Chapter 141: Zelos Skill Distillation Fragment
She stole a glance at Lance, who walked ahead of her.
’Lance’s expression has been normal all day, showing no signs of anything being wrong. He must not have noticed how strange I was acting last time.’
The realization allowed Cecilia, whose heart had been in her throat, to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Cecilia, let’s look at the coordinates on this map together."
Just then, Lance took the parchment map from their mentor, turned, and called out to her.
"Mm... mm-hmm."
Cecilia mumbled an incoherent reply and scurried over.
Lance unrolled the map issued by the Guild.
A flash of surprise crossed his eyes when he saw the red dot marked on the map.
Coincidentally,
the area the Guild had assigned their team to cleanse the radiation point was very close to where he had gone alone yesterday to hunt Gnolls for his Illustrated Guide.
Lance traced a finger over the map, professionally explaining the area’s general location to Cecilia.
He gave a detailed description of the damp terrain and the various Low Level Demons that might be lurking in the vicinity.
"Based on this intel, try to think ahead. Figure out which Spells would be best for Controlling the Field if we run into trouble."
Lance patiently gave tactical guidance.
But as he spoke, his voice trailed off until he stopped completely.
Cecilia raised her head in confusion and glanced at Lance.
She saw Lance frowning, his gaze locked on the map, his expression turning grim.
"What’s wrong?"
The young woman asked in a small, worried voice.
"Give me a second."
Lance took a deep breath.
Without explaining, he reached into his tunic and pulled out another tattered roll of parchment.
It was the Witch’s treasure map he had gotten from Toby in the forest yesterday.
He placed the two maps side by side.
Although the drawing styles of the two maps were completely different—one was the Guild’s standardized cartography, and the other was a crudely hand-drawn sketch—
Lance continuously adjusted the orientation of the sketch, comparing the surrounding river courses and mountain contours.
Finally, he came to a conclusion that sent a chill down his spine.
The destinations for the two missions were a perfect match!
Alarm bells instantly went wild in Lance’s mind.
’When one coincidence happens, it might just be luck.’
’But when several coincidences fit together flawlessly, it’s definitely not just a coincidence anymore.’
’This is definitely the result of fate’s trajectory being guided by some unseen force.’
However, after a brief moment of a racing heart, Lance quickly calmed down and rationally analyzed the situation before him.
’They spent over a decade painstakingly weaving the false memories of my entire life.’
’This massive investment is like planting a precious fruit tree.’
’The person behind the scenes will surely wait until the day the fruit is fully ripe before showing up for the final harvest.’
’And before the fruit ripens, all the manipulator needs to do is keep watering and fertilizing it, providing all sorts of opportunities and resources to make the tree grow strong and healthy.’
’The overlapping destinations on these two maps are probably the "nutrients" that mysterious man sowed in advance.’
’If it’s nutrients, there’s no reason not to take them.’
He could use these events to get a glimpse of the mastermind’s true purpose.
As long as he could gain Insight into their intentions beforehand, lay low and accumulate Power, he could deliver a fatal blow at the final moment!
At this thought, Lance instantly concealed the wariness in his eyes. He looked up and gave the worried young woman a gentle smile.
"It’s nothing."
"It’s just that this destination is a bit special. We must be fully prepared before we go."
After a brief rally, all the assembled interns and their Adventurer escorts officially set out.
The mighty procession, like a long dragon, followed the main road towards the vast Copper Creek Forest.
But before the vast forest,
the group of over a hundred had just stepped into the woods when they were quickly swallowed by the complex terrain, like a drop of ink in the vast ocean.
Everyone split up and moved forward according to the coordinates on their respective maps.
The moment Lance stepped into the forest, a clear system prompt popped up on the translucent panel before his eyes.
[Current Commission: Cleanse the Magic Power Radiation Point]
[Reward: 200 Knowledge Experience points, 1 Zelos Skill Distillation Fragment]
Lance looked at the reward panel.
Just the 200 Knowledge Experience points alone made it seem very worthwhile.
Because the Guild staff had made it clear that the danger level of this mission was very low.
There were essentially no terrifying Demons guarding the radiation points; the task mainly required the accompanying Casters to spend a great deal of time slowly untangling the Chaos Ether Energy.
In other words, this was a total freebie mission.
And the truly surprising part was the unheard-of reward that followed.
[Zelos Skill Distillation Fragment]
’Anything named after a god has to be good!’
This filled Lance with strong anticipation for the successful completion of this mission.
However, he didn’t let his guard down.
He intended to devour this generous helping of "nutrients" while using every detail of the mission to probe the mastermind’s hidden agenda.
After entering the forest, Lance didn’t take the wide, open route he had cleared the day before.
Instead, based on the distribution patterns in the Monster Manual, he deliberately chose a brand-new path with rugged terrain and relatively low environmental stability.
’An area like this should have enough different types of Demons to make some progress.’
...
「In a small clearing in the woods.」
Lance was standing under a large tree, supervising the battle.
And standing in front of him, Cecilia was facing the last remaining giant wolf alone.
The green-eyed giant wolf kicked off with its hind legs, maw gaping to reveal foul-smelling Tusks, and charged directly at Cecilia.
Although Cecilia’s expression was tense, her movements showed no sign of panic.
She quickly dropped into a crouch, slamming her pale hands onto the leaf-strewn ground.
The Magic Power in her body surged wildly.
A One Ring Spell, [Repulsive Barrier], instantly took form!
With a tremor in the air,
a translucent, spiked Force Field, flickering with Blue electric arcs, appeared precisely at a forty-five-degree angle, one meter in front of her.
The giant wolf was charging too fast to stop.
SLAM!
Its huge body crashed directly into the solid protective Force Field.
The flickering Blue electric arcs instantly erupted, and the spikes made of Magic Power on the Force Field’s surface mercilessly pierced the giant wolf’s flesh.
With a shrill howl, the giant wolf’s huge body was sent flying by a powerful repulsive force, crashing heavily against the roots of a distant tree.
Before the giant wolf could struggle to its feet,
the young woman had already straightened up, the Fire Element instantly gathering at her fingertips.
The One Ring Spell [Fireball Skill] whistled out.
A fireball the size of a washbasin, trailing a bright tail of flame, slammed viciously into the giant wolf’s body, instantly causing a violent explosion.
The flames directly engulfed the Demon, ending the brief battle cleanly and decisively.