Chapter 13 Distinction
On the way back to the Rogue camp, Ethan was both in pain and happy.
He was happy because he had finally learned the basic fighting skills he had always wanted to learn from the Necromancer, whose official title was Priest of Rathma.
The painful part was that Zhur's teaching method was simple and brutal. Besides teaching some basic movements and how to exert force at the beginning, every day's lesson was sparring—or rather, a one-sided beating would be more accurate.
In Zhur's words, Ethan shouldn't focus on how to effectively kill enemies at this stage, but instead learn how to protect himself under a storm of attacks, and then find opportunities for a fatal counterattack while defending.
"It's not realistic to improve your physical fitness and combat skills in a short time, so at this stage, you should focus on practicing how to stay alive."
Zhur said this after beating Ethan up again. With that last 'sparring session', the not-so-long journey, no matter how slowly they walked, finally came to an end, and the two of them arrived at the Rogue camp.
The Rogue guards at the gate recognized Ethan. They didn't make much trouble for Zhur, whom Ethan brought back, especially after Zhur said he was here at Izual's request to deal with the increasingly rampant dark forces. The Rogues gave them a warm welcome.
"The Rogues here are a branch of the Amazons, very powerful in combat. I didn't expect them to be suppressed by the dark forces to the point of hoping for a savior."
The Rogues were not in good shape. Although their morale seemed decent, as the days passed and the dark energy grew stronger, they had fewer and fewer options and could only passively defend the camp all day. In this state, they no longer had the same spirit they had at the beginning, where they dared to confront demons head-on.
"It seems necessary to deal with Andariel as soon as possible. Although I don't know if it can completely eradicate the problem of the rampant dark forces, it can at least alleviate the situation in this area... I believe that as long as this powerful demon is killed and the dark forces recede, these Rogues will be able to deal with ordinary dark creatures, which will also help restore their morale."
Zhur was a man of action. He immediately asked about Izual's whereabouts, eager to team up with her right away to take down the boss, Andariel.
Izual was also waiting for Zhur in the camp at this time. The two met quickly and immediately began discussing the issue of fighting the dark creatures.
Compared to Zhur's idea of going directly to Andariel, Izual said they needed to first clear out the surrounding dark creatures, especially the minions specifically arranged by Andariel.
"Especially the recent Den of Evil. Based on my observations, a large number of dark creatures have gathered inside. Although they are not very powerful creatures, their increasing numbers are still a huge threat. If left unchecked, it could very likely destroy this camp."
"The Rogue camp is almost the last human camp with combat strength in this area. Even if we kill Andariel, we still need the Rogues to clear the dark creatures in the entire region... So we must clear out the potential threat of the Den of Evil."
Zhur nodded, agreeing with Izual's plan: "You're right. Let's clear the surroundings first. It shouldn't take much time, after all, there are three of us."
"Three?"
Izual was taken aback for a moment, blinked, and then noticed Ethan, who had been silent beside them: "You mean... Ethan?"
This time it was Zhur's turn to be surprised: "Isn't he a companion against the dark forces?"
Only then did Izual understand Zhur's misunderstanding. She smiled and shook her head: "No, although he can help a little, he hasn't even touched the threshold of basic magic yet. It's not suitable for him to fight dark creatures now."
"Okay, then it's just the two of us."
"Don't worry, the current situation of increasingly strong dark energy will alert many groups. I believe it won't be long before more and more companions appear."
Hearing this, Ethan thought of the Paladin, the Barbarian, the Amazon, and the later additions of the Druid and Assassin. These three, plus the two in front of him, would become the heroes who would once again defeat the Demon Lord Diablo and the Demon Lord Baal.
However, it seemed he wouldn't be able to meet these people. He had calculated in his spare time that he had been in this world for more than twenty days, and there were only a few days left before he would leave the Diablo world and return to that peculiar ocean.
He had basically completed the goals he had initially planned. Not only had he learned how to construct magic circles, but he had also obtained a magic book containing the principles and methods of using basic spells. He had learned how to make basic magic potions, how to use mental power to distinguish the properties of herbs, and he had learned basic close combat.
He had firmly memorized all these things, and his enhanced memory once again provided great help. He also got books for other things he didn't have time to memorize, so he could continue learning after returning.
It could be said that this trip to Diablo was extremely fruitful. As long as Ethan persevered, his strength would steadily increase, and because the categories involved were diverse and could promote each other's improvement, he wouldn't encounter the so-called bottleneck in a short time.
"Next, it's time to pick up the equipment I ordered before."
Before leaving the Rogue camp to find Zhur, he had used the rewards he had earned during that time to ask Charsi, the blacksmith in the camp, to help him make a small piece of equipment.
In fact, Charsi had finished making what he wanted the day after he left the camp, as it was really just a small item: two not-too-heavy bracers with small mechanisms on the outer side that could fire three short arrows about ten centimeters long.
Before making them, he had specifically asked Kashya about the Rogues' trick of attaching magic to arrows before firing them. After much contemplation and continuous modification, and finally with Izual's help, he completed the final design and then asked Charsi to forge the real thing.
What he received from Charsi was still only a semi-finished product. At the moment, it was just a pair of ordinary bracers that could fire a total of six short arrows.
After getting them, Ethan still needed to personally inscribe the pre-designed magic circles on the designated areas within the bracers. This was a meticulous and tedious job, and since he only had this one pair of bracers, if he failed significantly and destroyed them, he wouldn't have another chance to make a new pair.
Highly focused, Ethan not only adjusted his state to the best beforehand but also put up a large sign outside his tent: DO NOT DISTURB.
Feeling that everything was ready, Ethan began to inscribe the magic circles he had already designed, little by little.
Inscribing magic circles on equipment, recording specific magic, and then triggering it with mental power to achieve the effect of casting certain spells.
This was the self-protection tool Ethan had prepared for himself.
The concept wasn't complicated. He simply broke down the steps a mage takes to cast a spell and then simplified what a mage could do with their own power down to the most basic action: mobilizing mental power to trigger it.
The provision of magic power would be provided by the several magic stones Ethan carried with him.
For ease of use, Ethan also added a magic power storage step to the magic circle. This way, he only needed to channel the power from the magic stones into the magic circle to store it beforehand when he had free time, avoiding the need to also attach the magic stones to the bracers, which would add 'hardware' and also eliminate a step of drawing magic power, saving time when casting spells.
The shaping and casting of the magic were all automatically completed by the magic circle. The advantage was that it was brainless, but the disadvantage was that everything was preset, both in terms of power and speed.
And to compensate for the weakness of the magic power and the crudeness of the magic circle, Ethan had to add a physical carrier to increase lethality, which is why he added short arrows—or rather, wrist arrows—to the bracers and specifically asked Kashya for advice on how to attach magic to arrows.
When finally completed, these two bracers became magical equipment that could fire six short arrows imbued with fire.
This equipment had no manual mechanism. Ethan spent some effort designing the mechanism to fire the short arrows to be triggered by mental power. It could be said that this equipment had to be used with mental power, making it his exclusive equipment in a roundabout way—those with sufficient mental power control wouldn't bother with this, and those who would want it didn't have enough mental power control.
"I always feel like this thing is something a woman would use."
After a busy night, Ethan was very happy to have successfully designed and created his first piece of magical equipment. The slight sense of awkwardness that arose from the bottom of his heart was actively ignored by him.
Putting on the pair of bracers, feeling their weight and whether they affected his movements, Ethan carefully organized the items on his body. He also took out a few bottles of the special potions he had made earlier and put them in the small bag behind him.
After strapping the short sword to his waist and hanging the shield where he could easily reach it, Ethan left his tent and went directly to find Izual.
Although he had been busy all night and consumed some energy, Ethan had recovered after resting for a while. During this time, he had been consistently practicing various exercises, and both his physical strength and mental power had reached a new height.
Feeling his current state, he made an important decision: he would go with Izual and Zhur to the Den of Evil to clear out the dark creatures lurking there.
"With two powerful teammates like Zhur and Izual, if I don't even dare to face a group of the weakest dark creatures, then what future will I have?"
Who knows what kind of world he would go to in the future, or what kind of monsters he would face? Could he always expect to hide in a safe place and collect resources? Who knows what he would encounter in that ocean world? Could he guarantee that everyone he met in the future would be ordinary people?
"Although I was a bit cowardly before, when it's time to be bold, I absolutely cannot hesitate! No question about it, I have to do this!"