Chapter 23: Light Technique

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Light Technique

It was deep in the night.

A full, round moon hung high in the night sky, its cool, clear light spilling over a small house on the western outskirts of the town.

A flickering, warm yellow light shone from the small house’s window.

It was a globe of light, coalesced at Hesia’s fingertip.

Practicing the Light Technique was going much more smoothly than Hesia had anticipated.

Thanks to the accelerated Magic Power recovery from his Earth Affinity and David’s notebook, Hesia had finally gotten the hang of it after a full night of repeated attempts.

He had slept soundly during the day to recover his depleted mental energy.

Now, after several more hours of tedious practice—

[Skill Mastered: Light Technique]

The globe of light at his fingertip, once unsteady, was now stable and bright.

’I did it!’

A flash of joy went through Hesia, but it was quickly followed by a hint of disappointment.

’It didn’t increase my Wisdom Attribute...’

As he felt the subtle changes brought by the newly mastered magic, understanding dawned on him.

’Looks like the reward is proportional to the effort.’

’This Light Technique is just a simple illumination trick. There’s no real skill to it, so it does almost nothing to train my Spiritual Power.’

’It’s not like the Earth Spike Technique, which is much harder. Without my Earth Affinity, I might never have learned it in my entire life.’

He glanced at Bruce, who was lying listlessly on the ground.

"Bruce, go get some rest." Hesia extinguished the globe of light at his fingertip, and the small house instantly plunged into darkness, with only moonlight filtering through the window. "We’ll pack up tomorrow and get ready to leave."

"Leaving tomorrow?" Bruce barely lifted his heavy eyelids, his voice thick with sleep. "Is it because of those two Guards who came last night? Didn’t they come again this morning? Said something about... the Lord inviting you to the manor as a guest?"

Bruce had been having a rough time the past couple of days.

As a dog who valued his routine, he needed a full fifteen hours of sleep each day.

But for the past two days, the orb of light at Hesia’s fingertip kept flashing on and off, on and off, nearly blinding his poor eyes.

Besides, he felt that ever since he started talking, Hesia had been acting strange—sluggish during the day, but wide awake at night! It went completely against his understanding of the world!

"It’s not because of them," Hesia said, shaking his head as he sat on the edge of the bed. "It was annoying when they randomly showed up to kick us out, but I was already planning to leave. I only stayed because of that notebook."

"The notebook?" Bruce let out a big yawn. "What does the notebook have to do with anything?"

"To learn skills, of course! Once I master two basic Mage skills, I can go to the Mage Guild and get my entry-level certification. With that certification badge, I can register as an Adventurer! And then..."

"Adventure?!"

Bruce was instantly wide awake! His tail started thumping against the ground—WHAP, WHAP, WHAP—all traces of sleepiness gone. "Really? Are we finally going on an adventure?! To legendary Dragon’s Lairs and treasure! And Dungeons!"

"Yeah!" Hesia was infected by his excitement. "We’re not going to the manor; that sounds boring. The most urgent thing right now is... making money."

He felt the few remaining silver scales and copper nails in his pocket.

The money he’d brought from Houlder was nearly gone, having lived off it for over a year in Print.

Adventuring requires equipment and supplies. Without money, you can’t get anywhere.

Bruce was lost in a fantasy of being "Adventurer Bruce" when his nostrils suddenly twitched.

"Snff... Hesia?" He lifted his head, confused. "Is that... a weird smell?"

"Smell?" Hesia sniffed the air but couldn’t smell anything.

But Bruce’s nose was never wrong!

"It smells like rotten eggs, or maybe... rotting meat that’s been out for a long time?"

Hesia’s heart tightened. He shot to his feet and hurried out of the cottage with Bruce.

Outside, the world was bathed in watery moonlight.

The stench in the air seemed even stronger out here.

Hesia’s sharp gaze swept in the direction of Print Town.

In the darkness, the town’s silhouette was a murky outline. It seemed... something was squirming?

He and Bruce cautiously approached the town.

The closer they got to the town, the stronger and more pungent the stench became.

Hesia’s heart was in his throat.

He raised his hand, and a ball of white light ignited at his fingertip.

[Light Technique]

The globe of light traced an arc, landing precisely in the squirming darkness at the town’s entrance!

The light dispelled the shadows.

Hesia and Bruce instantly saw what was there.

Several hunched figures with sickly green skin were exposed in the light!

They were only waist-high to a human child, with pointed ears and fangs. Their murky yellow eyes squinted in pain from the bright light, and their wrinkled faces twisted into ferocious expressions.

They covered their eyes with their claws, their mouths, full of sharp teeth, opening in silent screams.

’Goblins!?’

Hesia was stunned.

’Why are goblins here? How did they get past the town’s guard posts?’

’Something’s wrong... This feels very strange.’

Despite his confusion, Hesia didn’t immediately attack with the Earth Spike Technique.

Rashly consuming Magic Power before assessing the situation was a cardinal sin for a Mage.

Just then, Hesia felt a sharp tug on his pant leg.

He looked down and saw Bruce biting his pant leg, his eyes full of anxiety.

"Bruce?" Hesia started to ask, but his voice vanished as if absorbed by an invisible sponge!

He couldn’t hear his own voice!

He also couldn’t hear Bruce’s whimpers!

Hesia instantly understood the source of the bizarre sense of wrongness.

The goblins were screeching, Bruce was barking frantically, and he himself had been speaking, but his surroundings were utterly silent.

Fortunately, Spellcasting was not affected.

He immediately cast another Light Technique, the flash sending several approaching goblins scrambling back.

He then retreated rapidly, with Bruce right at his heels.

After retreating about forty or fifty meters, the sounds of the wind, the insects, and his own footsteps came rushing back to his ears like a flood.

"HUFF... HUFF..." Hesia gasped for breath, his ears once again filled with the sound of his own panting and Bruce’s barking.

The goblins stopped when they reached the invisible boundary. They snarled and brandished their claws from within the silent zone, but didn’t dare take a single step across.

"Damn it! Hesia, I was barking my head off! Why didn’t you react at all?" Bruce yelled, still shaken from the experience.

"Could you hear your own barks before?"

"No!" Bruce answered automatically, before it dawned on him. "Ah! You mean... closer to town, we couldn’t hear each other at all?"

Hesia nodded grimly. "Exactly! In that area... sound is being suppressed by some kind of power!"

He gazed toward the dead-silent Print Town, the ominous feeling in his gut growing stronger.

"What sewer did these little green-skinned runts crawl out of? That awful stench is coming from them!"

"I don’t know. Let’s circle around toward Eagle Claw Manor. Listen closely. The moment you notice the sounds disappearing again, warn me immediately."

"Got it!"

The man and his dog turned west, moving by the light of the moon.

As they rounded the far western corner of the town, about to head for the main road to the manor, the nauseating stench of blood began to drift through the air.

Bruce whimpered softly.

Hesia’s heart plummeted!

At night, Print Town was terrifyingly quiet.

Suddenly, Hesia stopped in his tracks. He noticed something hanging from the town’s highest point—the Bell Tower.

A gust of night wind blew past, sweeping away the clouds that had been obscuring the moon.

Bright, clear moonlight poured down.

It was a doll.

It looked like it was molded from black mud.

On the doll’s head, long black hair swayed gently in the night wind.