Level up (2)

It was just a precaution! In response to Liang Lidong's questioning, the old Village Chief only said this sentence and did not say anything else.

Was it really necessary to seek help from a "black mercenary" in a secret location for a trip to Winterwind? Logically speaking, it was unnecessary. However, Liang Lidong did not think that the village leader was just joking. The guy might've foreseen that something might happen on their trip to Winterwind, and it must be related to Kail. After all, it had been less than three days since Liang Lidong showed up in this world, and he was only active around the village. It was impossible for him to make enemies of the people in Winterwind.

If his guess was correct, the village leader must've wanted to eliminate the trouble that Kail caused by him. But the trouble couldn't be serious, or he wouldn't have left Liang Lidong alone with his grandson to Winterwind. After all, Kail was the only hope of the Reed family. What he said just now must've been a reminder for Liang Lidong to ask for help if he couldn't handle it.

Could a village leader set up spies in the city? Liang Lidong didn't think it was very likely. The village leader looked like an ordinary person. If he were a professional, he should've added a suffix to his name in the system according to the game … But he didn't. Not just him, Belin and Kail were ordinary people too. Although Kail was much stronger than ordinary people, he was still an ordinary person and not a professional.

If it were in the game, it would've been a quest, but Liang Lidong didn't receive any system notification, which meant that the quest system had failed.

Very soon, Kail led Belin into the house. The girl was very happy to hear that they were going to Winterwind. She had changed into a light brown linen dress without any patches and dressed herself up a little. The village leader reminded them to listen to Liang Lidong and not to make any decisions. Then, he slowly went upstairs and prepared for his lunch break. Looking at the old man's hunched back, Liang Lidong turned around and asked Kail, "How long has it been since your last visit to Winterwind?"

"About half a year," Kail thought for a moment and said, "I haven't been there since the taxes were raised."

Liang Lidong had a sip of water and asked again, "Has it been half a year since your grandpa visited Winterwind?"

"Not exactly." Kail recalled and said, "Grandpa goes there once a month, but he has things to do every time and can't take me with him."

Hearing that, Liang Lidong realized that it was about Kail's little trouble. Thinking for a moment, he smiled and said, "You two, we'll set off soon."

Several minutes later, the three of them arrived at the entrance of the village. The weather was unbelievably good. The sun was shining on the muddy road, turning it into dry fish scales. The scorching air twisted the scenery far away. Kail gave Liang Lidong a hat made of twigs and said, "Sir, it's easy for you to suffer a heatstroke if you walk in such a weather. It's hideous, but it's very practical."

Now, many children had changed the way they addressed Liang Lidong as teacher, and Kail was the same. He looked at Liang Lidong's soft and tender skin, which was even better than that of the noble girls, and was a little worried that he would not be able to withstand such harsh sunlight, but in reality, his worry was completely unnecessary. Liang Lidong had been in the game world for a total of eight years. From the very beginning, he had grown from a newbie to a famous and powerful player in the server. He had experienced many things, such as long explorations, quests, and environments that were a hundred times worse than this. However, the heat of the afternoon sun was nothing to him.

More importantly, he was a professional with seven points in Constitution, which was already "Good" according to the evaluation of the game. Normal environments and weather couldn't affect his health anymore.

"That's unnecessary!" Liang Lidong waved his hands and declined the guy's kindness. "Right, how far away is Winterwind from here?"

"About an hour and a half if we walk normally."

"That's not enough time. We have to speed up."

Liang Lidong snapped his fingers and activated the Mist Manipulation talent. The three of them were enshrouded in a hundred-meter-thick fog. Even the midday sun couldn't penetrate it, but their vision was not affected at all. They even felt cool. Liang Lidong's Mist Riding talent wasn't just for comfort, but to increase his walking speed. In Falan, there were a lot of skills, talents, or spells that could increase one's own movement speed, but few of them could increase the speed of allies on a large scale.

On the other hand, Mistride could not only increase the movement speed of allies, but it could also be considered as silent movement. If used at night, it could be used as a group stealth skill. Not only that, this skill could also weaken the enemy's vision, hearing, and movement speed. It was simply a bug-like bloodline magic. If used in a large-scale battle, it would definitely give a huge advantage in an instant.

Although the allies could only enjoy half of the bonus effect, the 1.5 effect meant that they were moving at a speed of 1.5 meters per second. Normal people usually walked at one to one and a half meters per second. It meant that after they entered the fog, Kail and Belin were only walking normally, but they were already jogging.

"Magic is truly remarkable." Kail looked around in the fog. He felt that he was walking faster than before, and it didn't take him much effort. Although he had already experienced it once, the charm of magic still made him gasp in admiration.

Belin followed behind Kail. Her lips moved, and then she sighed softly.

Because they walked faster, it only took them slightly more than half an hour to reach Winterwind. There were many people going in and out of the city gate, and then everyone nearby saw a thick fog shrouding the road in the distance, drifting over at a moderate speed … This strange situation made everyone understand at once that there were spellcasters in the city. They wanted to avoid the fog, but the road was only so big, less than five meters wide, and the range of Mistriding was a hundred meters. They couldn't avoid it at all.

Those who ran fast all hid in the city, and those who couldn't could only watch themselves being swallowed by the fog. They couldn't see or hear anything, as if they were the only people in the world … Thankfully, the feeling was soon gone. The fog vanished instantly, and three people appeared at the center of the road. One of them was a young man in a red priest robe, and the other two were a boy and a girl.

The young man had a head of bright golden hair. Under the sun, it shone with a faint golden light. His skin was fair, and his eyes were bright and full of expression. When the soldiers in charge of guarding the city gates were stared at by him, they felt a wave of fear. They hurriedly lowered their heads, not daring to look at him. When the civilians saw the young man leading the boys and girls into the city, the soldiers did not dare to stop him. Instead, they stepped back and lowered their heads to show their respect.

Winterwind was very large. The roads inside the city were all paved with black stone slabs. Liang Lidong walked on the right side of the road, followed by Kail and Belin. The three of them didn't deliberately block the path, but they created the effect of blocking the path … When the oncoming people saw Liang Lidong, they would immediately hide to the side and let him pass first before leaving, and the people behind didn't dare to pass the three of them.

Liang Lidong's believer robe that was vaguely flowing with blue magic colors, his magic cape, and his magic shoes were all reminding the people around that he was a spellcaster and that strangers should stay away from him.

Several spellcasters had settled down in Winterwind, so the residents knew the consequences of pissing off a spellcaster very well.

"Spellcasters are truly remarkable." Looking at how cautious the residents were, Kail heaved another long sigh.

Before them was a crossroad. Liang Lidong turned around and asked Kail, "Do you know where the alchemical items are for sale in the city?"

Kail replied, "There's a Guild of Mercenaries in the west of the city. I think they should have the alchemical items you need."

"Lead the way."

Kail immediately led the way. Compared with the villagers, the people of Winterwind were cleaner and more colorful. It wasn't noon yet, and the sun was scorching. Few noble ladies would come out. However, the female residents of the city were well-dressed. In Belin's eyes, those city people were truly beautiful.

The Guild of Mercenaries was a force that could be found all over the Continent of Falan. It had branches almost everywhere intelligent life existed. It seemed to be a powerful force on the surface, but in fact, the Guild of Mercenaries was just a platform for the nobles, magnates, and professionals to get in touch with them. The Guild of Mercenaries couldn't win over either the nobles or the professionals. They could earn a lot of money from the commission, but they didn't have much say in politics.

The Guild of Mercenaries was huge, and a few ferocious-looking guards were standing outside. Normally speaking, ordinary people weren't qualified to enter the Guild of Mercenaries, but Liang Lidong's eye-catching follower's robe made the guards shut up and pretend that they didn't see Kail and Belin, the two villagers.

Liang Lidong had accepted many quests in the Guild of Mercenaries in the game, so he was quite familiar with the place. He walked up to a pretty female attendant and asked, "What are the conditions for buying alchemy items here?"

"You can buy them as long as you can prove that you're a spellcaster." Looking at Liang Lidong's follower's robe, the waitress added, "I don't think you need proof anymore. Please go to the second floor. Someone will take care of you."

Magic items were only effective when worn by spellcasters. It was safe to say that there was no way to pretend to be a spellcaster. Liang Lidong's follower's robe was the best proof of his identity. The requirements to enter the Guild of Mercenaries were exactly the same as in the game. As long as you proved that you were a spellcaster, you could buy alchemical items. As long as you proved that you were a professional and registered with the Guild of Mercenaries, the Guild of Mercenaries would show the quest list to its members.

On the second floor, a male waiter came up and asked Liang Lidong the purpose of his visit before leading him to a large room on the side. There were many counters inside, and on top of them were items of various colors, from plant roots to animal specimens and all kinds of gems. There was everything that one could think of.

Liang Lidong planned to buy some materials and make magic scrolls. Teaching students could earn character experience points, and making magic scrolls could earn character experience points too. In fact, it was more rewarding than teaching students. Liang Lidong planned to make a few scrolls after he returned to the village. When the system calculated the experience points at midnight, he should be able to raise his character level from 0 to 1.

"After being processed by alchemy techniques, Liang Lidong bought a dozen miscellaneous items such as tanned sheepskin paper, broken sapphire fragments, mini rubies, water tree roots, and calcite powder dust... He then put them in his space backpack. The middle-aged man in charge of selling goods was also a spellcaster, wearing a black robe with red magic patterns. Seeing Liang Lidong's purchase fly away, he was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized and immediately approached Liang Lidong, trying to build a rapport: "Sir, you have space equipment, are you from the Monochrome Magic Tower?"