

Xia Duo's heart tightened, knowing that something bad was about to happen.

Sure enough, Jibu said in a low voice, "Those three Orcs killed two of my companions the moment they charged out. Afterward, the remaining eight of us paid a heavy price to kill them."

Hearing this, Xia Duo couldn't help but ask, "Are Orcs really that strong?"

There were many legends about Orcs in the Territory, all filled with adjectives like barbaric, ferocious, powerful, and evil, but there was a big difference between hearing it from others, reading it in books, and witnessing it with one's own eyes.

Before Captain Jibu could speak, a team member who had just been recruited from the Adventurers suddenly unfastened his Leather Armor and undershirt, revealing a wound on his shoulder.

"Look, this was slashed by an Orc. At the time, our squad of 5 left town to hunt Goblins, but we ran into Orcs. Just one Orc cost us three people. The wound on my body was slashed by the Orc before it died. If I hadn't been dragged back to the Temple by my companions, I would have been dead long ago!"

Xia Duo looked at the long, hideous scar from his shoulder to his chest and could imagine the situation at the time. Another person also spoke up, "Mage Xia Duo, you must not underestimate Orcs. Most of us have personally experienced fighting Orcs; Orcs are truly very powerful."

Xia Duo certainly wouldn't underestimate them; he would even greatly increase the threat level of the Orcs. He just wanted to understand more details about the Orcs.

The details that weren't in those books.

"I heard that Orcs don't have high Wisdom; is that true?"

"It's true, but only compared to humans." Captain Jibu took over the conversation and continued to introduce, "Orcs have tribes, families, and even Faith, but they are easily provoked, giving people the feeling of being like wild beasts."

Next, Captain Jibu told Xia Duo some real cases he knew of, and of course, he was also telling the four new team members who had just bid farewell to their lives as farmers.

Everyone listened very carefully. Xia Duo could see that even the team members who had been forcibly recruited from the Adventurers didn't have much resistance to joining the Army to fight against the Orcs. From this, one could see the prestige of the Wier Lingzhu.

Soon, they arrived at the Quartermaster's Office.