The caravan's transport ship sailed steadily for a day and a night, finally arriving at the northern port.
The sea breeze, laden with a salty, damp scent, blew across their faces, and the bustling scene of the port came into view.
Huge cargo ships docked at the pier, workers busily loaded and unloaded goods, and the shouts intertwined with the roar of machinery, making it exceptionally lively.
The caravan members disembarked one after another and, under the arrangement of their leader Charlotte, checked into a pre-booked hotel.
The hotel was located near the port, elegantly decorated, and comfortable, making it an ideal place for the caravan to rest.
In the afternoon, Droy greeted Ezreal and the others, then excitedly left the group to head to the city market alone.
He had a natural love for plants, and at the market, he carefully selected some local specialty plant seeds, meticulously bagging them to take back to the hotel for study.
In the evening, Ezreal, Levy, Jet, and Droy sat on the sofa in the hotel's ground-floor lobby, chatting leisurely.
The lobby lights were soft, and the afterglow of the sunset outside the window spilled onto the floor, casting a warm golden hue.
Droy sat in a corner of the sofa, holding a thick magic book, with several packets of newly bought plant seeds spread out before him.
He concentrated on comparing the contents of the book, occasionally jotting something down in a notebook, his expression so focused that everything around him seemed irrelevant.
Ezreal glanced at Droy, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, and said with a hint of teasing: "Droy, you're actually reading? Am I seeing things?"
Droy looked up, pushing up the glasses on his nose—he had recently bought a pair just like Levy's for reading.
Droy winked in response: "Please call me a scholar!"
Levy and Jet also laughed.
Levy pushed up her own round-rimmed glasses, saying with a touch of satisfaction: "Droy has indeed been very diligent lately; he's borrowed quite a few books from the library."
Jet leaned back on the sofa, lazily adding: "Yeah, though I don't really want to admit it, that bean sprout guy has been pretty hardworking lately."
"To be honest, am I influencing him? Indeed, after studying alchemy with Granny Poluchka recently, I feel more and more cultured. The aura of knowledge sometimes infects the idiots around me." Jet tossed his bangs, took a glass vial from his pocket, and rolled it between his fingertips. The dark green potion inside shimmered with tiny points of light as it moved, a self-satisfied look on his face.
Droy disdainfully picked up his magic book and smacked it on Jet's head, saying: "You don't have an aura of knowledge, only a stench."
"Speaking of which, I still have to thank you, Ezreal, for your earlier reminder. After the war in Newborn City, didn't you say I should learn more theoretical knowledge?"
"So I went to the library and found this book, 'The Complete Guide to Magical Plant Cultivation.' Although the content is quite complex, I'm really interested in it."
Droy held up the magic book to show Ezreal. The pages were covered in dense text, accompanied by several illustrations of plants from seed to maturity.
Ezreal remembered all the books in the guild library. The book in Droy's hand was considered one of the most profound and complex among the guild's collection.
The content of the book taught how to use one's magic to induce mutations in magical plants or to maximize certain characteristics.
To put it simply, learning this magic book could allow one to create strange plants similar to those in Plants vs. Zombies.
This was also what Ezreal had originally intended to recommend to Droy, but considering it was too profound, he thought Droy might not understand it at the time, so he had recommended the magic book on Wild Thorns instead.
He hadn't expected Droy to actually go to the guild library and take this book, then begin to study it.
Ezreal raised an eyebrow in surprise: "You actually went and read it? You're usually too lazy to even read the guild announcements."
Droy shrugged, his tone relaxed: "People change, you know. Besides, the things in this book are actually useful. I've already mastered two new magical plants, and my strength has increased quite a bit."
Ezreal gave Droy a thumbs-up without hesitation, praising him: "Amazing, you've already made progress so quickly!"
Levy asked curiously: "Which two plants? Can you show them to us?"
Droy smiled mysteriously: "If I get the chance, I will show them. But for now…" He looked down at the seeds in his hand and continued, "I still need to research these new seeds to see if I can cultivate even more powerful plants."
"The specialty plants in this port city are quite interesting. If all goes well, maybe I can even cultivate a new plant before this quest is completed."
"Hey, hey, I've made a lot of progress too, you know!" Jet suddenly held the potion bottle up to everyone's eyes. A glowing crystal floated in the dark green liquid. "Granny Poluchka's personal teaching, Sleeping Potion 2.0, just one drop—"
He deliberately drew out the last word, "—can make someone snore for three days!"
Levy froze for a second, "That sounds like something Granny Poluchka would use to treat insomnia…"
Jet scratched his head sheepishly, "Actually, Granny Poluchka made it for the Master. Granny said the Master gets loud and sings and smashes furniture when he drinks too much, which is embarrassing. She told me to secretly mix this into his wine, but I haven't had a chance yet, since we left for this quest."
Ezreal raised his hand with a smile, "Please, whatever you do, don't use that potion on Elfman. His snoring is truly terrifying."
Droy, without lifting his head, flicked out a seed. A tender sprout instantly wrapped around the potion bottle: "I suggest you use it on yourself first, so you don't bother people singing on deck in the middle of the night."
The vine precisely tucked the bottle back into Jet's pocket, then dissolved into green light and vanished with the wind.
Ezreal and Levy exchanged glances, both raising their hands simultaneously, "Agreed, agreed!"
Outside the window, gulls swept across the twilight sky, the aroma of baked bread wafted from the counter, and the chandelier gently swayed with the wind amidst their laughter.
As night deepened, everyone in the caravan at the hotel fell into a deep sleep.
Although the transport ship also had resting quarters, the constant sea waves made sleeping on solid ground feel much more reassuring.
As the caravan's security, the four of them, including Ezreal, possessed excellent professional ethics.
They all stayed awake for the first half of the night and rested during the latter half, with Ezreal arranging for his Summoned Beast to stand guard.
In truth, they could have left everything to the Summoned Beast, but Levy and the other two were unwilling to trouble Ezreal with everything. Asking him to join the quest was already a great help; after all, with him on board, the quest was practically guaranteed, and they could almost see themselves splitting the money at the end.
In such circumstances, asking the Summoned Beast to also take on the night watch made Levy and the other two feel uneasy, as if they were freeloading on the quest.
Just as they were chatting, Ezreal suddenly frowned, his gaze turning to a corner of the lobby.
"Malice?" His perception was always keen. Silently, a pair of blood-red wolf eyes lit up in Ezreal's shadow on the floor.
Ezreal subtly shook his head, the blood-red wolf eyes in the shadow on the floor quietly receded, and then he looked at Levy and the other two.
"It seems we have guests."
Ezreal extended his left hand, his index finger tapping the coffee table with a crisp sound.
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