Mystic Overlord: Reading Gives Strength
Chapter 30: Chasing Stars in the Wilderness

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Chasing Stars in the Wilderness

Suppressing embarrassment, Nade quickly flipped through the diary’s contents.

Once he confirmed it had absolutely no connection to the Magic Book, he immediately stuffed the diary back where he found it.

"Then... no offense meant."

"I’ll go check the corpse."

He didn’t even look back at Ronald as he jogged over to the body of the man in the Red Robe.

Using his still-functional arm, he began to turn over the body.

After confirming the Red Robe’s time of death and his physical appearance,

Nade didn’t hesitate to pull out a dagger and began to perform an on-site autopsy to ensure the information was as accurate as possible.

"Clear evidence of a Caster, definitely had contact with original-grade..."

"No obvious school insignia..."

"The left forearm had fractured before..."

"..."

"Tsk—"

After about half an hour of inspection, Nade, with a dissatisfied expression, moved on to tossing around the other corpses, while also sharing his findings with Ronald:

"That guy was an amateur, he didn’t even have any school insignia on him."

"The issue with Black Mountain is probably someone else’s doing, using him."

While Nade spoke, Ronald noticed a term.

"School insignia...?"

"That’s right, school insignia." Perhaps accustomed to Ronald’s lack of knowledge about the mystical side, Nade just explained, "The larger schools, for self-protection, transmission of power or other reasons, create items with insignias to distribute among their members."

"Of course, I’m not saying one must carry it with them."

"But look at this guy."

While explaining, Nade glanced at the body on the ground with the corner of his eye:

"This one in the Red Robe."

"Clearly he had contact with an original-grade Magic Book, yet there’s only a very weak magic power reaction on him, no prominent school leader would be this weak."

"He’s clearly just an unfortunate soul who was used by others."

As Nade spoke confidently, Ronald continued to ask:

"So does that mean we won’t have a chance to get that original text?"

Hearing this question, a hint of frustration immediately showed in Nade’s eyes.

But it quickly turned into self-mocking humor:

"After all, it’s an original..."

"Thinking we two could get our hands on such a treasure, it really is a pipe dream."

"Let’s forget these uncertain things."

The autopsy complete, Nade deftly retracted his dagger with one hand.

Walking towards Ronald, he casually asked:

"By the way, Ronald."

"Since you’ve encountered things from the mystical side before, you should at least know which school you belong to, right?"

What school do I belong to?

Nade’s question instantly triggered a flood of information in Ronald’s mind about the various schools derived from the Magic Book in this strange new world.

—This wasn’t Nade testing himself.

Hardly thinking, a name popped out smoothly:

"I’m from the Copenhagen school."

"Eh?"

"Copenhagen... sounds like a person’s name..."

Of course, Nade wouldn’t know this school.

After mumbling confusedly for a few moments, the trader dropped the subject.

"Alright, let’s head up."

"The villa above is empty, we can change out of these rags, and before dawn we’ll even have time to rest."

"Sounds good."

Ronald nodded in agreement.

Nade was covered in blood, himself bedraggled just the same.

Just as his companion put it, after half a night’s ordeal, a rest was needed by anyone.

————

The next day.

The sun had just risen when Ronald and his companion left the villa.

At this time, Black Mountain was completely different from what they had seen the night before.

The entire mountain surface was now a barren and oppressive desert.

Under the cover of night, the black fog had devoured all the vitality of this land.

This area extended from the tail of the distant mountain range in the west to the dry riverbed in the east, from the deeper mountains in the north to a flat wilderness in the south.

A desolate and silent scene.

In this harsh place, the original lofty mountains, the dark and gloomy valleys, the rapidly swirling rivers,

were all now bleak and desolate, unfit for habitation.

This was a barren land of despair with no traces of life to be found.

No birds flew in the clear blue sky, nothing stirred on the grey, dusty ground, and what was even more unbearable was the deathly silence. No matter how you strained your ear, there was no sound to be heard on the vast wasteland.

No sound, only silence.

—Complete, soul-crushing silence.

Witnessing this scene under the sunlight, Ronald couldn’t help feeling awe:

"How terrifying."

Nasus beside him expressed his sentiment with a similar emotion:

"Indeed."

"This is the danger of mysterious knowledge."

"But Ronald," Nasus continued, "we have a pressing problem to solve now."

"..."

Facing Nasus with a smirk, Ronald asked:

"Are you talking about... hitting the road?"

"Exactly," the merchant nodded proudly. "Black Mountain is a godforsaken place, with no sign of a village ahead or a store behind. Even with a carriage, it would take us three or four days to reach the nearest village."

"Tsk—"

Ronald clicked his tongue.

"But we don’t even have a carriage..."

He certainly knew that the situation was actually more severe than the night before, assuming it could get any worse.

When the black fog swallowed everything, it did not spare the merchant caravan.

The horses, the goods on the wagon, and all their daily supplies were gone.

Traveling in such a deserted place—

It was virtually an otherworldly version of wilderness survival!

Watching Nasus with a self-satisfied expression, Ronald bluntly asked:

"However, from the look on your face, you seem to be prepared, right?"

"Heh—"

Ronald’s question only made Nasus more smug:

"I wouldn’t say I’m prepared."

"Boy, if you’re brave enough, how about I take you star chasing?"

"Star chasing...?"

Ronald was genuinely confused this time.

Brave enough?

Star chasing?

He couldn’t connect the pieces of information at a time like this.

Seeing Ronald’s bewildered face, Nasus decided not to keep him in suspense anymore:

"Let me tell you!"

"Around two days’ journey from here, there is a border railroad that connects Grid with Entrode."

"Grid’s most famous theater actress and singer, hailed as the ’Angel Gem,’ the incomparable beauty, Miss Alyda Boycombe, will be taking this train to Burenwich."

"What we have to do is cross this wilderness in two days."

"Just reach that railroad’s location!"

Looking at Nasus, who wore a shrewd and cunning face, Ronald sarcastically remarked:

"Railroads would be fine on their own, but to even keep an actress’s itinerary in mind..."

"You really know a lot."

Nasus brushed the new coat he had found in the villa with one hand and replied with satisfaction:

"How could a merchant not have a few tricks up his sleeve?"

"Let’s get going!"

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