Chapter 68: War Approaches, Creating a Spell

The death of a mere sheep naturally could not arouse any interest from Mage Aiboke; as soon as he arrived, he discovered the source of the negative energy radiation—

The remains of that Undead creature draped in a black robe.

"Apprentice, you go out first!"

"Yes."

Xia Duo immediately exited the civilian house; the negative energy lingering inside the room made him feel extremely uncomfortable. This was the instinct of life, and even a Mage could not be immune to it.

Arriving outside, Xia Duo did not run around, but instead stopped at a position relatively unaffected, waiting for Mage Aiboke.

However, he did not remain idle either, but instead reviewed the Spells he had already learned while looking around in all directions.

There were not many houses in this village, only about a dozen or so, but it seemed there were no signs of life in any of the households; it was unknown whether they had been killed by the Undead or had already hidden away.

Xia Duo speculated irresponsibly.

Before long, Mage Aiboke came out with a somewhat grave expression. Xia Duo dared not ask anything, simply following behind him to check the village one by one.

Xia Duo himself did not discover anything, but Mage Aiboke seemed to have found something; however, he did not speak, and Xia Duo had no way of knowing.

Finally, Mage Aiboke stopped at the center of the village, in front of the Altar of the Lord of Radiance. "That will do, let us return."

Still casting a Spell just like when they arrived, a flash of white light passed, and the two returned to the previous room. Not only was Mage Huosite still there, but the other seven Mages who had appeared when receiving the Badges were also present.

"Apprentice, the information you provided this time is very important. After the war, you will receive a reward from the Lord. Now, go out." Aiboke drew a pie in the sky for Xia Duo and dismissed him.

……

Not long after returning to the Military Camp, Xia Duo received a Sending from Mage Huosite.

Through the Badge received earlier, Mage Huosite told him—or rather, told the Apprentices who, like Xia Duo, had obtained Mage Huosite's Arcane Mark—

"The war is about to enter the countdown; everyone must remain in the Military Camp on standby, waiting for orders to deploy at any time."

Although Xia Duo had already received this news from Mage Huosite before, the arrival of the formal order still made him feel immense pressure.

Of course, there was also a trace of inexplicable relief.

There had been constant talk of war, war, but there had never been a definite date for when the war would actually arrive. It was like a prisoner facing a death sentence; this torment constantly tortured all the small characters like Xia Duo.

In a situation of information asymmetry, one could only strengthen oneself and arm oneself as much as possible, staying prepared at all times.

And so, this day had finally arrived!

Xia Duo immediately contacted Dien, Sami, and the others via 【Message】.

Dien was easy to deal with; he was in the same group as Xia Duo anyway. Over such a long time, Xia Duo could be considered to have won him over, and his squad was essentially Xia Duo's squad, all listening to Xia Duo's command.

However, there was a bit of a problem on Sami's side. Having just encountered Orcs resulting in casualties, even though they had killed the Orcs afterward, it was still a significant blow to morale.

But Xia Duo had no other choice; the collaborators for mutual support in different mission areas had already been chosen as Sami and his group, or rather, it was only Sami and his group.

In this situation, Xia Duo had to consider their current state.

If they could not recover as soon as possible, then not only would they suffer, but it might even affect Xia Duo.

For Xia Duo, this point was particularly important.

"Sami, did you receive Mage Huosite's Sending? How is the situation on your end?"

Facing Xia Duo's inquiry, Sami replied almost instantly. He also realized his own predicament; in the current situation, if he were to lose Xia Duo as a collaborator, he would be in great danger.

"Received. The situation of the wounded on our side has stabilized, but a few people are no longer fit to continue fighting. The higher-ups have replenished us with six people; only one is an Adventurer, and the rest are Commoners."

Sami did not hide the true situation on his side. At a time like this, concealment was truly the worst strategy; only by being open and honest and actively seeking solutions was the right path.

Six people? Xia Duo had not expected that Sami's side would have nearly one-third of their personnel replaced. The team that had already been mostly broken in had suddenly undergone a blood transfusion.

At the time, Xia Duo had thought that with Divine Magic healing, they would only need to fill the three death vacancies, not expecting that three others would also be replaced.

It seemed that Divine Magic healing was not omnipotent; at the very least, the Divine Magic healing provided within the Military Camp was quite limited.

"Start with physical training and formation training first. I will send people over to conduct combat training with you," Xia Duo replied.

The only fortunate thing now was that, apart from the newcomers just added to Sami's side, everyone else had truly seen Orcs and had a certain understanding of the true strength of Orcs.

This was already ahead of other Apprentice teams.

Xia Duo cheered Sami on, but he was not good with words, and in the end, it actually turned into Sami cheering him on.

After terminating the 【Message】, Xia Duo instructed Jibu to take people to Sami's camp the next day, and then he began his own final preparations.

As for equipment, it went without saying; Hand Crossbow, Dagger, and Magic Item box were things he kept on his person at all times. He could not afford other Magic Equipment, but he could now afford a 【Summon Mount】 Scroll because of the gains from the previous field practice outside the town.

It was just that he could not enter the Mage Tower now, so he could not buy it at all. There were Magic Items for sale in Savile Town, but the prices of any Magic Scrolls related to running away or saving one's life had multiplied several times over, and Xia Duo could no longer afford them.

Such is the helplessness of the poor.

Aside from equipment, the only thing left was to put effort into physical fitness and Spells. The former was hard to have breakthrough progress in; Xia Duo could basically keep up with the team's movements now without needing others to wait for him deliberately, and the same went for Dien.

As for Spells, Xia Duo had many ideas. Instant casting was a method that could bring the most improvement. Among the Ring Spells, the 【Light】 he was most familiar with could already be cast almost instantly.

The others were not difficult either; practice more, summarize more, combine theory with practice, and proceed step by step.

Looking at it this way, Xia Duo was actually prepared to deal with the war (relatively speaking).

Today, after seeing the concentrated form of negative energy, Xia Duo had a deeper understanding of energy and the Magic Net. Combined with his previous experience in changing 【Light】, he had an idea to create a new Spell.

This was almost a necessary experience for all famous Mages or Arcanists during their Apprentice stage, and now Xia Duo had also reached this step.

The Spell he wanted to create was very simple—【Create Water】. Perhaps someone had already created it before him, but Xia Duo had not obtained any relevant Spellcasting elements, nor had he even obtained the Spell model.

This was entirely an idea that arose based on his cognition and understanding of the Principles of Spells and the essence of the Magic Net, combined with the eight Ring Spells he had already learned.

He did not ask for this Spell to be powerful or to bring him anything; he just treated it as an act of theory guiding practice, nothing more ordinary.

In the future, there would be more such acts.