Chapter 114: Riding Alone

Not until Zhao Xu’s figure vanished around the corner of the little shop did Cui Lu come back to herself. She murmured, “How did he know that I had just registered a new account and chosen the Ranger class?”

Quite a few people in Cui Lu’s class had thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the game. Yet after nearly a month, it was not uncommon for players to have nearly exhausted their Resurrection Stones, or even to delete their characters and start over.

Cui Lu still had two Resurrection Stones left, but she had already realized that the Bard was not truly her path.

That was why she had deleted her account and begun anew. She did not mind starting from nothing.

Still, Zhao Xu’s advice left her somewhat puzzled.

Although only a handful of Ranger players had reached level two, heated arguments had already begun over the Ranger’s second-level class ability, “Combat Style.”

Whether Archery or Two-Weapon Fighting was the true superior choice had become one of the hottest topics among Ranger players.

In the end, however, players would have to experience the actual strength of each style for themselves.

When Zhao Xu logged back into the game the following day, the gold dragon Kampas had already departed, leaving no trace of where he had gone.

The little shelter he had conjured to keep out the rain had vanished with him.

Yet Zhao Xu now knew the true name of the ancient gold dragon Kampas. In a certain sense, the two of them had gained another bond between them.

The skies over the entire Southern Isle Forest had not yet completely cleared, but yesterday’s torrential rain had ceased. Only brief showers fell from time to time.

Looking up, Zhao Xu saw thick black clouds pressing down across the sky. They blocked out the sunlight and suggested that an even greater storm might descend at any moment.

Zhao Xu paid it little mind. Unless he were carrying a hurricane, torrential rain, or even a blizzard, getting caught in an ordinary shower would not trouble him. With a Constitution of fourteen, he was already comparable to an ordinary athlete who had undergone a certain amount of training.

Even so, Zhao Xu first found a tree stump and sat down to meditate and prepare his spells.

Once he reached level three and mastered the second-circle spell Rope Trick, he would possess the most basic kind of concealed shelter. He would no longer have to remain so passive, worrying about disturbances from wild animals.

Originally, Zhao Xu had thought it would take him at least two or three months to reach level three. Yet he had not even been adventuring for ten days, and he had already reached the threshold of level two with ease. This forced him to move becoming a second-circle mage higher on his schedule.

Compared with his previous life, when he had no idea how many swords he had needed to wield before finally comprehending the attack power of the second tier, becoming a level-two mage now felt almost like a dream.

After preparing his spells, Zhao Xu rose and dusted off his backside. Then he discovered that the entire Southern Isle Forest after the rain seemed to have been copied and pasted, leaving him almost unable to tell whether he had fallen under the influence of an illusion.

Yesterday, carried along by the spirit in his chest, he had felt that the world was vast and that anywhere beneath the heavens could be his home.

Now that he had regained some clarity, he still had to honestly find the main trade route.

Zhao Xu could not help grumbling inwardly. Yesterday, the gold dragon Kampas had thumped his chest and promised to provide him with every sort of attentive service.

Yet when Zhao Xu asked him to cast a teleportation spell, the elegant gold dragon immediately transformed into a grasping old miser and began explaining the Arcane Association’s service fees for fifth-circle spells.

The base fee for a fifth-circle spell was fifty gold pieces. Multiplied by the caster level of nine required to cast it, the total came to four hundred and fifty gold pieces.

At the time, the gold dragon Kampas had even put on the appearance of offering him a generous friends-and-family discount, explaining that he had not calculated the price using his true caster level, which was above nineteen. In other words, he was charging only half the proper amount and had already taken Zhao Xu’s circumstances fully into consideration.

Before his brain could catch fire, Zhao Xu had flatly rejected the proposal.

Four hundred and fifty gold pieces was already an enormous fortune among the players.

If Zhao Xu could not use the teleportation circle of the Arcane Association, he would naturally pay the price.

But for now, all he needed was a day or so to reach a large town. Spending four hundred and fifty gold pieces on a carriage ride was simply too extravagant.

Thus, sighing as he went, Zhao Xu pulled a map from his backpack. It depicted the Northern, Central, and Southern Isle Forests.

After studying it carefully for quite some time, he managed to estimate a general direction.

Unlike Earth, Arthur had no magnetic poles, so he had no way to produce a compass and use it to determine his bearings. He could only rely on the position of the sun, the density of the forest, and several relatively obvious landmarks to assist his analysis.

Fortunately, the map Antinoya had stuffed into his hands was exceptionally detailed, saving him a great deal of trouble.

For anyone gaining experience in the wilderness, the Survival skill was extremely practical. Zhao Xu, however, had invested not a single point in it.

If his Survival skill had reached level five, he would have been able to discern clear directions automatically.

Zhao Xu’s current allocation of skill points was geared more toward the later stages. Many skills that were useful early on but of little significance later—or that could be replaced by spells—were skills in which he refused to invest. He would rather save those points for Knowledge, Concentration, and Spellcraft.

Still, no matter how frugal he was, Zhao Xu had not been willing to save on travel magic.

Given the current scarcity of spell slots among mages, most players would not even consider casting such spells, much less spend the resources required to learn them.

But after a month of immersion in the Floating City, Zhao Xu had already accepted a certain principle: if magic could not be used to make one’s own life more comfortable, then being a mage was far too dull.

Among spells for getting around, Floating Disk lasted one hour per caster level, while Summon Mount lasted two hours per caster level.

Considering that he truly had a long journey ahead of him, Zhao Xu decided to cast Summon Mount.

And so, comparing the map in his hand while occasionally making a Knowledge check in Nature, he spent nearly three hours before finally reaching a main road near the Southern Isle Forest.

Compared with the muddy paths of the Southern Isle Forest, these major roads, specially maintained by the Heavenly North Merchant Alliance, had accumulated very little standing water despite yesterday’s torrential rain. The puddles merely slowed the light horse beneath Zhao Xu slightly.

Riding was a remarkable skill. It could assist a character in mounted combat, but Zhao Xu encountered no difficulty using it simply for travel.

He patted the summoned light horse, and it promptly quickened its pace for several strides.

“Summoned creatures really do save a lot of trouble,” Zhao Xu could not help remarking.

When he had passed through the canyon earlier, he had been too vigilant to notice much. Now, riding alone through the forest after the rain and breathing in its fragrant air, surrounded on every side by lush green, he could not help recalling the pleasure he had felt while exploring Arthur’s wilderness seven or eight years ago.

Only now did he have the leisure to appreciate how light and convenient the mount beneath him was.

In his previous life, Zhao Xu had been a warrior, and he had spent a fortune on a warhorse. A warhorse was like a sedan car on Earth—a matter of a man’s pride.

He had poured no small amount of money into that horse’s various saddles, barding, and accessories.

Now, a single spell could summon a horse. Though it could not be used in battle, it saved him a tremendous amount of time and effort in caring for it.

Suddenly, as Zhao Xu studied the map and estimated how far he was from North Card, he noticed that the horse beneath him had stopped dead and refused to take another step.

He raised his head.

Several dozen meters ahead stood a barricade stretching across the entire trade road. Several fully armored cavalrymen were aiming drawn bows at him from a distance.

More light-armored infantrymen held spears trained on this lone passerby, watching him with undisguised hostility.

He had reached a checkpoint.