LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 370 - Warning
During the next three months, Zaos and Aleni focused on gathering Intel slowly as planned. Once again, they confirmed that the attacks had been too well orchestrated. How do they confirm that? When discovered that not a single merchant had lost their lives or had been attacked twice. So, it showed them that the bandits were attacking only those who still had a lot of merchandise, and they knew too well who those were.
Despite that, they didn't move out of the city a single time. Zaos decided to wait for something to happen that would give them a perfect chance to move. That event was when the head of the noble family of the city decided to hire some newbie mercenaries and the soldiers who stayed behind to hunt the bandits. They did that for two weeks, but they didn't accomplish anything. So, the group was disbanded.
During those three months, things got really heated in the borders. Zaos confirmed that his old friends joined the way, and thanks to it, the conflict wasn't progressing in any way. After both sides lost more than ten thousand soldiers, they decided to be more careful with their actions.
"When are we going to move out?" Aleni asked.
"Tomorrow morning," Zaos replied while he was helping Milliendra stand on her feet. "Very good, Milliendra… You are amazing. In no time, you will start running around and make me worry sick… We need to move away from this city in order to be targeted by them and to prevent others from finding what we were going to do. That is why we need to travel for a full day."
The bandits only targeted those who had things related to magic stones, and Zaos had that. He bought some used magic stones around when he finally learned how to recharge them. The trick was a bit complicated, but it was worth the hassle since he also learned Magic Empowerment. That power granted him the ability to transfer mana to all types of things, living things or inanimate objects. Not to mention, that ability, just like Illusionism, increased his mana per level more than Sorcery. In any case, to make the skill work, Zaos had to envelop the entire object and then make the mana be absorbed by it until it reaches the core of the target. To charge a magic stone that could work for a month, Zaos had to use one thousand mana points, but that was fine since it was the same amount of time a magic stone could last.
"Remember, this time, we need to capture every single target alive," Zaos said. "I know that you hate bandits with passion, but don't let the blood rush to your head."
"But once we get the information we want…" Aleni said.
"They will get what they deserve," Zaos added.
After gathering information here and there, Zaos didn't find any that would lead them to any suspicious individuals that buy things from the bandits. Whoever that guy was, it certainly had a good sense of how to manipulate information from spreading or spreading only lies. That was why they had to capture all the bandits alive to obtain all information possible.
At first, Zaos didn't like the idea of getting involved in something so big. Still, he changed his mind in the end since the material he could obtain for his research was limited. The powerful individuals of that country only let the knowledge of how to produce weak magic weapons spread… so Zaos will have to obtain their knowledge using these unusual methods.
"In any case… I am studying too much, and thanks to it, my resistance and health aren't increasing," Zaos said as he checked his status. "It can't be helped, but… I need to do something about this."
Health: 1840/1840
Mana: 4530/4530
Stamina: 4760/4760
Strength: 920
Magic: 2265
Endurance: 2280
Resistance: 2265
Focus: 13 + 06
Sorcery Lv 92 (+ 02 UP), Meditation Lv 58, Magic Perception Lv 48 (+ 03 UP), Illusionism Lv 08 (+ 07 UP), Magic Empowerment Lv 06 (+ 05 UP), Magic Swordsmanship Lv 61, Magic Spearmanship Lv 29, Magic Archery Lv 39, Magic Martial Arts Lv 41, Alchemy Lv 18, Magic Resistance Lv 36, Illusion Resistance Lv 09, Sword Mastery Lv 02, Swordsmanship Lv 82, Axemanship Lv 31, Spearmanship Lv 27, Archery Lv 49, Martial Arts Lv 36, Assassination Technique Lv 19, Throwing Technique Lv 22, Counterattack Technique Lv 15, Shield Mastery Lv 36, Pain Resistance Lv 70, Poison Resistance Lv 35, Blacksmithing Lv 22, Protection Aura Lv 02 (+ 01), Focus Mastery Lv 02 (+ 01 UP),
Zaos focus increased, but the growth of the skill was too slow. Protection Aura also increased his health, but… it was also too slow. Not to mention, Zaos is feeling weaker than usual, not because his mana was being drained pretty often. He had to move his body more…
In any case, the following day, Zaos said goodbye to an old couple of the inn since they weren't planning to return to that town anytime soon. Going south a little more seemed like the best thing they could do since Zaos heard that there were some forests there, and few people lived in that region since there weren't any mines.
Since they weren't famous merchants, Zaos realized that they would have to do business in several places in order for them to be targeted by bandits, and with that in mind, they marked on the map the numerous places the bandits attacked, at least in the southern area of that region.
The inhabitants of those villages frowned when they saw someone so young selling so many magic stones at a price lower than usual, so they quickly bought them and filled Zaos' pocket with money. At the same time, he bought the used magic stones the kids used to play with.
After visiting just three villages, Zaos sold all the magic stones he had recharged over the last three months, and he obtained an even higher stock to recharge… However, such thoughts disappeared from his head when they stopped to camp in a grove, and he felt the approximation of some individuals after dinner.
"GYYYAAAAAHHHHH! GYAAAAHHHH!"
Since it happened twice, at that point, there was no use in denying it… Milliendra also could sense the bandits and their devious aura.