The first rays of the morning sun shone down on the village.
The entire village had turned into ruins. Although they managed to salvage a lot of things from the fire, many of the houses had been destroyed. From time to time, there were muffled sounds of sobbing. People with faces full of dust were collecting the bodies of the dead. From time to time, relatives and friends could be heard crying. This night brought them too much pain, but it also made them a lot stronger. The surviving militia looked like real warriors. They were still guarding the surroundings, guarding against a possible second attack from the lizardmen.
As long as they were given some time, they would grow into qualified warriors.
Søren sat on the watchtower and smoked. The pipe was given to him by the militia captain. It wasn't some high-end tobacco, just a small bag of cheap shredded tobacco that cost one Silver Derahl. He put the shredded tobacco into the pipe, lit it, and took a deep puff. Then he looked into the distance, a little lost in thought. The cruel battle last night reminded him of the turbulent years that were about to come. In the future, such battles would be very common, and there would even be more cruel and merciless killings.
His arm was still in pain. The rotten flesh that was cut off was regenerating. The combination of numbness and pain made his expression a little twisted. He trembled slightly as he took a deep puff from the pipe. There were no painkillers in this world. Although he had a digitized template, he couldn't reduce the pain. The nerves that he had trained to be very tough were not that good in front of the pain of cutting flesh. He needed to numb himself a little and temporarily forget about the wound on his arm.
"Here."
The militia captain came over. His eyes were red as if he had cried for someone. Perhaps his family had also died last night. Humans in the wastelands were resilient, just like the men in the North. Living in a harsh environment could temper a person's will. They wouldn't fall so easily, or at least they wouldn't fall so easily.
Søren shook his head and refused the liquor that was offered. He took a deep puff from the pipe and slowly said: "I don't drink."
He didn't drink.
Even if he was seriously injured, he didn't drink.
The militia captain's arm was broken. He sat down with some difficulty and took a sip of the liquor with his good hand. Then he said: "Thank you. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been able to survive last night. "
Søren didn't say anything.
The militia captain reached out and took out a package. There was a clanking sound inside. It seemed to be filled with coins. He handed it over with difficulty and said in a deep voice, "I know you are an adventurer. I'm afraid that the scroll you used last night was your trump card. We've already lost too much, so we can only use this to express our sincerity. "
"This is the White Raven Sword Style that I obtained years ago. I've been to the battlefield in the south. Even though I only have the first half of it, it should be useful to you. The rest of the money is a token of our appreciation. Although it's not much, I hope you can accept it. "
Søren's arm trembled as he put down the pipe. His injuries wouldn't heal that quickly, even if he had the gift of regeneration.
He picked up the book on the White Raven Sword Style. It was a handwritten copy of the book. There were some unclear drawings on the book, but he could still roughly understand the moves. Soran pushed back the small bag of coins and took another puff from his pipe. He then slowly said, "I'll take this book, but you can keep the money for yourselves. I'm afraid you'll have a hard time this winter. If you collect some items from the lizardmen, you should be able to get by."
He turned around and looked at the people behind him. He picked up a withered cane and supported his body. A green leaf was swaying in the wind. He slowly said: "You better leave today. The lizardmen won't give up so easily."
"Something big might have happened in the wilderness. Leave this place and find a place to live."
"As long as you're alive, there's hope for the future."
Soran sighed softly. He waved the pipe in his hand, squeezed out a smile, and said, "This pipe is the reward you gave me. I'm leaving now. You should make a decision soon. "
He left just like that.
Most people didn't even notice him. Only a few people watched Søren's tired figure disappear into the distance. He was a Rogue, and Rogues were such a group of people.
It wasn't strange for him to leave quietly like that.
He didn't need flowers or thanks. He just did what he wanted to do and started the next part of his journey.
…
Søren went back along the main road.
The route was getting more and more dangerous. The lizardmen had just attacked the humans near the Black Swamp before he left, but now they were approaching the outer territory of Whiterun. If the lizardmen did not stop fighting for territory, a war would break out soon. Whiterun did not pay much attention to the villages in the wilderness, but if the villages that provided tax revenue to the city were attacked, the city guards and garrison troops would be dispatched to deal with them.
His injuries wouldn't heal in a short time. He couldn't do any strenuous activities for at least a day or two.
Søren prepared to go back along the main road. He had gained nearly 5000 Slaughter EXP from last night's battle. It was enough for him to level up as a rogue or wizard. He needed time to memorize spells. This was a relatively safe place. He wasn't interested in staying to help those people because they were just strangers. Søren didn't even know their names, and they didn't know Søren's name either. They only knew that he was a rogue who could use spells.
The lizardmen gave a lot of Slaughter EXP. The two lurkers gave nearly 1200 Slaughter EXP, the ordinary fighters gave about 200, and the ogre and Druil gave Søren almost 2000 Slaughter EXP. Killing spellcasters gave more soul energy than killing spellcasters, but they were also much harder to deal with.
Finally, there was the reward after the battle.
"You defeated the lizardmen that attacked at night!"
"After a difficult battle, your skills have improved by quite a bit!"
"Use of Magic Devices + 10, Concentration + 5, Listen + 5, Search + 3, Sneak + 3, Dodge (Roll) + 2, Dodge (Shift) + 1, Negotiate + 2, Parry + 2, Heal + 2, Spell Identification + 2."
"You have some understanding of the ability [Spell Control]! … "
…
The improvement from this battle was very obvious.
Not to mention the improvement of many basic skills, just the last ability prompt had already exceeded Søren's expectations.
Ability prompt.
This was the sign of mastering and training a certain ability. Under some special circumstances, you may directly get the information of a certain ability. Then, after a period of training, you can slowly master this ability. Although [Spell Control] was only the most basic casting ability, for Søren, it meant that he could save a necessary ability point. This was a great help for him to level up as a wizard, because there was no ability reward for his part-time job as a wizard.
Only when he reached level 3 as a wizard would he be able to get his first ability point.
Søren's strength didn't increase by much as a part-time wizard. He only got 4 rank 0 spell slots and 1 rank 1 spell slot. From now on, he would get an increase in the number of spell slots for every wizard level, and at the same time, he would get an extra rank 0 spell slot. High-grade wizards and warlocks had a lot of rank 0 spell slots, sometimes so many that they couldn't even use them all. However, rank 0 spells were very weak because they were called "cantrips", which were considered unorthodox spells.
Unless you were a talented caster like Vivian, you would rarely use rank 0 spells in a battle.
There were no rank 0 spells in the spellbook.
This was because wizards rarely copied down cantrips. Their spell models were relatively simple, and some of them didn't even require casting time. For example, the most commonly used "Magician's Hand". That was why Søren hadn't mastered any rank 0 spells yet. He needed to go to the city's spellbook shop to buy rank 0 spell copying scrolls. These scrolls were very cheap, only one-third of the price of a rank 1 spell.
Most of them were things that only wizard apprentices would need.
Søren was lucky enough to not encounter any enemies after a day of traveling. His talent of regeneration was very powerful, and he could already move his arms. However, it was still a little inconvenient for him to fight. He found an inn in the nearest town to rest. Since the roads to Whiterun were blocked, this small town that relied on trade to make a living was a little depressed. He could hear the complaints of the residents. They were all complaining about the high taxes they collected every year, and they couldn't even solve this little problem. They didn't know how long it would take.
Søren entered the room that was arranged for him and told the innkeeper not to disturb him.
He needed to level up as a wizard and start memorizing his first spell model. This would take a long time, and he couldn't be disturbed.
If he didn't tell the innkeeper in advance, who knew if the innkeeper would come knocking on his door?
After all, Søren was a half-elf with 16 points of charm. Judging from his appearance, he could be considered a handsome human if it wasn't for his cold expression.
…
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