Chapter 20: The Skull Society

"My Lord, this is what was found on him."

Under the twilight, Maiken held some items in both hands and respectfully presented them.

Luoning nodded slightly and took them one by one to examine them.

His attention was first focused on the small black bag and the four pieces of parchment.

The small black bag was clearly for holding money; it clattered as soon as it was in his hand, and he did not know how many gold coins were inside.

As for the four pieces of parchment...

After Luoning saw the contents clearly, he could not help but reveal a look of pleasant surprise.

Three of the parchments clearly recorded three Wind Attribute spells: the Level 1 Magic Clear Wind Spell, the Level 2 Magic Light Body Technique, and the Wind Blade Technique.

"Heaven truly helps me!"

Luoning was overjoyed in his heart; he had previously been thinking about how he had no way to learn magic, and he had not expected to obtain three types all at once in the blink of an eye.

"What is this?"

Luoning flipped through the fourth piece of parchment with some confusion; it had red patterns drawn on it, which looked somewhat like the patterns on the parchment recording the Clear Wind Spell.

"Could it be that someone wanted to replicate a magic introduction for the Clear Wind Spell to sell?" Luoning guessed.

He glanced at the three small bottles and a quill in the Guard's hands, but he had no interest in those.

He put the money bag and the parchments into his own pocket, then waved his hand, "Hand the remaining items to Chahar later and have him keep them safe."

Luoning looked at the trapped Magician, "Maiken, find a rope and tie him up securely; I have words for him later."

He prepared to interrogate this person thoroughly later to extract more magic knowledge.

Magicians were rare indeed.

After dealing with the Magician's affairs, Luoning dismounted; it was now time to go and interact with the Gelin Family.

Seeing Luoning approach, the three members of the Gelin Family hurriedly saluted.

Chahar introduced them at the right moment: "My Lord, this is Young Master Malike of the Gelin Family, Miss Marina, and their Knight, Kaine."

Luoning placed his left hand over his chest, maintaining aristocratic etiquette, "Apologies for our late arrival; how are your injuries?"

The boy, Malike, forced a smile, "Lord Luoning, on behalf of the Gelin Family, I express our most sincere gratitude to you. If you hadn't arrived in time today, our lives would likely have been lost."

The girl also chimed in: "You are truly worthy of being the most outstanding bloodline of the Wushan Family; the battle just now was truly handsome!"

Luoning smiled slightly; it was handsome, but the part about being the most outstanding bloodline of the Wushan Family was a bit lacking.

The reputation of his predecessor had likely been heard by the nobles, big and small, in Wushan Territory; basically, they all said that with an heir like Luoning, the Wushan Family had no future.

While speaking, he was also sizing up the two members of the Gelin Family.

The girl's voice was relatively thin, and the tone sounded decent, but her appearance was extremely average.

She was about one meter fifty-six tall, and although she was wearing a loose long dress, one could still tell her weight was a bit over the limit, and there seemed to be quite a few freckles on her face.

As for the boy beside her, Malike, he should be even younger; perhaps because he had lost a lot of blood, his face was somewhat pale.

Although he was trying his best to maintain aristocratic etiquette and not be rude, it was clear he was already extremely exhausted.

Luoning did not converse much, letting them rest first to recover their state.

"Chahar, bring my carriage over and let the brave young master and the beautiful young lady go inside to rest for a while."

"Very well, My Lord!"

Chahar hurriedly turned back to bring the carriage over.

Malike and his sister Marina did not force themselves any longer; after expressing their gratitude to Luoning once more, they entered the carriage to rest with the support of Knight Kaine.

"Lord Kaine, what exactly happened to you all?" Only then did Luoning inquire about their encounter.

It turned out that in this crusade against the Black Gold Brotherhood initiated by Earl Wiggins, the head of the Gelin Family, Baron German, had unfortunately been injured.

Lady Fulawiya had sent Knight Nuoer with his Knight Squad to the Wushan Extraordinary Academy to pick up Malike and his sister Marina, but they had not expected such a thing to happen on the road.

"That Magician was hiding in the shadows; he opened with two Wind Blades. Captain Nuoer barely blocked one in his haste, but his throat was slashed by the second!"

Kaine was still immersed in the grief of losing his captain, "The young master and young lady's carriage was also sliced open by the residual force of that Wind Blade, which is why the young master and young lady were injured."

Only then did Luoning understand why the escort team for the Gelin Family's heirs was led by a Primary Knight; it turned out the captain had died instantly at the start.

After the other party's description, Luoning also became vigilant toward magic.

The scene of the Magician using the Wind Blade was still fresh in his mind, and it was thanks to Maiken's timely reaction that they had avoided it safely.

"Skull Society?"

Luoning looked at the corpse of the assassin on the ground; there was indeed a white skull pattern on the clothes on their chest, "Is it an assassin organization?"

Kaine sniffled and wiped away his tears, "I don't know much about it. It is said that the Skull Society is an organization that appeared around the same time as the Black Gold Brotherhood and the Bolante Bandit Group."

"It's just that the latter two have bases, while the Skull Society does not. Their members are scattered, and their presence is seen in many assassination missions."

Luoning noted the name down; he did not know if these organizations active in Wushan Territory would come to cause him trouble one day.

He hoped the remoteness of Shanlin Town would keep him from attracting so much attention.

"I am very sorry to hear of your dangerous experience. I will have my Guards help you tidy up the remains and bury them by the roadside."

"Many thanks, Lord Luoning!" Kaine bowed in gratitude.

Watching Kaine bury his teammates with the assistance of the Guards, Luoning could not help but feel some emotion.

This pair of siblings did not know who they had offended to bring about such a fatal disaster; it was truly an unprovoked calamity.

"Gelin Family..."

Luoning organized the information regarding this family.

The Gelin Family's territory was in Lake Town; as the name implied, there were many large and small lakes within their territory, so this family had abundant aquatic products, and their freshwater fish and shrimp were very popular in Wushan Territory.

Luoning remembered that the most delicious whisker-horn fish were produced in Lake Town.

"Could this assassination have been triggered by an economic dispute?"

Luoning thought for a while and then stopped dwelling on it; the affairs of nobles were intricate and complex, how could he, an outsider, figure them out?

Anyway, he had just saved the heir of the Gelin Family and his daughter, so Baron German ought to show some appreciation, right?

Asking the other party for something—that was the real business Luoning should be thinking about.

"Right, killing that Primary Knight just now completed an achievement for me."

Leading his horse, Luoning returned to the Guard convoy and summoned the system interface.

At this moment, his Attribute Points and Energy Essence had reached 30 and 140 respectively; this was not only enough to fill his Knight Rank progress bar, but also enough to raise the level progress of the Light Attribute Magician he was about to possess to the late stage of Primary.

It wouldn't be long before he possessed an Intermediate Mage.

After witnessing the power of an Intermediate Mage with Wind Attribute, Luoning was also very much looking forward to the Light Mage.

"As expected, reserving Energy Essence instead of dumping it all into Maiken was the right choice."

Of course, once the Light Mage also reached Intermediate and his strength had significantly improved, Luoning still planned to let Maiken break through to Advanced Knight first.

After all, a team needs a powerhouse to lead the way; raising everyone equally is not the optimal choice.

Luoning consumed all 30 Attribute Points, and following the increase in his physical strength, he sensed his Mental Power growing rapidly as well.

【Level】: 1-Primary Knight (100/100); 1-Primary Mage (25/150)

With the growth of his Mental Power, Luoning felt his Mana Space expand slightly, which allowed him to refine more mana.

Thinking of the three types of Magic he had just acquired, Luoning decided to try them out later.

He turned his gaze to the Achievement Master interface, estimating that the 【King of Slaughter】 achievement should have advanced.

Upon looking, it was indeed so; the new content was:

【King of Slaughter】: Kill any Level 2 Extraordinary Unit. Reward: Attribute Point +50, Energy Essence +100.

Luoning's eyes lit up; he happened to have a Level 2 Extraordinary Unit on his hands.

(End of chapter)