Chapter 56: Aiwa's Strength

"Apprentice, where are you going?"

Xia Duo hurriedly turned his head, yet he didn't even spot a shadow, while that voice still lingered in his ear, "I heard you wanted to find me?"

Was it Aiwa? Xia Duo turned his head again, still discovering nothing. Although the afterglow of Amanata had not yet fully dissipated, Xia Duo felt an incomparable darkness.

A drop of cold sweat slowly slid down his temple; Xia Duo hurriedly spoke, "Aiwa, is that you?"

But he received no response from anyone.

The sun gradually sank below the horizon. Xia Duo could clearly see the shadows in the corners of the walls pouncing toward him bit by bit. This feeling reminded him of that early morning when he escaped from the Old Neil Inn.

It was also being approached by a Rogue, the only difference being that Aiwa did not press a Dagger against his back like that Rogue did.

Of course, Xia Duo believed that with Aiwa's elusive ability just now, doing that would be effortless, which made him unable to help but feel a glimmer of hope.

"Aiwa?" Xia Duo called out again.

But there was still no response.

Seeing that after one more turn he would be able to see the stone building where Mage Huosite was located, yet being stuck right here, Xia Duo felt as if he were riding a tiger and unable to get off.

Clearly, Aiwa did not want Xia Duo to go find an Official Mage, but to return just like this, Xia Duo was unwilling.

Weighing the pros and cons, Xia Duo decided to follow his inner choice—to return to the camp, but before leaving, he still wanted to probe.

Concentrating his attention and entering the Spellcasting Focus state, Xia Duo carefully observed the state of the Magic Net in the surroundings.

The existence of any life is closely related to the Magic Net; even the most ordinary breathing can cause fluctuations in the structure of the Magic Net, it is just that these fluctuations are extremely weak and difficult for ordinary people to perceive.

But a Mage is not an ordinary person. Although they cannot perceive fluctuations as weak as breathing, the existence of life itself is not difficult to discover.

As long as they are in a focused state, any life approaching the Mage can be discovered by the Mage through the fluctuations of the Magic Net.

Just now, Xia Duo was only panicked because he was suddenly approached from behind and turned around without finding anyone, but now that his reason had returned to his brain, Xia Duo did not believe Aiwa dared to kill him here.

Of course, there was no need for him to provoke him either.

That was why he made such a probe. In the focused state, Xia Duo clearly felt a slight disturbance in the Magic Net less than a step behind him, the characteristics of which were exactly the manifestation of someone being there.

Xia Duo turned his head abruptly. Although his eyes did not see a figure, he perceived that the "shadow" in the Magic Net suddenly moved, following Xia Duo's movement and turning behind his back once again.

All fear lies only in the unknown.

When Xia Duo knew that Aiwa was not truly elusive, but merely faster than Xia Duo's head-turning, the fear in Xia Duo's heart greatly diminished, and he even thought of several ways to respond.

It was just that the focused state could not be maintained for long, and Xia Duo was not sure how effective these response methods would be, so he did not want to fall out with Aiwa.

Without exposing Aiwa's position, Xia Duo pretended he had discovered nothing and turned his head abruptly a few more times. "Watching" the other party leaping back and forth like a monkey, the depression in Xia Duo's heart was slightly relieved.

On the way back to the camp, Xia Duo kept thinking about Aiwa. In the current situation, it didn't quite look like a conflict, but a rift had definitely been created.

Now Xia Duo was just afraid that Aiwa would strike him during the mission; how could this be resolved?

Without realizing it, he had already reached the camp. At this time, the sun had completely fallen below the horizon, and a figure blocked Xia Duo's path.

"Xia Duo!"

"Sami? Why are you here?"

"Dewan and I came to find you to study 【Sending】 together. The Orc Tide is about to start, and I haven't been able to cast it successfully even once!"

Xia Duo immediately had a headache. Aiwa's matter hadn't been resolved yet, and now Sami's 【Sending】 problem had arrived. "Didn't you copy down the contents of the Learning Scroll? How are you still—"

He was too embarrassed to say they were stupid directly, but the tone was not much different.

However, Sami's focus was clearly not on this. He said pleasantly, "You have already learned 【Sending】?!"

"Mm, I've learned it."

"That's great!" Sami asked again, "Then can we ask you for guidance?"

"Of course, it just so happens I also have some questions I want to ask you." Xia Duo readily agreed.

If he were inside the Mage Tower, Xia Duo would definitely charge money, but now that he was outside, it was better to trade for some useful information. Besides, Sami and the others could be considered Xia Duo's only partners, which was different from Dien.

Returning to his room in the camp, Dewan was already waiting there. Hearing Sami say that Xia Duo was willing to guide them in 【Sending】, he immediately expressed his gratitude to Xia Duo.

The discussion began in such a harmonious atmosphere. Just like that, Sami and Dewan asked Xia Duo about spell problems, while Xia Duo would ask Sami and the others about issues outside of spells.

Sami and the others' problem was not that they couldn't understand the Principles of the spell, but that errors appeared at the Application level. After Xia Duo's reminder, they quickly succeeded in casting 【Sending】.

And mastering a spell, besides understanding the Principles, also requires plenty of practice. With all three present, they practiced Sending by targeting each other.

Of course, during this period, they also left Arcane Marks for each other. In formal occasions, the Arcane Mark Xia Duo left for the two of them was no longer a smiley face pattern like a doodle.

Instead, it was the Chinese character "Xia" enclosed by a circle, similar to a personal seal on Earth.

The content the three focused on practicing was Arcane Mark Positioning for Sending. After all, in the wild, it was impossible for both sides to always be within each other's field of vision.

Moreover, the distance for Sending via Arcane Mark Positioning was also much further. How far exactly, the three hadn't tried yet, but before the mission started, they definitely had to determine this.

"Xia Duo, we have to go back, otherwise it will be troublesome if we run into the night patrol."

"Alright. By the way, Sami." Xia Duo suddenly remembered something and hurriedly asked, "Did any Adventurers join your squad?"

"Yes, three Adventurers joined."

"Then do you know their background?"

"I don't know, but since they were allowed to join the Army, they should be trustworthy." Speaking of this, Sami suddenly lowered his voice, looked left and right, and said mysteriously:

"I went home this afternoon and heard from my father that many armed forces of the Chambers of Commerce are going to follow the Lord to participate in frontal combat, as are some Adventurers with criminal records or troublemakers. Our subsequent missions are still considered safe, so you don't need to worry too much."

Xia Duo nodded, believing a bit more in Captain Jibu's claim that Aiwa was trustworthy, though relaxing his vigilance was impossible.

Following that, Dewan also spoke about the situation he learned when he went back today.

"My father told me that the person in charge of the Golden Lark Chamber of Commerce in the Savile Territory accidentally fell into the water not long ago because he refused to hand over the Chamber's armed forces."

Dewan emphasized his tone on "accidentally," and Xia Duo understood in a second, but his focus was not on falling into the water, but rather—

Golden Lark Chamber of Commerce?