Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 153 Reality and Bluff

Ruger glanced at the apprentice seekers of magic in the distance and said, "Lord Green, could the things on these cave walls be some kind of writing?"

Green suddenly paused, managing to grab a rare protrusion on the cave wall to stop his fall. He seemed to want to study the blood-red patterns. Ruger, on the other hand, didn't have a good foothold, and he didn't bother trying to use his freezing ray again. The distance between the two began to widen.

"See you later, Mr. Ruger."

Green's voice came from above.

Ruger pursed his lips, deliberately dispelled the light spell in his hand, and began to accelerate his descent into the darkness.

In this unknown environment, perhaps the best option is for the two of them to go their separate ways. They also deliberately dispersed the light spell because they didn't want to become conspicuous targets too early.

Unable to feel any ground beneath his feet, Ruger took a dagger from his stockpiled supplies and threw it forcefully downwards.

When Luger left the City of Burning Blood, he replenished his supplies once again, but the dagger he casually picked up seemed to be from the City of Stars.

Just as Luger was about to marvel once again at the depth of this place, the sound of a dagger falling to the ground finally came from below, though the sound was not very crisp.

He looked down at his feet.

As the distance closed, one could vaguely see what appeared to be layers upon layers of things piled up at the bottom of the cave, but no signs of any activity were visible.

The dagger bears his secret mark, which is now located below.

Click!

Ruger breathed a sigh of relief; it felt really good to be grounded.

Those layers upon layers were piles of white bones.

He pulled his leg from the pile of bones, groped for his dagger, and waited quietly in place. Not waiting for Green above, but to see if the noise he made would attract anything.

After a while, when he heard no strange noises, he finally cast the spell again, releasing an even stronger light spell.

"Haha! I won, I won!"

A loud laugh rang out in the distance, followed by another voice's low curses.

"Give it to me now, you old bastard! Don't even think about cheating!"

The two voices started arguing.

Ruger gripped his dagger, looked at the two figures crouching in the distance, and slowly retreated.

Under the illumination of the light spell, two figures in tattered clothes were clearly visible. One had obvious bloodline modification features, while the other had a pair of blood-red eyes shining with anger.

"You bastards from the City of Burning Blood, you're always so vulgar and shameless!" the old man with blood-red eyes shouted.

"Don't try to act like a vampire gentleman with me. You've denied it more times than I have," another old man said, shaking his ugly, mottled head.

"That was just sophistry. This time it's different. This time I guessed every step correctly, from him throwing things to scout ahead, to standing still, and then casting a light spell. Every single step! Every single step! There's absolutely no room for argument. I won. For the first time in decades, I won undeniably." The red-eyed old man's eyes gleamed with excitement.

As Ruger remained on guard, he glanced behind them at a wide road leading into the distance.

In this quiet environment, their voices were loud enough to carry upstairs.

"Green must have heard it," Ruger thought.

Upon hearing this, the elderly man, whose altered features were quite obvious, glared angrily at Luger.

Ruger simply watched silently from the side. Apart from a passage in the direction where the two old men were, there really was nowhere else to go in this strange place.

"Fine, I'll consider this a win for you!" The old man, whose modified features were clearly visible, finally relented. "You shameless bastard, your bloodline is definitely that of some kind of greedy and stupid sub-dragon beast..." the old man with blood-red eyes muttered.

At the same time, Luger noticed a small, blood-red pebble being tossed to him by the old man with the obvious altered features. The old man with blood-red eyes quickly caught it and stopped his incessant chatter. He examined the blood-red pebble in his hand, turning it over and over as if to confirm its authenticity, before unhesitatingly popping it into his mouth.

"Hey kid, do you have anything good hidden on you? Show it to us."

The old man with mottled scales glanced at the vampire elder who was enjoying himself, then turned to look at Ruger with a serious expression.

As he spoke, the old vampire who had been enjoying himself with his eyes closed opened them and looked over as well.

The two men stared intently at the kobold with sharp eyes.

Ruger sized up the two thin, withered Black Prison elders, and seeing their fierce, murderous eyes, he vaguely felt that something was wrong.

From the moment the two began their argument, their mental energy fluctuated constantly, no longer concealing it openly, as if they were deliberately trying to make him, the bystander, feel it.

“Gentlemen, I have indeed hidden something,” Ruger said, smiling as he slowly stepped forward. “But my spirituality tells me that you two seem very weak, too weak to share the treasure I brought.”

"For example, this little thing."

Ruger reached into his robe, pretending to fumble around at his waist, and quickly pulled out a small, flat wine bottle.

The two old men's expressions had just changed when they were drawn to the wine bottle in his hand, which looked flat but was actually slightly curved.

In front of the two elderly people, he gently twisted off the cork, smiled, and as he shook the bottle, the aroma of the wine wafted out. Then he brought it to his lips and took a small sip.

The two old people's eyes widened instantly.

Ruger felt that both of their eyes were focused on his rolling throat.

The two elderly people turned their heads and looked at each other, as if they had made up their minds in an instant.

When they looked over again, their eyes became exceptionally resolute.

Luger watched with a smile, taking in everything.

Just as a subtle magical fluctuation arose between the two old men, a small wine bottle tumbled and flew over, instantly extinguishing the newly ignited fighting spirit and surging magical fluctuations.

“Would you two be interested in discussing this place?” Ruger asked, stepping out of the pile of bones.

The two old men gripped the wine bottle together and looked at the dog-headed man who had walked to the side.

“Of course, I won’t take your wine for free,” the old vampire said.

"Hmph, don't think you're so powerful. You'll be weaker than us after you stay here for a while," the old man with obvious altered features chuckled. "If you don't believe me, you can feel it carefully. Don't use magic, young man, it will disturb your senses. Feel it with your heart... You'll find that your mental energy is constantly being lost. Here, even without using magic, you still have to spend time meditating every day to restore your mental energy."

The vampire elder nodded in agreement, while simultaneously holding the small bottle to his nose and sniffing it through the cork.

Luger calmed himself down and silently sensed that it was indeed as the old man had said. However, perhaps because he had just arrived here, or perhaps because his spiritual power was sufficiently concentrated, the loss was very slight, and his naturally restored spiritual power was enough to make up for the lost portion.

"And these are people with good talent. Some people with poor talent or those whose mental space has been damaged, coupled with the fact that they stay here for a long time, their overall condition deteriorates. Gradually, they have to spend most of their time recovering their mental energy, and they even end up spending more than they earn..." the old man with obvious modified features said slowly.

Ruger listened, finding it all quite novel; he had never imagined such a place existed.

I wonder what will happen to someone whose mental energy is exhausted and cannot be replenished in time, and who is forced to continue to be consumed.

Click!

With a smile on his face, Green fell down from above, crushing a pile of bones.

(End of this chapter)