Chapter Eleven: A Cry for Help (Happy Holidays)

Returning the way they came, Xie Zhan’s battle was not yet over.

With a mournful cry, the rank beast caught sight of Xu Wen’s return, tucked its tail, and attempted to flee. But Xu Wen had no intention of letting it escape so easily; mustering the last reserves of magic within him, he summoned a blade of flame and struck it down. The two of them worked together to bring down the second rank beast.

“Whew!” The fight concluded, Xie Zhan exhaled deeply, and without regard for the foul stench still emanating from the slain beast, he collapsed heavily to the ground, all strength gone from his limbs. “What took you so long? I thought something had happened to you.”

“That beast’s hide is tough—you know that as well as I do. I had to use a few more spells to finish it off,” Xu Wen replied, feigning nonchalance. As he spoke, he walked over to the corpse, cut it open, retrieved a black magic core, and tossed it to Xie Zhan. “One for each of us.”

Xie Zhan reached up to catch the magic core, but grimaced in pain as he raised his left arm. “Ah!” The fierce battle had nearly rendered his arm useless.

“Don’t push yourself,” Xu Wen said, retrieving two porcelain bottles from his storage pouch. He poured out two pills and tossed them over. “Take these and rest. Otherwise, you’ll ruin that arm of yours.”

Xie Zhan sniffed the pills appreciatively before popping them in his mouth. One was a stimulant, the other a healing pill—one to ease the pain in his arm, the other to quickly restore his depleted magic.

“I didn’t expect that damned beast to find a companion. Honestly, thank you for coming back when you did. Otherwise, I’d have lost my life here today.” Though Xie Zhan was grateful, he was also visibly frustrated—he’d hoped to impress Xu Wen, but ended up making a fool of himself instead.

“You were lucky this time. Last time I didn’t run into two at once...” Xu Wen remarked.

“True.” Xie Zhan sighed in annoyance. “Usually in the Blackwater Mountains, rank-one beasts roam alone. I bet that beast was too badly injured and had to seek an ally for protection. Good thing you were with me this time... I suppose we need to be even more cautious in the future. Otherwise, we could die out here at any moment.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic. The way you handled that beast was impressive,” Xu Wen reassured him, hearing the defeat in Xie Zhan’s tone.

At the praise, a trace of pride appeared on Xie Zhan’s face. “You mean the firephosphor powder? My elder brother taught me that long ago. Too bad as registered disciples we’re not allowed to use custom-made gear or weapons during training. Otherwise, I’d show you the ‘Blast Purgatory’ technique I learned from him.”

“Oh?” Xu Wen paused, glancing over with curiosity. He didn’t recall such a spell among fire magic.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Xie Zhan grinned with satisfaction as he sat to meditate and recover, explaining as he did so.

His elder brother had crafted a piece of protective gear—shaped much like a bracer—that not only offered a measure of defense but could also fire powder, up to twelve tubes in succession.

'Blast Purgatory' was an attack spell created by combining firephosphor powder, the bracer, and simple fire magic. When all twelve tubes fired, the surrounding area would be filled with powder in three to five seconds. A single spell could then detonate in all directions. While not especially powerful, the spectacle rivaled that of a high-level three-star fire spell and consumed very little magic. Alternatively, the blast could be sustained in a single direction for over twenty seconds.

Xie Zhan had mastered this spell at a very young age!

“There’s really such a thing?” Xu Wen had never heard of it before. If it was true, then even an ordinary person, provided they knew how to use it, could unleash an earthshaking display—let alone a fire mage.

“Of course! When training is over, I’ll give you one.”

“It’s a deal,” Xu Wen replied without hesitation. He’d been troubled by the convoluted process of casting ‘Drunken Breeze,’ and Xie Zhan’s offer was a welcome solution.

After a brief rest, Xie Zhan’s injuries eased somewhat, though movement still brought pain. The two discussed their options and decided to hunt two more beasts before heading back. In their current state, camping overnight in the Blackwater Mountains was out of the question.

They hadn’t gone far before finding several corpses of rank-one beasts, their blood still fresh.

There were other registered disciples in the Blackwater Mountains.

They exchanged a meaningful glance—someone else had passed by recently.

A short while later, they stumbled upon the charred remains of a magical beast. Xie Zhan hurried over to examine it, his expression turning grave for the first time.

“We can't go any farther! This is a wind fox—a magic beast skilled in wind spells, likely of early two-star strength. It can cast basic Wind Blade, Speed Spell, and Chained Wind Blades. It’s cunning, and anything below a three-star fire spell is useless against it. If we go farther, we might not make it out alive.”

“How far do you usually go?” Xu Wen asked, crouching down to scrutinize the beast’s blackened body.

“When I’m alone, I only stay in the areas where rank-one beasts roam. I never go near two-star beasts,” Xie Zhan replied truthfully—he knew well the risks of a two-star mage encountering a two-star beast in the wild.

Yet Xu Wen was fully absorbed in examining the wind fox’s wounds. “Judging by these marks, the wind fox was hit by at least five fire spells, from rank-one level nine up to mid-rank two-star. Xie, do the registered disciples from other peaks in the family also train in this area?” Though he masked his concern, Xu Wen was inwardly drenched in cold sweat.

He hadn’t considered the possibility of other disciples being nearby when he’d used necromancy earlier. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have summoned a skeleton so recklessly. Necromancy was a forbidden art on this continent—if the Hortonklin family discovered any registered disciple practicing it, the consequences would be dire.

He had lamented not being able to collect more intact beast skeletons, but in hindsight, it was fortune enough that he’d managed to harvest a single rank beast skeleton without being seen.

“There must be at least five in that group,” Xie Zhan mused, not noticing the peculiar look in Xu Wen’s eyes. “But not all the registered disciples are here—just some from the surrounding peaks, the Sixth Medicine Peak and the Seventh Forge Peak. I met a few of them when I first came. Why do you ask? You’re not thinking of going deeper to find them, are you?”

“Of course not,” Xu Wen replied, face now composed.

Xie Zhan gave him a measured look before continuing, “Good. Unless you have at least three people, don’t even think about hunting two-star beasts. They’re nothing like one-star beasts, and with what we have, we wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Let’s head back,” Xu Wen agreed without protest.

Their fight with the rank beast had already made that clear. Though his round shield could withstand at least six blows from a one-star beast, against a two-star monster, it would be useless after just a few hits. At that level, relying solely on incantations in battle was a recipe for disaster.

“Right.” Xie Zhan, though still eager for more, knew that with midday approaching, detouring to hunt other beasts would make returning before sunset nearly impossible. Besides...

“We’ve done well today—magic cores, roast meat. Oh, and tonight, don’t forget to come to the training grounds. I’ll show you my grilling skills.”

“Sounds good. I suppose I’m in for a treat.” Xu Wen cared little for barbecue; he had hoped to return at night to collect the beast corpses and bolster his skeleton corps. Now, with so many disciples in the mountains, he had to abandon the idea. If anyone discovered his identity as a necromancer, his promising future would be snuffed out before it began—a tragic end indeed.

Just as they turned to head back, a surge of fire magic energy rippled across the distance!

Both men froze, instinctively looking toward the source of the magical disturbance.

Xie Zhan sensed it too. “Not far from us. For their group to have made it so deep, there must be at least one mid-rank two-star fire mage among them.”

“I wonder which peak they’re from. Shall we go take a look?” Xu Wen, now eager to test himself, suggested.

“No need.” Xie Zhan waved dismissively, unconcerned. “Mid-rank two-star? I’ll surpass that soon enough.”

But before he could finish, a sudden, powerful tremor seized them both. At the same moment, they turned toward the depths of the Blackwater Mountains...

A piercing shriek—sharp enough to stab through the eardrums! It culminated in a muffled, thunderous roar overhead, as a deep crimson light pierced the dense leaves above them.

Their faces changed instantly.

“…A distress signal!”