Chapter 289: Mentor |
A night passed.
Outside the house, the blizzard roared in.
Bai Mu's record was 0 wins and 9 losses. Last night, he fought 9 matches with the Southern Hero. Like fencers, they purely clashed with their blades. The other party didn't use strength that exceeded his; it could even be said that he completely used skill to fight him. Yet, Bai Mu couldn't parry the Hero's attacks at all. The Hero's defense was also airtight. In a few rounds in between, the Hero just stood there and let him hack, but his movements were completely seen through. Even though the Hero couldn't foresee the future concerning him, he could still predict his movements in advance.
Of course, Bai Mu didn't feel frustrated about his defeat. Rather, it would be strange if he could win.
After a night of dueling, he felt he had still made some progress. At least he had corrected his sword-holding posture. During the dueling process, the Southern Hero would sometimes tell him how to exert force more effectively while tapping his sword to help him adjust to the correct posture. Things that were difficult to understand with words could be quickly remembered by the body in actual combat. However, dueling with the Hero was truly an energy-consuming matter and prone to injury.
After fighting nine matches last night, his stamina value had almost bottomed out. Even though the other party only attacked his sword and held back his strength, there were a few times when he couldn't hold onto the hilt, causing Azure Light to fly out of his hand. His wrists, muscles, and tendons all suffered some damage during the battle. Fortunately, the pot of meat soup from the night provided him with a lot of buffs, and he also quickly recovered from this kind of damage by relying on Health Potions. Otherwise, he felt he wouldn't even have lasted 9 matches.
The next morning, Xiao Wei picked up the spoon again to cook. Using the remaining ingredients, she boiled soup and brewed tea. The hot water had also been prepared long ago. As soon as they woke up, there was hot tea and food.
Bai Mu washed his face. The Southern Hero took the towel Xiao Wei handed him and softly said thanks.
The blizzard outside the house roared like a wild beast, and the windows and doors were all trembling. If Bai Mu hadn't reinforced those gaps, the inside of the church would have already been covered by white snow.
After eating breakfast and replenishing his stamina, Bai Mu continued to seek instruction from the Hero. In addition, he also consulted the Hero about magic-related matters. Although he himself didn't possess the conditions to become an outstanding mage, in Xiao Wei's skill column, there was an item called "Witch's Aptitude."
Its effect was to allow her to ignore the learning conditions of any Rare-grade magic-side skills. And if her base Mental attribute could reach 45 points, she could even ignore the conditions to learn Perfect-grade magic skills as well.
With this talent present, even if she had never systematically studied this world's magic, as long as she found a relevant mage to teach her, she should have a good chance of learning it.
"Magic, huh," the Southern Hero said. "Although I know quite a lot of magic, what I have deeply researched and mastered has always been a unique magic that combines sword skills and Mana."
"Speaking of magic... it really comes down to the elves, especially the Great Mage Serie. Most famous mages have some connection to her. I once also visited a mage named Frieren, because in my precognition, she is one of the four people who will finally defeat the Demon King."
"However, Frieren should have just set off from a faraway place with her teammates right now. Although those four people have a lot of potential, they still need to build teamwork and accumulate combat experience."
"What I can teach Miss Xiao Wei is only some of the most basic things. Learning Mana perception in a short time is already quite difficult. The greater possibility is just a waste of effort."
"Please... please let me try," Xiao Wei said earnestly.
So the Southern Hero moonlighted as Xiao Wei's magic mentor. Under the blizzard, they really had nothing else to do.
In the morning, Bai Mu fought another 4 matches with the Hero, still maintaining a 0-win record. When it was time for lunch at noon, the Hero explained some knowledge points about magic to Xiao Wei.
It sounded very simple and easy to understand: perceive the Mana in the air, and then make judgments based on the flow and changes of the Mana. It was like chicken soup for the soul that everyone could understand, such as "study hard, and you can stand out in the future." But actually doing it was another matter entirely. For example, Bai Mu got stuck at the first step. He followed what the Hero said, closed his eyes, and went to perceive the Mana in the air, but his vision was just pitch black with nothing there.
Xiao Wei, however, nodded continuously. When the Southern Hero asked her if she saw it, she said she did. When asked what shape and color it was, she also answered them all accurately.
This made even the Southern Hero astonished by Xiao Wei's talent, saying she was simply a natural-born mage.
One could only say that mage was a class that heavily relied on talent. Without talent, one couldn't even get the most basic admission ticket.
However, Xiao Wei's talent didn't come out of nowhere either. She had suffered pain that ordinary people couldn't imagine in exchange for this so-called "Witch's Aptitude." The 'Blood of God' bloodline was also a kill reward that Bai Mu risked his life to obtain.
Anyway, for the next two days, Bai Mu and Xiao Wei did their utmost to learn knowledge and skills from the Southern Hero.
And the Hero didn't feel annoyed by this at all. He guided them very patiently and seemed to enjoy it.
In the morning two days later, the blizzard finally subsided. The sky cleared up again, and pale sunlight shone in through the windows. But after waking up, the Hero's expression was a bit off.
"Did something happen? Lord Hero?" Bai Mu asked.
"The people from the Norm Merchant Guild don't seem to be able to arrive on time," the Southern Hero said.
The Southern Hero wouldn't use precognition on all meticulous details. If he always maintained that state, he wouldn't be able to process the massive amount of information at all, and might even become unable to distinguish between the present and the future. He would only foresee important matters in advance, especially things related to himself, and usually wouldn't look too far beyond the current time.
"We probably... can't transport the villagers' corpses away," the Southern Hero said. "I have to go help them out, otherwise the logistics transportation around here will break down. If that happens, many people won't even be able to survive this winter."
"Lord Hero, we just need to hand over the villagers' corpses to the people of the Norm Merchant Guild, right?" Bai Mu asked.
"That's how you say it, but do you have any ideas, sir?"
"If it's just transporting the corpses away, there are still some ways," Bai Mu said. "However, it also depends on whether you are willing to use this kind of method, sir."
Saying so, Bai Mu took out a black thread-bound book with the six large characters "Profound Yin Corpse Nurturing Secret Record" written on the cover.