CH109

Helag followed up with a few more sword strikes. Leaving an enemy alive was a recipe for disaster.

After confirming the masked man's death, Helag searched the body.

The masked man didn't have a spatial ring, only a backpack with the storage capacity of a large water tank, a low-level storage item.

Inside, Helag found his Voodoo Doll, some low-quality healing potions, and several gold deposit slips from the Kingdom of Doris's treasury.

The deposit slips totaled over thirty thousand gold coins.

These were useless to Helag, as redeeming them required identity verification, which could lead to trouble. It wasn't worth it for thirty thousand gold coins.

The rest were miscellaneous items, with the Voodoo Doll being the most valuable.

After collecting the loot, Helag used a small fireball spell to burn the body.

"How did he find me?" Helag wondered, unsure where he had slipped up. But with the man dead, there was no way to ask.

After dealing with the body, Helag resumed his journey.

He bought a horse in a village along the way and continued traveling.

It would take two days on horseback to reach Ryan City. Walking was too slow and risky.

Unfortunately, he had killed the masked man's horse, which would have been faster.

An hour after Helag left, the chubby Calis arrived at the scene, muttering, "That kid is really something."

***

Two days later, Helag returned to Ryan City.

Inside the city, Helag could relax a bit.

Wizards rarely fought in cities populated by ordinary people, as collateral damage could cause significant trouble.

Rogue wizard apprentices, lacking backing, were even less likely to cause trouble in cities.

Helag went straight to the Lord's castle. After being announced, Elisa's knight commander, Levant, personally escorted him inside.

Levant, as always, had a stern expression and remained highly vigilant around Helag.

"You're back so soon?" Elisa was lounging on her bed, surrounded by black veils.

She wore a small tank top, showing off her figure.

Helag couldn't help but feel the tank top's straps might snap under the pressure.

"Here's the Moonstone Grass, two pieces as agreed. This one's yours," Helag said, handing over a piece of Moonstone Grass from a wooden box.

"How much did it cost?" Elisa asked curiously.

Helag replied seriously, "A lot. I nearly spent all the gold you gave me. Moonstone Grass is rare, and they jacked up the price."

"Really? I heard it wasn't that expensive," Elisa said skeptically.

"I don't know, but it was costly. By the way, what do you need it for? Can you make potions?" Helag asked.

He had always wondered why a novice wizard apprentice like Elusa needed such high-grade potion ingredients.

Elisa said, "I heard that drinking water infused with Moonstone Grass can keep you young and delay aging."

"I've never heard of that," Helag said, recalling his herbology books.

"You powerful wizards can stay young naturally, so you wouldn't care about such things," Elisa said enviously. She had worked hard to become a wizard apprentice, mainly to maintain her appearance.

She had seen her great-grandfather, Dino, over a hundred years old, still looking in his thirties, and naturally wanted to become a wizard.

But her poor aptitude meant she barely managed to become a wizard apprentice, even with Dino's help.

With no hope of further advancement, Elisa sought various ways to maintain her looks.

Approaching thirty, she became even more obsessed with preserving her beauty.

Dino had told her about Moonstone Grass's anti-aging properties, which most wizards ignored as irrelevant.

Ordinary people couldn't afford it, so few knew about it.

"Deep Blue, does Moonstone Grass delay aging?" Helag asked.

[According to data and database search, Moonstone Grass has anti-aging properties,] Deep Blue confirmed.

"So it's true," Helag thought, surprised.

"Bring it to me," Elisa said, lying down casually.

Helag took the Moonstone Grass and walked over, handing it through the black veil.

Elisa took it but then grabbed Helag's hand, tracing his palm with her fingers, making him feel ticklish.

"If you spent all your gold on Moonstone Grass, how about I give you a different reward?" Elisa said seductively.

Helag pulled aside the veil and climbed onto the bed, pinning Elisa down. "You're playing with fire."

Elisa, unfazed, wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, "Dry wood needs a blazing fire."

***

The night passed quickly, with Helag and Elisa in each other's arms.

Helag felt no fatigue, while Elisa slept from exhaustion.

"Hmm?" Helag suddenly felt something strange.

"So this is the true use of Starry Sky Potion?" he realized.

He began meditating, finding his speed much faster than when he took the potion.

Unfortunately, this speed was due to accumulated potion effects, released all at once, and couldn't be maintained daily.

Some potion effects had remained dormant in Helag's body, activated by the night's activities.

"While this is effective, I can't do this every day. But I can store the effects and release them weekly, which seems more reasonable," Helag thought.

The dormant potion effects could be stored and released in one go.

Helag seized this opportunity to meditate, not wasting any chance to improve himself.