Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 102: Low Magic World?

That flock of crows indeed had not come for Li Wei.

After circling once, they flew northwest along the road ahead, quickly disappearing from sight.

Li Wei could bet that, judging purely from this flight trajectory, they were absolutely not ordinary crows. This world might actually be a low-magic world.

Oh my, no wonder a task to purchase Table Salt offered 50 Contribution points. No wonder those seasoned veterans were all unwilling to come.

Damn it!

So, who could tell him what to do if he ran into a Witch?

According to the plots of previous novels, Witches were all incarnations of wisdom, had tragic pasts, and above all, each one was more beautiful and gentle than the last. Unfortunately, those were most likely lies!

Li Wei hesitated for a long time, ultimately deciding to observe from a distance. Collecting a bit more intelligence was always a good thing.

Moreover, he now deeply suspected that the previous Bandit raid event might have been connected to the crows that had appeared beforehand.

Witches joining forces with Bandits sounded like a fantasy tale, but who knew?Next, Li Wei did not dare get too close to the road. Instead, relying on the cover of the vegetation at a distance of five or six hundred meters, he stealthily moved north. After crossing two more low hills, he arrived at a significantly large Valley ahead, spanning fully five to ten kilometers long. The Valley was still completely covered in trees, and that road happened to pass right through its center. Obscured by the trees, if one did not know it was there, they wouldn't even be able to spot it.

He didn't know how those Bandits managed their robberies.

Li Wei was very curious.

Additionally, he also really hoped to encounter some natives of this world—even just a few travelers. He wanted to listen to their conversations and look at their clothing and attire in order to grasp as many details as possible.

He didn't want to just dive headfirst into Kakh Castle like an idiot.

What if the Chinese he spoke could not be instantly translated over by the system? Then he would truly become a messenger of the devil, the ultimate heretic among heretics. Being burned to death would be getting off lightly.

Furthermore, although the previous version of Penny was a gambling addict, she had chosen to seek cooperation with the Bandits rather than head straight to Kakh Castle back then. That alone was enough to explain a few things.

It couldn't be that after half a year, Kakh City could suddenly be directly entered.

"Hmm?"

Li Wei suddenly halted his steps. Through the gaps in the leaves, he could faintly see small black dots dancing in the sky at the end of this Valley.

It was that flock of crows. They had flown towards the northeast. Over there, there seemed to be a few undulating hills, as well as a towering Stone Cliff. Was that the Bandit's lair?

For a moment, Li Wei was deeply, deeply conflicted.

According to his original—no, his consistently simple behavioral style, it was definitely to not stir up trouble, not make a fuss, develop steadily, and not disturb anyone.

But after being evaluated by that Internal Affairs Officer, he also reflected on himself. Sometimes, he really was too conservative.

"Besides, if these crows are part of the same group as the crows that appeared at the Camp a few days ago, then this isn't a situation where nothing will happen just because I don't go check it out. It is very likely that the family Camp has already attracted the attention of a powerful faction we don't know about yet."

"At this stage, just because this faction hasn't launched a second wave of attacks doesn't mean we can sit back and relax from now on."

"With an opportunity to pry into the truth right in front of me, why should I miss it!"

"Observe from a distance, don't get involved, only gather intelligence, and be a bit more careful—it should work!"

Having prepared himself mentally, Li Wei gritted his teeth and continued forward. Very, very cautiously, it took him over an hour to exit this Valley. A steep mountain ridge began to appear ahead, forcing that road to make a large bend.

And at the end of the ridge was that towering Stone Cliff. Seeing it up close was even more shocking. It was capable of providing overwhelming observation and striking power to the road below—assuming there were Bandits lying in ambush up there.

As for behind the cliff, there were even taller hills.

But that flock of crows had vanished.

The forest was also deathly silent, giving off a horror movie vibe.

Li Wei felt a chill down his spine, and the back of his neck felt icy cold. The user experience was simply too poor.

"I can't go any further. The atmosphere here isn't right. There isn't even a bird chirping! This place feels like a dead forest."

Frowning, Li Wei leaned against a tree and stopped. He looked around. It was about eleven in the morning. The weather was clear, the sun was shining brightly, and he could see that the surrounding trees had all sprouted green leaves.

However, Li Wei could still sense an imperceptible aura of death that made him very uncomfortable—an aura of death emanating from the trees.

Crouching down, he grabbed a handful of dirt from beneath the thick layer of dead leaves. He rubbed it between his fingers, smelled it, licked—no need to lick, he was certain. The soil in this place was very barren.

The surrounding trees all looked like small saplings thick as a bowl, but in reality, they were probably over ten or twenty years old. The feng shui of this place was awful.

Li Wei now found his One-Star Woodcutter Card profession to be incredibly magical. Perhaps because his Destiny Grid Stability was very high, even though he hadn't upgraded it to a Two-Star Woodcutter Card, his perception of these trees was already this sensitive and miraculous.

In any case, he didn't know whether the feng shui was good or bad, but this place absolutely could not produce trees—or any mountain goods—of one-star quality or higher.

Speaking of which, on his journey south, he had actually discovered a few trees in the roadside mountain forests that gave him a very good feeling. They might just be trees of one-star quality.

This kind of tree didn't care about species, height, or even if it was perfectly straight—otherwise, every poplar tree would undoubtedly be first-grade.

How should he put it? It was like a healthy, energetic, cultured, virtuous, and talented person. It didn't matter if they were male or female, old or young; it didn't matter if their profession was exalted or lowly. Even wearing ordinary clothes, a bare face without makeup, or the wrinkles and white hair of graceful aging—none of it diminished the preciousness of their character or the beauty of their years.

Conversely, even if one was covered entirely in jewelry, gold, silver, jade, and high-end cosmetics, it could not mask their inner stench.

It sounded very profound, but Li Wei could bet that Wooden Spears whittled from these one-star quality trees would be at least two-star—and the same applied to buildings and the like.

After observing the surroundings for a moment, Li Wei decisively took a detour. Making a huge circle, he crossed over the other side of the ridge, passed through the road, and arrived on a hillside that looked no different from the rest. The feeling here, however, was much better. Moreover, there was a large tree here that was absolutely of one-star quality.

Li Wei felt that even just sitting under this kind of tree to enjoy the shade was an excellent experience.

On top of that, there began to be bird calls over here, as well as various insects busily moving about. The air was much better, and the temperature was a few degrees higher than that previous location.

Of course, Li Wei didn't dare to be careless. He remained very cautious the entire way. Not only did he have to watch the sky and his surroundings, but he also had to look out for potential traps, as well as venomous insects and snakes.

Fortunately, he was different from the past. With his Ox-Hide Boots, full set of two-star Leather Armor, and tightly bound trouser legs, as long as something didn't crawl down his neck or bite his face, he would be fine.

However, he indeed did not encounter any traps along the way, not even traces of human passage.

Next, he leaned his back against the large tree. While gazing at the road several dozen meters away, he pulled out his dry rations and ate slowly. His ears were even more attentive, closely monitoring that mountain cliff roughly two kilometers away.

For no logical reason, he just felt that the flock of crows should be hiding there.

Soon, by the time his stomach was full, the time had already roughly reached around one in the afternoon.

The weather grew hotter, but aside from the sound of the wind, bird calls, the occasional deer cry, and the chirping of insects, there were no other movements in this mountain forest.

This included that road, where not a single pedestrian could be seen.

Maybe this was the norm.

As Li Wei pondered, he planned to evacuate in another hour or two, because he needed a better camping spot.

But right at this moment, he spotted a small black dot—a crow. It hadn't flown up from the mountain cliff, but was flying back from the distant north, seemingly heading toward the cliff.

Due to Li Wei's current position, that crow more or less flew by near his head. At its closest, the straight-line distance between them was only around a hundred meters.

This distance was quite remarkable for Li Wei, even though this crow looked only slightly larger than a normal crow.

As the crow flew past, Li Wei fell into deep thought. He instinctively felt that something was about to happen, but he didn't dare to move, nor did he even dare to climb the large tree to look out. He could only obediently hide behind the tree, using the canopy and the tall grass as cover.

Just like that, about another half an hour passed. Just as Li Wei almost started to suspect he was being overly paranoid, he heard the sound of approaching horse hooves. Soon, he saw two knights galloping one after another on the road below. They were similarly wearing well-fitted, excellent Leather Armor, and most importantly, they wore helmets and carried a full set of weapons. The knight in front even carried a flag.

Good heavens, this must be some Lord passing by.

Li Wei did not even dare to breathe heavily, watching helplessly as the two knights passed by.

Soon, two luxurious—well, actually, filthy carriages rolled in from behind. The dust covering them made it impossible to see their original appearance.

There were also two knights escorting around the carriages.

Six infantrymen closely followed behind.

This was very formidable.

With four cavalrymen and six infantrymen, even ordinary Bandits couldn't chew through them.

And the fact of the matter was indeed so.

The convoy passed by very quietly. The entire journey was devoid of any unexpected accidents.

However, when one of the carriages was passing the turning point of the mountain ridge, it violently jolted, likely because the turning radius was slightly too small.

It was exactly at this moment that the dusty curtain covering the carriage fluttered slightly, exposing a tiny gap.

Although it returned to normal in the blink of an eye, Li Wei, waiting behind the tree, happened to see it clearly. Yes, the Two-Star Hunter Card not only gave him impressive shooting accuracy; it also made his eyesight vastly stronger than before. Even from forty to fifty meters away, he could see that while this carriage looked luxurious, its interior was actually a cage sealed with iron bars.

"So this is a prison cart? Or are both of them ones?"

"Or rather, is it a special hobby of those Lord masters, or a specially made assassination-proof ride? Something akin to a bulletproof car?"

Li Wei didn't quite understand, but he didn't dare jump to conclusions easily.

However, just as he thought nothing would happen, war cries suddenly erupted from the forest several hundred meters ahead. At the exact same time, nearly several hundred crows roared as they took flight from that mountain cliff, resembling a black cloud as they swooped straight toward where the two prison carts were located.

Holy shit!

A low-magic world, no mistaking it!