[iPad upgrade detected. Would you like to proceed with the upgrade?]
Seeing this prompt, Ye Chui couldn’t help but startle. The iPad could be upgraded?
A trace of joy appeared on his face. He had long suspected his iPad could be upgraded, but he didn’t know what conditions were required. It seemed the recent intense battles had finally met those conditions. Although Ye Chui was formidable, with an array of trump cards others envied, by standard measures, he was still just a junior mage.
His iPad magic book contained only basic junior spells, unable to unlock intermediate or advanced ones.
Ye Chui had consulted many other mages. If a junior mage’s understanding of magical elements was deep enough, their magic book would undergo changes, allowing them to comprehend intermediate spells.
Now that his iPad magic book displayed an upgrade prompt, it likely meant Ye Chui had qualified to become an intermediate mage. In the iPad’s spell shop, only junior spells had been available, all of which Ye Chui had unlocked across the seven elements. If the upgrade completed, the shop should offer more powerful intermediate spells.
This was undoubtedly great news for Ye Chui.
Long Bao, being a dragon, had endured a rough impact but was merely grumbling. He felt indignant that a majestic dragon had been used as a meteor hammer, though his body was unharmed. His summoning time had expired. After scanning the surroundings, his dragon eyes narrowed, and he let out a heavy breath.
“This seems to be part of the Divine Realm. I think I’ve been here before,” he said.
“Oh?” Ye Chui’s expression brightened, and he quickly asked, “You’ve been here? Are you familiar with this place?”
“Sorry, the Divine Realm is vast. Even living here for ten thousand years, I wouldn’t know every area,” Long Bao replied, suddenly looking sheepish. “I only remember taking a dump nearby and getting scolded by the Goddess of Wealth for days…”
Everyone else: “…”
Long Bao’s expression soon turned serious. “But I sense something evil lurking here. Be careful on your adventure.” With that warning, he vanished.
After the intense battles, the iPad magic book’s remaining magic was down to eight percent. Ye Chui surveyed the area, confirming no immediate danger and that the Fourth Prince’s group couldn’t catch up. He quickly pressed confirm, eagerly starting the iPad’s upgrade.
Whoosh.
The iPad magic book suddenly vanished from his sight.
“Hm?” Ye Chui paused, pondering briefly. He could sense the iPad was still within him but couldn’t summon it. “Looks like the upgrade will take some time. I wonder how long it’ll be?”
As he thought this, Ye Chui looked at the second magic book before him.
He had grown accustomed to summoning both books together, overlapping them. Due to the books’ vague nature, others couldn’t tell he held two. Now, with the iPad upgrading inside him, this remaining book seemed to be his only reliance for now.
“Tch, now I’m truly a rubbish mage,” Ye Chui muttered to himself.
He flipped through the white-covered magic book. He’d had it for over a month and tried various things, but hadn’t comprehended a single spell or determined its element.
Truly a rubbish white-covered magic book.
“That was way too intense, President. Can we avoid playing like that next time? My heart can’t take it,” Green said, crawling over, his face pale. He still couldn’t stand steadily.
“I thought it was pretty fun. That feeling was thrilling,” Reisa said, faring better than Green. She sat nearby, hands propped behind her, face full of excitement. Ye Chui thought it must be like the feeling after riding a roller coaster or bungee jumping in another world: terrifying but exhilarating.
“Exactly, it was amazing. I didn’t expect you to pull off such a move, Ye Chui. Wow, did we take out that whole wolf pack in one go?” Debbie, who had been tossed around and was sore, found it oddly fun after recovering slightly. She glanced at the scattered wolf corpses, full of awe.
Then the little girl wobbled over to Green, smugly patting his shoulder. “That’s the thrill of adventure, Green. You’ll need to learn to enjoy it.” She never missed a chance to teach Green the ways of adventuring.
Green: “…”
Cass, sitting nearby, couldn’t help but interject, “No, other people’s adventures aren’t like this…”
Windsor, lying limply in Cass’s arms, felt nauseous from the earlier tumble. She asked softly, “Cass, are they always like this?”
“Yeah, their style is consistently reckless,” Cass said, nodding while holding his beloved tightly. His rugged face softened with affection. Looking at Ye Chui and Debbie, he smiled faintly. “Thank you. I didn’t expect to hold Windsor again so soon. You completed your task splendidly.”
“It’s what we do,” Debbie said with a faint smile. Seeing Cass and Windsor embrace, she felt deeply satisfied. Overcoming hardships to complete a mission and seeing the client’s smile was incredibly moving. But important matters couldn’t be overlooked. “Though, don’t forget the promised gold. Cass’s four thousand and Miss Windsor’s ten thousand.”
Feelings were feelings, but gold was non-negotiable. They were planning to build a guild in the capital, and housing prices were steep.
Cass and Windsor: “…”
“I’ll pay you as soon as we’re out,” Cass said. Windsor explained to him how she’d offered ten thousand gold to Ye Chui’s group to help her escape the lord’s mansion to reunite with Cass. He smiled, “Not a coincidence. Probably only their magic guild would dare take such a job.”
They rested briefly. Debbie summoned the all-purpose butler Aphra to heal their injuries.
Reisa’s holy words also had healing effects, but as she prepared to cast one, her brow furrowed. Her faith power seemed much weaker.
“I see. My faith is no longer pure,” Reisa realised why.
Believers relied on faith to wield power. Her earlier denial of God’s faith was a rejection of her own power. If this doubt grew, she might completely lose her believer’s strength.
Cass, Green, and Ye Chui searched the unicorn wolf corpses for relatively intact parts, storing them in Green’s [Storage Space] for future food. Looking at the carnage, they felt a pang of guilt. Nearly a hundred wolves had died.
These unicorn wolves were beasts not found in the outside world, likely unique to this divine relic.
Most relic worlds lacked living creatures, but there were exceptions. They wondered if, beyond beasts, there were other things here, like magical creatures or descendants of the ancient gods’ era.
What were the evil things Long Bao mentioned?
Could they be the demons they’d encountered before?
The group packed up and moved in one direction.
Ye Chui learned more from Cass about the other adventurers.
There were five teleportation tokens for this relic world, each bringing seven people, totaling thirty-five. But the teleportation had gone awry. In Ye Chui’s group of seven, Fatty Godo and the plump maid Linda had gone missing. Other adventurers had lost people too, ten in total, including Godo and Linda.
“Maybe the tokens malfunctioned. Each was meant to teleport seven, but only five came through. The missing two…” Cass said regretfully, trailing off. The others understood: those missing were likely dead, their bodies lost in the eternal void.
Windsor shed tears. Linda, the plump maid, had been her childhood friend and the only one in the lord’s mansion who helped her selflessly. Now, reunited with her beloved, Windsor was heartbroken that Linda was likely dead.
“How do we leave?” Green asked.
“You still have the token, right?” Cass looked at Ye Chui, who nodded. “It’ll reactivate in twenty days, teleporting the token and nearby people back to the real world…” He paused, his expression tensing.
The tokens had issues, teleporting five instead of seven. Now their group had six. As an experienced adventurer, Cass knew the greatest threat to a team was internal strife in life-or-death moments.
But he soon realised he’d overthought it.
“I see. We’ll just have to steal tokens from others,” Debbie said without hesitation.
Ye Chui, Green, and Reisa nodded. Infighting over this? Impossible. If their token wasn’t enough, they’d take someone else’s. Simple.
Cass paused, then smiled. He’d overthought it. This reckless group had its reasons for being so audacious.
They continued onward, unsure how long they walked. This world had no day or night, just a constant grey sky. Fortunately, they soon found a river. Ye Chui’s water spells could conjure clean water, but with his iPad unusable, they were thirsty. The river’s appearance was perfectly timed.
Cass tested it and confirmed the water was drinkable.
They decided to rest and regroup here.
But as Green began preparing food, Cass made a surprising discovery. “Ye Chui, come look at this!”
“What is it?” Ye Chui asked curiously, joining Debbie and Reisa.
Beyond a patch of weeds, on a flat piece of ground, a small campfire appeared before them.
Cass examined it, judging, “The fire’s still warm, extinguished two or three hours ago…” He looked to one side, where a small pile of fish bones lay, clearly not animal-gnawed. “Someone was here recently.”
They’d only just parted from the Fourth Prince’s group, so this couldn’t be their campfire.
Was it left by Godo, Linda, or the other missing teleporters, or…
Did this relic world have native inhabitants?
