The scenery before them became somewhat distorted, as if some medium was refracting the light between them.
When Glenn and Hermione stopped in front of the protective barrier, wondering how to notify those inside to let them in, the completely sealed barrier automatically opened an oval-shaped opening as they approached.
It was as if it had automatically recognized Glenn and Hermione's identities.
"Well, that saves us some trouble. Let's go in then."
Calling to Hermione, Glenn was the first to walk into the barrier's range.
Her wrist felt slightly warm. Hermione raised her hand and brushed across her wrist, causing a jade bracelet to appear out of nowhere. The girl touched it, then held it up in front of Glenn.
"The magical artifact Grandmother gave us is glowing. Looks like this protective formation recognized us through this artifact."
Seeing this, Glenn also raised his hand, his sleeve sliding down his arm to reveal his wrist. He made his bracelet appear, observed it carefully, then pulled his hand back and said:
"To be precise, it's a spell inscription within it. Only this inscription is working now. Grandmother probably inscribed it casually yesterday when she checked our equipment."
"Huh? Grandmother Lin only touched my hand briefly, and that lightly updated this magical artifact's function?"
Hermione seemed somewhat surprised. She really hadn't felt her bracelet gain an inscription that wasn't there before from Lin Yingqing's single touch.
So this was the caliber of the Dragon Kingdom's chief artificer? Amazing.
Not only Hermione—even Glenn hadn't noticed his grandmother's little trick at the time. He'd completely attributed the reactions from the magical artifacts he was wearing to Lin Yingqing testing whether the items could function normally.
His strength was still insufficient. The young man needed to work harder.
After entering the transparent protective formation, the gap they'd come through immediately sealed again, as if the earlier scene had been an illusion. However, everything they saw and heard after entering the formation's range proved what they'd witnessed wasn't illusion.
From the outside, people appeared where none had existed before. The young cultivators from North China Academy of Magical Arts participating in this beast-hunting activity had established a temporary camp within the formation, providing logistical medical support for severely injured or overexerted cultivators.
However, the cultivators lying on those beds, despite suffering serious injuries—like having a long sword piercing their chest, or an entire arm turned purple and seemingly broken into several sections—all looked quite spirited, chatting and laughing with companions treating their wounds, bragging and joking about how dangerous the battles they'd participated in were.
"...Just as I was saying, quick as lightning, seeing that guy's axe about to split my head open, I immediately used Dragon Flash Step, backhanded my mace to shatter his spine, then applied concussive force to knock him unconscious... Oh! Glenn and Hermione? You're both safe too!"
The fellow closest to them sat on a stone block, bare-chested, revealing muscular build. His left shoulder had a wound that nearly severed his entire left arm, and someone was bandaging it for him. He was mid-story when he spotted Glenn and Hermione approaching from nearby and stood up in pleasant surprise.
Then he pulled at his wound.
"Ow, ow, ow..."
This fellow grimaced, wanting to reach up and cover his wound, but the girl bandaging him slapped his hand away.
"Stay still! Look, the wound's opened again. If we don't treat it quickly, you won't get another chance to go out. If you didn't want to fight, you should have said so earlier. Let me go out instead—I still need several more achievements. Otherwise, by the next rotation, there might not be many dark wizards left outside."
After scolding the injured man thoroughly and pulling him back to his seat, the cultivator began casting healing magic on him while searching for herbs and pills. She slapped the former onto the man's wound with a wet sound, then forcibly stuffed the pills into his mouth, ignoring his pained expression from the medicine irritating his wound. The girl turned her attention to Glenn and Hermione, stepping forward to thoroughly examine both of them from head to toe. After confirming she found no wounds, she sighed in relief and placed her hands on Glenn and Hermione's shoulders respectively:
"Good that you're not injured. Seeing you two get teleported away like Feng Lian, we were so worried. Everyone was planning to dispatch a group to rescue you, but Lin Yu vetoed our idea... but it's wonderful that you're both fine."
"Sister Wei, we're okay... but could you tell us what the current situation is? Is there anything we can help with? I can see everyone outside is still fighting enemies!"
Warmed by the concern shown, Hermione felt touched, but she was more concerned about the current situation. After being able to use magic again, the danger level of those dark wizards had visibly increased several notches. The magic they used always made Hermione feel chilled to the bone and uneasy. The girl was very worried about their people's safety.
Standing by and watching wasn't Hermione's style.
"Mm... the specific situation is that our people are currently going out in batches to block those dark wizards' assaults on our position, while incidentally earning some achievements for our own studies... you can ignore that part. After all, everyone participating in this activity are outstanding students about to graduate from school, and they've all participated in this kind of event several times before..."
"Well, in any case, we currently have the upper hand. I believe we'll achieve victory in this battle before long, so don't worry too much about it."
The Wei-surnamed cultivator shrugged, her words mixed with her own muttering, then led the two youngsters to the rest area in the camp and had them sit down.
"Since you've suddenly encountered all this, just rest well. Leave the other matters to your older brothers and sisters."
"However, Pei Heng told us before that when you two returned to camp, you could go find him. He seems to have something to tell you. Look over there, on that raised pile of stones—that guy's sitting there. After you've rested up, you can go find him. I'll take my leave now, there are still many injured waiting for fresh bandages... Sigh, when will it be my turn to go out? Can't they leave me some achievements, damn it..."
After dropping this long speech, the cultivator hurried away, still muttering continuously.
"Sister Wei really is... swift and decisive."
"Mm, quite a personality."
"Are you resting, or should we go find Pei Heng directly to see what he wants to tell us?"
"Let's go then."
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