The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

The Mystery of the Magic Circle (4K)

Early the next morning.

Lorraine woke up before sunrise, as usual.

A faint fragrance wafted to my nose.

He looked down.

Eileen had somehow managed to rest her head against his chest.

From his perspective, all he could see was a head of messy red hair and half a sleeping face.

Lorraine quietly enjoyed the scent of her body for a while, then quietly got up from the wooden bed, put on her coat, and gently pushed open the wooden door.

The short man wasn't happy to sit idly inside the wooden house, so he lit a fire in front of the house early in the morning and stared blankly into the empty space.

Hearing the door open behind him, he quickly turned around and made a shushing gesture: "Shh... Piper is listening in."

Lorraine sat down beside him, glanced at the empty surroundings, and asked疑惑地问道, "Eavesdropping? Eavesdropping on what?"

"The bird called forty-three times, and just now two owls were fighting over a nest in that tree, knocking out six feathers in total." The short man solemnly pulled the feathers out from under his bottom.

Lorraine asked with a dark expression, "So there's nothing noteworthy happening?"

"Not at all." Piper nodded proudly.

"Great... I'm going to stretch my legs."

Lorraine stood up silently, found an open space, and began her daily morning exercise routine.

"Then Paip goes to prepare breakfast."

The short man tiptoed toward the large bundle leaning against the wooden hut, pulled out the familiar iron pot, and busied himself around the campfire.

The sky gradually brightened.

The wooden door creaked open again.

Eileen, wrapped in a blanket, came out and sat down next to Lorraine, who was looking at a spellcasting guide. She yawned and said, "I want cookies...and hot water."

"

"Yes, Lady Eileen."

Lorraine handed over the breakfast that the little guy had prepared.

Eileen squinted, took a bite of the cookie, then lowered her head to drink some hot water, letting out a satisfied hum.

She held the cup to warm her hands, but not seeing the short man around, she asked in confusion, "Where's Piper?"

Lorraine smirked. "They're probably watching the owls fight."

"Owls fighting?"

Eileen looked at him, completely bewildered.

"Pip's here! A fox tried to steal the wolf meat hanging outside Old Olaf's door, but Piper chased it away!"

The short man ran out from the side carrying a hammer.

"Heroic deeds," Lorraine commented.

They chatted for a few more minutes to ease their tension before returning to the cabin to organize their equipment.

Taking the opportunity, Lorraine took out the bottle of "Skunk's Gift" and handed it to Eileen, who was selecting materials for a magic array: "Here's a gift for you."

"What gift?" Eileen turned her head with a hint of anticipation and saw the small glass bottle shaking with a thick, yellowish-brown, suspicious liquid.

"Is this it?"

She pointed to the bottle expressionlessly.

Lorraine nodded: "This thing smells terrible. If a wolf pounces on you or something and you don't have time to cast a spell, you can try throwing it out."

She accepted the bottle without any expression.

The three packed up their gear and left the cabin.

Olaf was already waiting for them in front of the cabin.

He was fully armed, covered in various weapons and equipment, and carrying a dark gray cloak. He walked straight up to Eileen, handed her the cloak, and said, "Put this on. I've treated it. It might not smell very good, but it will cover up the smell of the magical materials on you."

"it is good."

Eileen took the cloak, deftly unfolded it, and draped it over herself without expression.

Olaf glanced at her with some surprise and added, "Remember to put your staff inside your cloak as well, and don't show it until you're ready to fight. When the time comes, just stand next to that dwarf, don't look around for the winter wolf, and don't make any unnecessary movements."

"Um."

Following his instructions, Eileen put her staff into her cloak and pulled up her hood, leaving only the lower half of her face exposed.

Lorraine glanced at her new outfit with curiosity.

"What's wrong?"

Eileen's cold voice came from under the hood.

"It has a unique kind of beauty."

"Oh."

Olaf, who had already slung his bow and arrows over his shoulder and was walking out of the village, turned to them and said, "Let's go."

The four left Grayhorn Village.

The fields appeared exceptionally vast in the morning sunlight.

They walked along an old hunting trail that was almost completely overgrown with weeds toward Frozen Lake.

"Where are you? Piper can't see you! Hey!"

"here!

"oh oh!"

After crossing a low ridge, the terrain began to gradually rise and fall. The sparse pine forests became denser, and the area of ​​snowfields expanded.

After walking for a while, Olaf stopped at the edge of a depression with a fairly open view.

Lorraine walked over to him and looked down.

The depression is surrounded on three sides by low, pine-covered slopes, with several large boulders covered in snow and moss scattered on the slopes, while in the middle is a relatively flat snowfield.

It looks a lot like the kind of wooden water ladle with a spout that they often see.

It was indeed a pretty good place, one that made the winter wolf feel like it was in a superior position, and one that allowed Lorraine and the others to spot it immediately.

Olaf pointed to the location of the "water ladle" outlet and said, "Wolves like to pounce from high places, so that location is relatively safe and can serve as an escape route."

In addition, the winter wolf may also have thought of this, so we can deduce its location.

If it didn't appear on the surrounding hilltops, then it's very likely lying in ambush here, waiting for you to leave.

Eileen's voice came from under the hood, her tone so familiar that Lorraine could almost picture her expressionless face: "The materials I brought are enough to set up two magic arrays: a gravity binding array and a swamp array. I can place one of them at this exit."

Lorraine pondered for a moment and suggested, "Let's place a gravity binding array at the exit. That way, it won't affect our ability to exit from this location later. We can place the other one in the middle of the flat ground. I'll stand inside the array and use magic to escape when the winter wolves pounce."

"Okay, I'll go set up the magic array."

Eileen's hood twitched slightly.

She took a few steps down, then turned back to Lorraine and said, "Come and help."

"Me? Do I even have this skill?"

Lorraine pointed to herself in confusion.

"Setting up a magic array takes a long time, especially for me alone. Besides... don't you want to learn?"

"Let's go, Ms. Eileen."

"Tell me when all the arrangements are ready." Olaf sat down on the spot, took the longbow off his back, and began to check the tension of the bowstring one last time.

Lorraine followed Eileen down to the middle of the snow. He took out the spell materials from his backpack and hid the backpack under a protruding rock.

Eileen took several small cloth bags and an amethyst from his hands, and led him to the exit of the depression to set up the first magic circle.

"The principle of gravity binding is the same as the frost magic circle we use when hunting rock salamanders, only the materials and runes are different."

As she explained to Lorraine, she took out a packet of powder that looked very familiar to him and more than a dozen tightly bound amethyst prisms from her small cloth bag.

"I'll draw the framework and runes for the magic circle. I don't have time to teach you that today, we'll do it another time. Insert those pillars into the rune nodes I've drawn... Do you remember what the rune nodes look like?"

She handed the bundle of amethyst prisms to Lorraine.

"I remember." Lorraine nodded.

He still vaguely remembered the circles drawn on those magic circles.

"That's good. Before drawing the magic circle, it's best to keep the area where you're going to set it up clean. For example, this snow can easily affect..."

Lorraine obediently swept the thin layer of snow on the ground aside with her hand.

"good."

Eileen took out a small dagger from under her cloak, which was specially used for inscribing magic circles, and began to carve on the exposed mud. Soon, a complex magic circle gradually took shape under her hands.

She used a delicate tool to scoop up a spoonful of a mixture of silver powder, amethyst powder, and some other liquid, and poured it steadily along the engraved lines.

"The rune inscribed on the Frost Array is called 'Stagnation,' while the one bound by Gravity is called 'Suppression.' Look at this rune..." She pointed to a symbol that resembled a downward arrow.

Lorraine nodded and asked, "So, when setting it up, we only need to replace the core runes to get different effects?"

"That's how it works in principle, but it's not that simple in reality. Because each core rune has different requirements for mana conduits, if the wrong one is configured, the magic circle may not work at all."

As she spoke, she pulled out a roll of silver thread from her bag: "Just as gravity binds mana conduits to withstand continuous pressure, silver thread is more suitable than frost lizard bone powder used to set up frost magic arrays."

Lorraine nodded slowly, seemingly lost in thought: "So, through a large number of tests, we can obtain many unique magic array effects?"

Eileen lifted her hood slightly: "Yes, that's quite clever. This is something many academies are doing; some research-oriented mage apprentices rely on these magic arrays to graduate. After all, trying out different combinations is much simpler than researching variations of spells."

"They're really rich..." Lorraine muttered.

The materials Eileen brought out didn't seem cheap at all; if they were to be used repeatedly... he didn't even want to think about how many gold coins he would spend.

This method does look familiar, though.

The short guy had been staring at them, trying to figure out what they were doing, but after standing there for a while, he realized he couldn't understand a word they were saying.

"Pip, go scout the terrain!" He ran off quickly.

"This guy..." Lorraine sighed helplessly, pointing to the circles already inlaid with silver wire, "He'll insert them in these places, right?"

"Okay, let's use that awl to make a hole first."

Eileen reached into her hood and wiped her sweat.

Lorraine nodded, picked up a slender square cone, and hammered it into the mud with the hilt of a dagger before carefully inserting the amethyst prism.

"And finally, the core?" he asked.

"Hmm, watch out for how I activate the magic circle." Eileen embedded the amethyst into the small hole that had been dug in the middle of the magic circle.

Having gained experience and knowledge of the Dry Magic Web before, Lorraine saw her peel off the magic bands and tightly attach them to the magic conduits.

The entire action was very swift. After completing the action, a pale blue stream of magical energy and a purple halo immediately lit up the lines and runes of the magic array, before slowly fading away.

"That's all. To activate it, you only need to use your mental power to drive the crystal representing the node in the center of the magic circle. Now sweep the snow back up."

"it is good."

The two spent some more time setting up a mud swamp magic circle in the center of the depression, with an overall framework similar to the previous two magic circles.

The only difference is that the core rune has been changed to "Trap," and the materials and conduits have been changed to some kind of mineral powder, a rock pillar engraved with runes, and a small citrine.

"That's fine. If I don't have time to activate the magic circle this time, you can find a chance to activate it yourself."

Eileen stretched and stood up again.

The little guy waved to them from the middle of the gentle slope: "Here! Piper found a great spot!"

"Where is it?" The two walked over.

"Here!" The short man kicked a boulder next to him, then lay down and pointed to its base.

Lorraine, completely bewildered, followed his example and lay down, discovering a narrow crevice under the rock, just big enough for a thinner person to squeeze through.

The short girl, hands on her hips, proudly declared, "Pap just tried, he couldn't squeeze in, but Sister Eileen should be able to..."

"Is it okay?" Lorraine turned her head and glanced at Eileen's chest, only to find that she was staring at her.

"She should be able to squeeze in if she's facing forward, since she's so thin, but she definitely won't be able to squeeze in from the side..." he added, trying to save face.

Eileen gave a soft hum, squatted down and looked inside, then inserted the staff to test its length. It fit perfectly in the narrow gap without bumping into anything around it.

She adjusted her hood and said, "It's a nice place. How did you find it?"

Lorraine chimed in, "Yeah, how do you always manage to find these weird and wonderful places?"

He could only barely see this place by lying down; the angle was extremely tricky. Was it because he was short and had a low stature? He nodded in sudden realization.

"There was a sneaky squirrel spying on you just now, and Piper saw it go inside," the little guy said matter-of-factly.

"Alright..."

Eileen rubbed her head speechlessly, then patted the stone and said, "I'll stay here for a bit and come out after you've distracted the Winter Wolf."

She glanced at Lorraine, who had suddenly raised an eyebrow, and added with a smirk, "I prepared protective spells in advance this time, so you don't need to stay with me forever."

Lorraine chuckled awkwardly: "I've already synchronized that magical trinket..."

77

"Heh...that's settled then."

The two returned to the top of the hill.

Lorraine discovered that Olaf had left the spot.

He was holding a tree branch, sweeping the scattered footprints on the snow backwards in the direction the wind was blowing, so that the swept marks would blend into the surrounding snow.

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