The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

"You've most likely encountered a wood elf."

"Wood Elf?"

Lorraine had already learned about this through his sense of fur, but he was unaware of the differences between the various elven races. He didn't even know that elves were actually divided into races.

Haifu finished his drink, let out a loud burp, and replied:

"Yes, of all the elven races, the moon elves and wood elves are the most friendly to other races."

"Many people in the North have said they have encountered wood elves in the Misty Forest, but those elves are always elusive, and it is difficult for people to actively seek them out."

"They don't usually attack humans unprovoked, so what you've encountered is considered normal."

"I see..." Lorraine nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "What is their relationship with the high elves?"

Haifu shook his head and said, "I don't know about that. To be honest, I've hardly ever seen any elves, let alone communicated with them."

"All right."

Lorraine was somewhat disappointed. He lowered his head, scooped up a spoonful of stew, put it in his mouth and sipped it. Then he remembered the battle mage that the wood elf had mentioned.

"Mr. Haifu, do you know anything about battle mages?" he asked expectantly.

"Huh? What's that?"

"Similar to a swordsman, a class that uses both melee weapons and magic simultaneously."

Haif looked somewhat bewildered. He scratched his messy hair and said, "I've never heard of this before. Perhaps it's just a different name the elves use for sword chanters."

Logically speaking, you can indeed use a magic sword as a magical weapon, but mages need hand gestures and incantations to cast spells, and close combat will inevitably be subject to interference...

"I see..."

Lorraine thought there was some truth to what he said, but then he realized something was wrong.

He had asked Sylvia about sword chanters before, and she clearly knew about the profession, so sword chanters and battle mages must be different.

But he did not choose to press the matter further.

Hef clearly didn't know much about it either. If he had the chance to meet Sylvia again later, he might be able to exchange this information for something else.

Lorraine silently made a note of this.

There's no rush right now. I haven't even mastered the art of slashing yet. This is just me being prepared.

......

The next morning, before the sun had even risen, Lorraine was dragged out of bed by Piper.

"Let's go check out the terrain."

The short guy was already dressed neatly and looked very energetic.

"If I trip and fall while running tomorrow night, it's a small matter if I lose face, but it would be a big deal if I lost my life," he said.

Lorraine rubbed her eyes and sat up. Outside the window, it was still gray and the morning mist hadn't dissipated.

He glanced at Piper, who usually wouldn't get up until late morning, but today he was unusually eager.

"Were you having a nightmare?"

I dreamt that I tripped over a stone while I was fighting.

Piper answered honestly.

Lorraine didn't say anything more. He was also preparing to go and check the place, so he got out of bed, put on his breastplate and coat, and then tucked the rusty throat into his waistband.

"Let's go."

The two left the tavern in the dark and walked along the path on the south side of the town toward the gravel beach.

After walking for more than an hour, the surrounding fog gradually thinned, and the surface of the Blackwater River could be seen.

The pebble beach Anya and the others were talking about was located on the south bank of the river. It was covered with rounded stones that had been eroded by the river, some as big as a cartwheel and others as small as a fingernail.

The gravel stretched from the roadside to the water's edge, and there was little vegetation on the beach, except for a few clumps of withered grass sprouting from the cracks in the rocks, swaying precariously in the wind.

Further west, there is a low, mixed grove of trees, pitifully clustered not far from the shore.

"There are people over there."

Piper squatted on a large rock and pointed towards the water.

Lorraine looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a blurry figure in the hazy mist, squatting on the beach near the water's surface.

She wore a wine-red mage's robe, the hem of which fluttered in the river breeze, and her red hair made her stand out conspicuously in the hazy mist.

Eileen?

Lorraine carefully stepped down the gravel.

As he approached, he discovered that the stones near the river were covered with dense runes and lines drawn on them with some kind of luminous powder.

The patterns were arranged very regularly, with circles forming a framework, and they stretched horizontally along the riverbank, covering almost all the stones by the water.

Eileen heard him approaching, turned around, and raised an eyebrow when she saw it was Lorraine. She said casually:

"Don't touch those runes. It will take some time for them to fully set. This powder is a mixture of silverleaf sap and frost lizard bone meal; it's very expensive."

Lorraine withdrew his hand as if he'd been electrocuted. He pointed from a distance to one of the fist-sized symbols: "What's this rune for?"

Eileen wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, tucked her stray hairs back behind her ears, and looked at him with disdain, saying:

"That's the trigger node for the magic circle. It will automatically activate as long as a creature large enough steps into its range. But just to be on the safe side, I'll wait in the nearby woods tomorrow and manually activate it as needed."

She nodded her chin toward a sturdy oak tree in the mixed thicket, where there was a depression at the base of the tree large enough for a person to hide inside.

"Oh...I see..."

Lorraine walked away without disturbing her. He circled the perimeter of the pebble beach and memorized the general terrain.

He squatted down and touched the surface of the stones, finding them quite slippery. Fortunately, some withered grass grew in the cracks between the stones, which provided some leverage when stepped on.

"Finished watching?"

Eileen's voice came from behind.

Lorraine turned around and saw that the tip of her nose was red from the cold wind, her brows were slightly furrowed, and she was bending over rubbing her numb calves.

"What are you standing there for? Come and help me up!" Eileen said angrily, her eyes wide as she looked at him still standing there.

[...tired, slightly chilled]

Lorraine looked away from her hair, and helplessly stepped forward to gently support her arm.

The sleeves of the mage's robe were very thin, and you could feel her trembling slightly even through the fabric.

"Finished looking at it? How's the magic array setup going?"

He looked at Eileen with some surprise.

Unexpectedly, this seemingly pampered young mage was surprisingly capable.

"Only the core hasn't been activated yet."

Eileen rolled her eyes at Lorraine, then slapped away the hand that was supporting her, as if she wasn't the one who had just asked for help.

She then took out a blue crystal the size of a fingernail from her belt and carefully bent down to embed it into a groove in the center of the magic circle.

The entire magic circle then lit up slightly, and the runes and lines flashed with a pale blue light for a moment, as if they had been infused with life.

"Now the magic circle is fixed in place, and it can be used tomorrow."

Eileen stood up, pulled her robe tighter around herself, and walked back towards Shallow Beach Town, waving goodbye.