The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

Chapter 116 Combat Focus and the Hunting Plan (4K)

Glenn was still leisurely sunbathing and sipping tea. He looked at Lorraine, who had come to see him early in the morning, smacked his lips, and said, "Didn't I tell you to master the Chain Slash first? Why are you here so soon? Have you already learned it, or have you become impatient after killing a ghoul?"

"Your combo has indeed improved, but you're still a bit short of 'Mastery'. I came to you to ask you a question." Lorraine counted out five gold coins and handed them to him.

Because of the extra strength he had previously gained, along with the insights from studying swordsmanship notes and the passive boost from military swordsmanship, his speed in consecutive slashes was now almost at the "mastery" level.

However, I've been using my spare sword, which I'm not used to, for the past few days, so the feel of it is still a bit off.

Perhaps once the Rusty Throat is reforged, the speed of his combo attacks will immediately break through, and he will also gain his first mastery skill other than carrying heavy loads.

Glenn picked up a gold coin, flicked it between his fingers, and said, "Go ahead and ask your question."

Lorraine recalled the details of those two states, pondered for a few seconds, and said, "I entered a strange state during two battles with the enemy."

In that state, my senses seemed to be amplified infinitely, and all the information around me seemed to already exist in my mind.

But I can't actively enter that state; it's just a feeling... like I'm about to grasp it, but it's elusive. Do you know how I can control that power?

Glenn's brow furrowed more and more, and the flicking of the gold coins unconsciously stopped. He found it hard to believe his conclusion, yet he couldn't find any other explanation.

"You should be close to mastering combat focus," he said.

"Fighting focus? What's that?" Lorraine pressed.

"Something that only a veteran can comprehend; of course, 'veteran' here doesn't refer to the rank of a professional."

Glenn slammed the gold coins on the table and said in a deep voice, "Warriors comprehend the Dao in the midst of battle, and a select few are able to learn to overload their senses in the process—that is, to focus on combat."

He then shook his head and added, "I know what you want from me: is there some shortcut to quickly master this ability? I regret to inform you that there isn't."

"Do I need to fight to learn it?" Lorraine said.

"Fighting is just the most basic thing; for a warrior, it is an essential part of life, just like eating and drinking."

Glenn tossed the gold coin back to him, picked up his water glass again, and said, "To be precise, your perception is not yet sufficient for you to master combat instincts, but this ability is far more difficult to train than strength and agility. You can only accumulate it slowly over time."

Is your perception not good enough?

Lorraine suddenly realized.

No wonder he flashed back to that focused state when he drew the Perception ability before; it turns out that the foundation of this ability is Perception.

He couldn't contain his excitement.

Others may need to accumulate experience over time to improve their perception, but he will eventually be able to gain perception by collecting more exploration experience.

By then, perhaps he will be able to master that state.

A mage who has mastered "combat focus"?

Lorraine couldn't even imagine how terrifying this must be.

He only knows simple tricks like fire arrows now, but his focus in battle allows him to increase the accuracy of his spells to an incredibly high level.

What if you were to focus on creating high-ring spell models and runes?

Perhaps in the eyes of the enemy, he had just raised his hand a second ago, and the fireball had already been thrown the next second.

"Thank you, Mr. Glenn, this has been a great help to me." Lorraine handed him ten silver coins again.

Glenn accepted the money, and finally gave a word of advice: "Remember, there are no shortcuts for a warrior."

"Okay, I understand." Lorraine nodded.

After leaving the Adventurers' Guild, he went to the bakery and spent five silver coins to buy Eileen a sweet bread as a bribe.

It was already quite late, and Eileen was already sitting by the window, slowly turning the pages of a book while holding a small teacup.

"Finally remembered to let me get a good night's sleep today? Hmm? You even brought bread, not bad..." She looked at the bread in Lorraine's hand and waved to him with the pinky of the hand that was holding the cup.

"Uh...yeah...dealing with those gnolls was too exhausting...I need to take a good rest..."

In reality, she had spent too much time on morning exercises, and Lorraine had originally wanted to learn other magic tricks from her.

He recently came across a spell called "Thunderclap" while flipping through Eileen's spellbook. It was a spell that could be used in conjunction with Thunder Wave, and he was very interested in it.

"I saw a joint extermination order at the association, what do you think?" He told Eileen exactly what he had seen on the mission list, including Vanessa's reminder to him.

"You're quite popular with girls."

Eileen took a bite of bread and pursed her lips. After thinking carefully for a while, she slowly said, "The bounty is far less valuable than the winter wolf itself. It is a magical creature rarely seen outside the permafrost lands. Almost every part of its body is valuable, especially its fur and ice glands."

"Tell me more." Lorraine poured her some tea and thoughtfully used a stick to add a few drops of honey.

"snort."

Eileen nodded in satisfaction and continued, "After being magically processed, its complete pelt can fetch a price of thousands of gold coins. Of course, it's practically impossible to obtain a complete pelt, given how powerful it is."

"How much? Thousands of gold coins!?"

Lorraine's eyes widened, and the numbers he shouted out made the tavern's patrons turn their heads frequently.

Eileen gave him a look of disgust, coldly shattering his fantasy: "Don't even think about it, there aren't many complete winter wolf pelts in this world."

She paused, looking at Lorraine whose eyes had become somewhat dull, and added, "However, even the damaged fur can be processed to make some rare magical cloaks with very strong cold-resistant effects, since the winter wolf's habitat is in the permafrost land."

Lorraine was stunned.

Permafrost? A magic cloak with cold-resistant properties?

He suddenly thought of something.

The little man had told him long ago that his mother had left him when he was very young and returned to the permafrost land.

Lorraine did not forget her promise to the little guy.

It seems this winter wolf is doomed.

However... he looked up at Eileen.

This was an agreement between himself and Piper, and he didn't know whether he should mention it to Eileen, since it had nothing to do with her in the first place.

"What's wrong?"

Lorraine snapped out of her daze and found Eileen frowning at her, not even eating the sweet bread anymore.

"It's nothing." He shook his head.

Tell me the truth.

Eileen looked intently into his eyes.

"Okay...okay..."

Lorraine sighed and explained to her the agreement she had made with the little guy: "Pip told me before..."

After speaking, he hesitated for a few seconds, then added, "I promised him that I would go with him when I was able to, and this is very important to us. Winter wolf pelts can be made into cold-weather cloaks, and they are extremely rare, so..."

Eileen took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, saying, "So... you think this has nothing to do with me, and then you want to leave me here while you and that shorty go to their deaths?"

"I'm sorry... but this matter..."

"Feel sorry?"

Eileen seemed even angrier. She leaned close to Lorraine, gripping his collar tightly with both hands, and said in a suppressed voice, "What do you take me for? Do you think I, Eileen Scarlett, am the kind of ungrateful person?"

After saying that, she plopped back down, seemingly still not satisfied. She raised her hand and smashed the sweet bread Lorraine had bought into a donut, angrily saying, "You saved me and Anya, and I wouldn't even go with you to fight a beast? Lorraine... if you dare to abandon me, you can pray you die there!"

"How can you threaten your benefactor like this?" Lorraine said helplessly, wiping the spit that Lorraine had sprayed on his face in a fit of anger.

However, this was the first time he had heard her full name, Erin Scaretti... It sounded quite nice.

"But it would be even better if you were willing to go. Winter wolves are afraid of fire, and I would feel much more at ease with you there," he said.

"Oh!"

Eileen drank the tea in the cup in one gulp, only to have her tongue burned by the hot tea.

She frowned, trying hard not to show any sign of distress, and after a long while, she exhaled and continued, "Since you want to make a cloak for warmth, you should at least leave half of its fur intact."

Lorraine nodded quickly, handed her her glass of cold water, and asked cooperatively, "Do you have any suggestions?"

Eileen gave a soft hum before taking the teacup, felt the temperature with her fingers, and then carefully took a sip before pouring the rest of the tea into her mouth.

"Hmm... all three of us can use attacks with some fire effects. You and I go without saying, and Piper's hammer is also enchanted with fire."

She sipped her tea for a while, then continued, "We need to attack with fire, but not damage too much of its fur... Hmm... We need one person to hold it off from the front, while the others attack its head when it uses its freezing breath. It would be best if we could hit its nose or eyes."

"If we hold it back... if it's very intelligent, won't it prioritize attacking more threatening targets, like spellcasters?" Lorraine said.

If that's the case, then things will be much easier; he can take the initiative to lure the other party into attacking him.

His silver-forged steel breastplate inherently possessed magic resistance, albeit weakly, but it was better than nothing.

Moreover, on his way here, he carefully studied the Ember Cloak's special effect "Residual Heat" and believed that he could activate the cold resistance attached to it by actively burning himself with some low-temperature flames.

The combined effect of the two resistances is quite significant.

As for why it didn't attack Eileen?

His knowledge of profanity came in handy at this time.

"Your guess is correct. Based on current observations, the Winter Wolf actively attacks spellcasters. However... do you think it will prioritize attacking me, who's wearing a mage's robe, or you, who's wearing half-armor?"

"This half-armor can be worn underneath, and I know some of the Winter Wolf's language, so I can curse it," Lorraine said.

Eileen burst out laughing as if she'd heard the funniest joke in the world, showing him no mercy whatsoever: "Ha! You? You don't even know what a winter wolf is, and now you're telling me you know some of its language?"

What an ignorant woman! No one in the world knows how to curse better than me... He decided to teach Eileen a lesson.

Lorraine stared at her expressionlessly, then opened his mouth and let out a sound that was a mixture of rough trembling and low growl:

"Hrr"chak...garr"ukh-thra! Marr"shaa thu"karr...ich"ghaa!"

"Wh...what?" Eileen stared at him in disbelief, feeling as if there was something wrong with her ears.

Lorraine smirked and explained, "Get lost, you toothless old bitch! Your fur is only fit to be a goblin's diaper, and your howls are quieter than a snow rat's fart!"

Eileen swallowed hard. Her experience told her that it was impossible for someone to not even know what a Winter Wolf was, yet understand the Winter Wolf's language.

But her intuition told her that Lorraine wouldn't lie to her about such a crucial matter just to save face.

"You really speak the language of winter wolves?" she asked.

"No, but I am fluent in languages. You know, I am a warlock, and it's reasonable for warlocks to sometimes possess linguistic abilities."

Lorraine rambled on.

"Is this... reasonable?"

"Yes, that makes sense."

"Alright... It's a pity Anya's injuries haven't healed yet, and she's also busy preparing for the Spring Feast. I wonder if Raine's shield is ready. I'll go ask her later... With your small frame, I'm really worried you won't be able to withstand one of its claws."

"How about we go up there now and give you a good try?"

"roll."

"To be honest, there's no need to confront it head-on. If it's just a matter of maneuvering, I'm quite confident."

Lorraine smiled, then her expression turned serious again: "But I'm still more worried about you. What if that thing is really smart and ignores us to attack you first? I'm not confident I can stop it, and what about those wolves..."

While ordinary wolves are nothing to them, and they can even stack the damage of "Reignition" with the wolf pack, a large number of wolves can cause them considerable trouble.

Eileen propped her head up with her hand and thought for a moment before saying, "My spellbook will be finished soon. With it, my casting speed will increase significantly, and the freed-up mental energy might even allow me to cast one more 'Burning Ray'."

"The spellbook is that powerful?" Lorraine asked in surprise.

He remembered that Eileen could only cast "Burning Ray" twice at most before, but now with the spellbook, that number had increased by half.

Eileen nodded matter-of-factly and said, "Yes, that's why spellbooks are almost as important as magical artifacts. My spellbook is expected to hold two second-level spells and four first-level spells. I can reserve two of the first-level spell slots for 'Mage Armor,' which is more secure."

"The mage is the boss..."

"

Lorraine said wistfully.

When he has money in the future, he will also create a spellbook. After all, no matter how talented he is at creating spell models, he can't be faster than someone who has prepared one in advance.

"Pip has already gone to see the dwarf instructor. Tell him when he gets back later that we'll pick up our equipment and set off tomorrow," Eileen suggested.

"Okay, Ms. Eileen, I'd like to learn the Thunderclap skill. Also, when you go to see Raine, could you ask Anya to write me a letter of recommendation?" Lorraine rubbed her hands together, looking embarrassed.

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