adventurers in the sewers

After a morning of travel, Louis and his party entered Wind Chime City.

In terms of prosperity, Wind Chime City is far inferior to Black Rock City, but the entire city is enveloped in a relaxed atmosphere.

The streets are lined with rows of houses, which are large and widely spaced, with bright and refreshing facades.

In contrast, the houses in Blackrock City are cluttered, densely packed, and extremely cramped and oppressive, giving the entire city a black hue.

On the houses in the distant threshing ground, huge windmills slowly rotated in the gentle breeze, giving people a sense of tranquility and peace just by looking at them from afar.

However, not all of Wind Chime City is wonderful.

Louis observed the pedestrians on the street and found that most of them were elderly people over forty or children under ten years old, and he rarely saw any able-bodied men.

Clearly, there aren't many profitable businesses in Fengling City, and young and middle-aged people have gone to other cities to make a living.

No matter how beautiful a city is, it's all for naught if it can't develop tourism.

Although there are adventurers' guilds in the city, each city's guild is under the jurisdiction of that city, and each city is responsible for its own commissions.

The commission from Blackrock City cannot be exchanged for bounty at the Adventurers' Guild in Windchime City.

So the group, led by Nora, went directly to find her master.

After half an hour.

Looking at the dilapidated, abandoned house before them, and then at the desolate wilderness in the distance, Louis and Dana fell silent.

This generation can no longer be described as being in the suburbs of Wind Chime City; it would be an exaggeration to say that they have left the city altogether.

"Nora, your master... that level three archmage lives in a place like this?"

Dai Na looked suspicious.

This dilapidated house, which looks like it could collapse with a gust of wind, looks exactly like the residence of the leader of the Beggars' Sect.

"This is it, let's go in."

Nora took off her hood, revealing her fair face, which was unusually white from not seeing the sun for a long time, and her beige hair shimmered with a lustrous sheen in the sunlight.

She took the lead, walked to the door of the dilapidated house, and then, under the stunned gazes of Louis and the other two, kicked the door open.

bang-

It seems the force of the kick was quite strong; the already fragile wooden door detached from the frame and crashed heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

Looking at the dark view behind the door frame, Louis took Merry's hand and, mustering his courage, went inside with Dinah.

Once inside, Louis realized that the darkness in the room was not due to the lights being off or the light being dim.

Instead, a cold darkness enveloped the room, preventing sunlight from entering. Even as a professional, he could only barely see inside.

The cold and evil aura that permeated the surroundings made these living people feel extremely uncomfortable.

Suddenly, a series of eerie green lights appeared on the walls, dispelling the darkness but also illuminating the room in a ghastly green light.

"Nora..."

A cold, hoarse voice suddenly rang out, and then everyone saw a dark figure appear at the end of the lamplight.

"Louis, I have a bad feeling about this."

Dina instinctively tugged at Louis's sleeve and whispered.

Louis also felt something was off; he felt this place wasn't quite the mortal realm.

Could Nora's master have gone mad?

"You...you dared to kick down my door!"

When that voice roared those words in anger, the corners of both of their mouths twitched simultaneously...

All that buildup, and that's it? That's it?

"Master, stop playing tricks and come out now."

Nora said rather irritably.

The next second, the dark figure emerged from the darkness, and Louis finally saw the other party's full appearance.

It was a gaunt figure completely shrouded in a black robe, literally skin and bones.

On its exposed head, the hair was sparse, and there were no eyeballs in the eye sockets, only a pair of eerie blue flames. The skin and muscles on its cheeks were so dry that it was unrecognizable, a little better than a mummy but not much better.

This guy doesn't look like a living person at all.

This is clearly an undead creature.

He finally understood why Nora's master, who was a level 3 archmage, had a disciple who was a necromancer.

Because Nora's master was personally experiencing the wonders of necromancy every single moment, demonstrating it firsthand.

The reason why Nora was so poor was also explained: judging from her master's address, the old great wizard's life after his death was not peaceful.

Louis was silent for a moment before slowly asking:

"Nora, why didn't you mention before that your master had already...?"

Nora: "You didn't ask either."

Well, it's easy to get speechless when talking to this woman.

Louis mentally cursed.

"Oh? You brought a friend along? That's rare."

The dried corpse turned its head slightly, and the will-o'-the-wisps that served as its eyes fixed on Louis.

However, his tone was not as cold as before; instead, it had a touch of friendliness.

Nora: "Old man, do you still have any high-quality magic crystals in your burial goods? I need them."

Upon hearing this, the ghostly flames in the dried corpse's eyes flickered violently, and the warmth it had shown vanished instantly, replaced by a vicious glare:

"That's all! Get out of here right now! You're still eyeing my meager burial goods! I have no disciple like you!"

Nora wasn't annoyed, and pulled Merry to her side, saying:

"Don't worry, I've found you another apprentice. Louis's brother is a genius with an innate magical adaptability of 10 points. He's just waiting for you to give him some guidance."

The dried corpse's gaze fell on Merry.

The little guy managed a smile:

"Hello, sir."

The mummified corpse nodded in satisfaction, its withered muscles twitching slightly, revealing a chilling smile:

"Hello to you too."

"Come here, stop hanging around that wicked disciple. I'll take you to have your aptitude checked."

He glanced at Nora again:

"Hurry up and come in!"

Led by the dried-up corpse, the group arrived at the basement.

The basement was much better than the upper floor; it was square, with smooth, clean walls and bright lights—it was spotless.

The basement was filled with various laboratory equipment, and against the wall stood a huge bookshelf filled with old but well-preserved books.

The dried corpse first tested Merry's magical adaptability using a small magic stone.

After confirming that his wicked disciple had not falsified Merry's talent, he quickly found several testing tools that Louis couldn't understand and tested them all on Merry.

Soon, Melli's eight basic statistics were released.

[Vitality: 4]

Concentration: 3

[Endurance: 3]

【Strength: 3】

Dexterity: 6

【Intelligence: 10】

[Faith: 0]

[Sensitivity: 10]

"A genius! Truly a peerless genius!"

The dried corpse rubbed its hands excitedly, tempting the man like a creepy old man:

"Child, have you ever thought about becoming a mage? Your grandfather has no one to inherit the class-specific secret manuals from level 1 to level 3."

"If you just nod, you'll be my successor."