Chapter 75: Scavenging

“General, surround this place!”
“Tie up the living—don’t let a single one escape!”
Nishikijo Hideki and Nangong Xueyan were the first to recover their senses, a flash of joy in their eyes as they led the charge into the El family’s trading house. They barked orders at several soldiers to bind the adventurers tightly, searching their clothes and finding two storage rings.
He Chen seemed uninterested in this plundering. After the adventurers were ambushed, he stared at Xu Wen in astonishment, as if seeing him for the first time.
Having just come from the Horton-Klein trading house, all along the way he had thought he’d seen through this fifteen-year-old prodigy. He never expected, however, that even a four-star mage was not his limit.
Principal Harman’s “Solar Flare Wave” was a three-star Xuantian magic. He’d had the good fortune to witness it once. Xuantian-level magic, in its profundity, even surpassed four-star Earth Emperor spells!
Relying on that precious fire-attribute magic staff, the power Xu Wen unleashed in an instant obliterated a fully-defended five-star advanced water mage—the attack rivaled the might of a top-tier five-star spell, and the cumulative damage nearly reached six-star strength!
Just how many secrets was he hiding?
He Chen looked at Xu Wen, five years his junior, with a sigh.
In truth, after witnessing the spell’s devastation, Xu Wen felt a pang of regret.
He had drawn too much attention!
He’d never used the “Lava Staff” before, and his previous spellcasting had always targeted high-durability “enchanted test stones.” Today, for the first time, he displayed it before others—and had never imagined the commotion it would cause.
Gazing at the devastation radiating from the blast’s center, the buildings around shredded into a honeycomb of ruin, a sheen of cold sweat broke out on his brow.
The destructive power of a three-star Xuantian spell leaped more than four tiers; a single attack was nearly on par with a five-star spell.
Which meant that just now, that five-star water mage had withstood the equivalent of countless five-star spells bombarding him. Even a six-star mage might not have survived.
Fortunately, Nishikijo Hideki and Nangong Xueyan seemed more intent on the loot and spoils within the trading house, not rushing over right away.

As he thought this, Xu Wen blinked, remembering his original purpose for coming. He realized everyone else had already rushed inside and begun “acting,” and silently cursed this pack of shameless bandits. His gaze, however, drifted to the corpses strewn across the street.
The adventurers’ wealth was likely concentrated on their leader and the higher-ups.
“Just now, those guys seemed to call him ‘boss,’ didn’t they?”
Xu Wen approached the charred bodies, his eyes lighting up as he nonchalantly slipped a storage ring of moderate quality from the finger of the five-star brute.
Heh!
At least he hadn’t come away empty-handed.
His gaze swept over the man’s battered gear, finally settling on the weapons.
Weapons fared relatively well in the flames.
Not wasting an opportunity, Xu Wen gathered them all—low-level beast skeletons were now obsolete. With his spirit elevated to four-star, he could summon three-star and four-star skeleton warriors, even wraiths. The former, without weapons and gear, weren’t much stronger than two-star beasts. In the past, he’d had to make do with bone swords of poor durability. Not until he’d advanced and earned more did he upgrade to mid-tier weapons, transforming his forces into a proper legion.
After finishing here, Xu Wen extended his spiritual sense, searching carefully at the entrance to the trading house. As the only five-star mage in the adventuring party, the man was bound to have a storage ring. He’d just thrown out a magical scroll—a rare luxury, given the cost of materials and the high failure rate—so he couldn’t be poor. The trouble was, the body was hard to find. The moment the magic struck, countless fireballs tore him apart.
“Looking for this?”
Xu Wen turned at the words, just in time to see He Chen picking up a blackened ring-like object at his feet. Wiping away the soot, he revealed the smooth, silver-bright metal beneath.
Xu Wen silently cursed fate for its cruel sense of humor: the ring had flown dozens of meters from the trading house entrance, causing him to search in vain.
“You found it, so it’s yours.” Though Xu Wen was in need of resources, he wasn’t about to quarrel with a companion over spoils. He Chen had done his part in the fight. With that, Xu Wen strode into the trading house, hoping to snatch up a bit more.
“What do you plan to do with these adventurers?”
Entering, Xu Wen immediately saw several adventurers bound like mummies, their cold eyes boring into Nishikijo Hideki and Nangong Xueyan’s backs. Xu Wen frowned and asked the soldiers guarding them.
“Sir, by imperial law, looting during a crisis and resisting officers is punishable by exile to the north—forced labor for life.”

The soldiers, awed by Xu Wen’s display of magic, now addressed him as “sir.” As military men, they were straightforward and respected strength.
At the words, the adventurers looked over, the fierceness in their eyes subsiding, but Xu Wen caught a flicker of calculation—they were memorizing his face.
Would a band of desperados meekly wait to be sent north?
“No need to detain them,” Xu Wen replied coldly.
“The commander and the great families’ champions are risking their lives against the necromancer to protect the people. If we can’t guarantee absolute order in the rear and waste manpower on a few petty bandits, would we not be ashamed?”
“What do you mean, sir?”
The soldiers’ faces brightened; they’d had the same idea but had hesitated, given the youths’ status. Now, emboldened by Xu Wen’s words, they stirred restlessly, though still cautious due to his age. They asked for confirmation.
“Sir! Sir! We’ve already surrendered! According to the law, our sentence should be reduced! You can’t kill us! You have no right!” The adventurers panicked, not expecting this newly arrived youth to be even more ruthless than the previous two.
“I have no such authority. But these gentlemen act under the commander’s orders to eliminate the necromancer’s associates,” Xu Wen declared, glancing indifferently at the adventurers and pronouncing their guilt with a word. “Or think of it this way: the empire is in peril, and we simply cannot spare the men to entertain you. My apologies.”
With a gesture, the guards no longer hesitated. Grinning grimly, swords in hand, they waited until Xu Wen had stepped aside before dispatching the terrified adventurers. The trading house gained a few more corpses.
He Chen entered in time to witness the executions. His brow furrowed slightly, but he said nothing. Catching up to Xu Wen, he returned the ring. “I don’t need this. Let’s say I saw nothing here. Just tell me one thing—how long did it take you to learn that spell?”
Meeting He Chen’s earnest, unwavering gaze, Xu Wen closed his hand around the ring and slipped it into his storage space.
“One hundred days.”