Chapter 319: Problematic or Wrong

Chapter 319: Problematic or Wrong

Soundproof Magic Barriers were things most Infiltrators hated. Not only did they have warning systems, but as their name suggested, they could completely block sound from leaking out or being eavesdropped upon. Other than using specific magic to break them, there was basically no other way. Just touching such a barrier would alert the caster. These soundproof barriers created by items had no caster, but they themselves had obvious warning mechanisms.

Subduing the people inside was indeed a good idea, but Carlin thought about it and temporarily gave up on that plan. It was the knowledge he had gained from Cultists that made him give up. Cultists really didn’t treat their own lives as important. So even if he subdued the people inside, it wouldn’t be too easy to force useful information out of them.

Even if Demon Sword Cultists were different from other Cultists, who could guarantee they were different in this aspect? These people were clearly organized and disciplined, unlike those scattered Demon Sword Cultists who could do whatever they wanted with no one to manage them. It was better to play the long game and catch the big fish. By following these people, he would eventually find out what they were really up to.

“Was this being nosy?” Carlin thought carefully, then tossed that self-mockery aside. As an Infiltrator, he had done things like robbing criminals before. This time, he just had an extra goal. The overall process didn’t change much. As long as he wasn’t targeting good people, he didn’t feel bad about robbing other criminals—his hands were already stained plenty black.

What he needed to worry about was paying extra attention to certain things. For example, when he acted, he needed to be steady, accurate, ruthless, and leave enough clean traces to avoid leaking his own information and causing trouble…

As long as his own information wasn’t leaked, even if there were survivors, if he was careful afterwards and didn’t leave traces elsewhere, those people still wouldn’t be able to find out anything about him. After all, the targets he had chosen in the past were all people who couldn’t expose many things openly.

Carlin watched this group for three days. During this time, apart from taking turns keeping watch, the others actually each did their own things, seeming like normal daily life. This was all surface-level. Uninformed people would basically be fooled. Carlin, who watched the entire process, knew just how good their disguises were.

They maintained their daily lives separately. If observed from another angle, one could see that each of their locations allowed them to rush to a certain observation point at Kachi Academy at the fastest speed, and also gather together quickly.

On the third day, these people finally showed new movement. During these three days, Carlin didn’t just watch this group; he also collected other information. For example, Lily had some upcoming school activities recently. She was a combat department student. Her young age wasn’t a problem… High Talent and sufficiently excellent strength were what mattered. The Academy focused on cultivating excellent students, but wanting a student to truly become excellent, not just academically excellent.

Practical combat was essential!

One could say that every famous powerhouse today was built on solid combat achievements, not by leaving the Academy as a so-called ‘powerhouse’. Such existences could indeed rely on strength to crush those weaker than themselves. But once they encountered someone with similar strength but far more experience, the outcome would be hard to predict.

And why were geniuses called geniuses? High Talent didn’t just bring guaranteed victory against peers of the same level; it also brought the possibility of challenging those above one’s level. So real geniuses absolutely couldn’t be raised like flowers in a greenhouse. All famous Academies valued practical combat training greatly.

Seven or eight practical combat-focused students were worth far more than ten purely academic students. The latter would also grow up, sure, but their growth rate was lower than that of practical combat students.

Therefore, those excellent students had many practical combat sessions. After all, once a school had enough reputation, it had connections and relationships with major local forces, making arrangements easy. Also, because these schools had trained many powerful experts, and through their connections, the school’s network was strong enough. Generally speaking, as long as it was a neutral-type Academy, as long as there was no direct conflict, others would basically give some face.

“Tsk, this is a bit of a coincidence.” Carlin gently pressed the Tactical Eyepiece on his left eye… Well, his new Boss called the thing he was wearing that. For now, it only had zoom-in and zoom-out functions. When the Boss gave it to him, he also seemed to say this thing was an initial experimental product, so it could only be used as a telescope with a slight locking effect. Other functions would be added later when there was time…

Telescope? He didn’t quite understand the term, but from the literal meaning, it probably meant something that allowed people to see faraway things. He had already experienced this ‘far-seeing’ effect. It could easily magnify distant things several times. This magnification could be finely adjusted. Carlin liked this effect immediately. What was this? An eagle-eye spell without Mana Fluctuation!

And he liked that locking function even more. Slight locking, literal meaning. The locking strength wasn’t high. It would lose effect if the target went beyond one-third of the eyepiece’s maximum field of view. Also, it could only lock onto a maximum of three targets at once, and there was a maximum distance limit. He had tested this locking effect. It was somewhat similar to a dark magic spell called ‘Undead Sight’. The sight of the Undead was somewhat different from that of the living. Some could see the same scenery as humans, but they also had an additional special effect humans lacked—they could see the life fluctuations of living creatures…

Of course, if someone knew how to hide their life fluctuations or used isolation magic, and if the Undead wasn’t strong enough, it couldn’t see that person’s life fluctuations with Undead Sight.

This locking was based on such a principle. After a locked target left his field of vision, a prompt indicator arrow would appear on the eyepiece. If he turned his head quickly, not letting the target completely leave the locking range, he could maintain the locking effect. One-third, not all-around. It seemed a bit narrow, but for Carlin, it was sufficient.

His speed was originally very fast. If the opponent moved slightly outside his blind spot, it was still okay. If they moved completely outside his field of vision, that would mean his greatest strength was being suppressed!

An Infiltrator, not even talking about his specialty in stealth, if his speed was suppressed, what was there to fight? Overall, this was a rather novel and useful little tool for him. And this was just a trial version. When his cheap Boss developed the full version in the future, it might have all-around locking and a larger frontal locking range.

He didn’t need the locking function right now. Just this far-seeing effect allowed Carlin to easily observe the movements of that group from a monitoring range double the normal distance. Going further wasn’t impossible, but if it was too far and some sudden situation occurred, he couldn’t rush over in time. This distance was just right. Not only could he monitor that group at all times, but because of the distance, he could observe a larger field of view and notice more situations in other places.

The other side was acting on the day of Lily’s internship. This seemed like a coincidence, but it was something that couldn’t be ignored. These people had been extremely careful these days. Apart from brief daily exchanges, they never gathered together more than necessary. Each exchange was just a glance, acknowledging each other’s presence, letting others know they hadn’t been taken out. Carlin didn’t know if there was a Magic Weapon Summoner among them. During his surveillance, none of that group had taken out a Magic Weapon Summoning Book.

“So it really is… But who is their target?” Confirming that this group’s target really was the internship team Lily was in, Carlin immediately felt he had done a great service. Well, at least his caution wasn’t wrong. Even if he didn’t know the opponent’s exact target, just identifying that team was a potential danger discovered in advance.

Demon Sword Cultists were also Cultists. Even if they wouldn’t perform the bloody rituals normal Cultists did, it was hard to avoid having a few perverts who liked slaughtering the weak. Even if their target wasn’t Lily, Lily could easily get caught up in it.

Carlin rubbed his hands together. The last trace of casualness in his heart completely vanished as he entered the combat state he used to have. He took off the Tactical Eyepiece. It was very convenient during surveillance, but what came next wasn’t purely surveillance. Wearing it made his eyes feel a bit uncoordinated, somewhat affecting his performance.

“…” Lily, following the team, looked at the leading teacher ahead. She didn’t really want to participate in this practical combat course, because participating would affect her following vacation… Although there would be a longer break after the practical combat course ended, she would still miss the normal vacation. She would talk to him about it during today’s break.

Lily thought. Not wanting to participate was one thing, but she didn’t dislike these practical combat courses. Each practical combat course always allowed her to summarize a lot of experience. This kind of experience wasn’t something knowledge taught by some teachers could bring. The knowledge they taught, in Lily’s view, was more like a key. Holding this key indeed allowed one to grasp knowledge, but to truly make this knowledge one’s own, one needed to use this key to open the door and take out the knowledge behind it.

This was the benefit of practical combat courses. Sometimes, what the teacher said was heard clearly, and one felt they could use it well. But when actually using it, it never reached the ideal state. It was like walking into a dead end. Clearly, turning around would let one walk out. But these problems were easily solved in actual combat.

What was learned ultimately belonged to others, not truly to oneself. Of course, using it would differ from the ideal. But in actual combat, one could adjust what was learned faster according to one’s own situation, turning it into one’s own thing. Besides, there was another thing Lily liked about actual combat—it allowed her to… hunt in the wild…

She could eat normal food, but to maintain her best condition, she needed… like a Corpse Puppet… needed some special food. Her sense of taste was also different from others. While she could accept normal food, she could also accept raw meat. She could even taste a ‘deliciousness’ others couldn’t discern.

But she actually didn’t like chewing raw meat. She knew very well she wasn’t Human anymore, but her subjective consciousness wasn’t twisted. Even if she could taste a different flavor, doing so always felt very Aberration to her. So what she consumed more was blood, not raw meat. Blood contained enough components to maintain her body condition, even make her stronger. It was also more convenient than chewing raw meat…

Lately, she felt she wasn’t as eager to take a bite when chewing raw meat as she was when sucking blood. Also, for some reason, the meat of Magical Beasts or beasts whose blood she had sucked seemed to become very poor in quality.

Forests were very common places on the main roads of this world. Probably because Elemental Power was abundant enough, influenced by Elemental Power like Earth Element, the trees in this world grew very fast. Generally speaking, as long as a Forest didn’t suffer destructive damage, even if badly damaged, it could recover to its former glory in a few years.

If some bored people even used some Magic, the recovery process would be faster.

Near Kaja alone, there were four Forests of different sizes. Further away, there was an even larger one. That Forest’s total scale was larger than the nearby four combined. Similarly, its danger level was also very high. Only some powerful Adventurers or Mercenaries would set foot in it. As for going deep… other than for necessary needs, few would rashly venture deep into such places.

Getting lost accidentally, supplies alone could make those lost in the Forest despair and wait for death. Recently, however, there were quite a few Adventurers from emerging schools. They specialized in exploring places others rarely explored. Of course, their actions seemed like seeking death, but this emerging school actually had sufficient foundation—the foundation brought by the Magic Weapon Summoning Book!

Lost? If lost, just find the way slowly. After all, through the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, even if lost and supplies ran out, one could have a feast anytime, anywhere. As long as one wasn’t operating in places that could interfere with the Magic Weapon Network. Money constraints? Ordinary people found it hard to earn money, but capable people found it easy. Take the simplest method: killing monsters and looting equipment was the best way to make money…

The skin, meat, bones, and some special organs of Magical Beasts were all purchased. It was easy to find buyers on the Trading Zone platform of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. Exchanging items for money, even though the platform charged a certain transaction fee, many people still came to like this trading method. The reason was none other than its great convenience.

“…Is this leading teacher an idiot? What kind of place did he pick?!” Carlin, following the practical combat team, confirmed this team’s target and couldn’t help but frown. Among the four Forests suitable for practical combat, he had to pick the farthest one? Was there something wrong with him, or was there a problem?