After spending some time equipping the whole team and preparing emergency tents, supplies, and wilderness survival gear, Li Wen and her group used up most of the gold Mog had given them.
With what remained, they rented a carriage and set off toward the Stonecreek Ravine.
Stonecreek Ravine lay along a vital trade route used by merchants from Arthur’s outer regions.
The locals of the Black Dragon Territory were familiar with the terrain, so there was no need for special navigation—they simply followed the main road.
In the carriage, Li Wen explained the situation to Taketori and the others in a low voice.
She didn’t go into detail about the Tsukuyomi faction, the Blackwind Fangs, or the stolen goods.
Instead, she focused on the most critical part: the mage.
“The one we’re after is a mage from the Secret Institute. Whether he’s friend or foe isn’t clear yet, but it’s safer to treat him as an enemy. I don’t need you to kill him—just keep him busy.”
“A mage?”
Taketori was surprised, though not overly alarmed.
This was a starter village quest, after all—how bad could it be?
“What level are we talking about?”
“No higher than level ten.”
Li Wen replied calmly.
Truthfully, she wasn’t sure.
But a mage above level ten—meaning someone in the second tier—wasn’t the kind of opponent you could overwhelm just by throwing bodies at them.
If that were the case, abandoning the mission would be the wisest move.
Taketori didn’t know much about the power difference between levels, so level ten meant little to him.
He didn’t comment further.
The carriage rolled on in silence, leaving the bustling town behind.
It passed through rice fields and villages before finally arriving—just before dusk—at the heart of the dense forest, where the Stonecreek Ravine lay.
“This is as far as I go. If you want to go deeper into the ravine, you’ll have to get off here.”
The driver, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke up.
Everyone else had grown restless from waiting.
At the first chance, they hopped off the carriage excitedly.
Li Wen was the last to disembark.
She scanned the area.
They had arrived at a rugged gorge, a narrow passage cutting through the ravine that extended all the way to the distant city of Lester.
The land here was perpetually dry, with hardly any vegetation.
Finding the lost cargo shouldn’t be too difficult, but the sheer size of the area and its jagged terrain would make searching without splitting up a real challenge.
“Let’s move.”
Only after the driver left did Li Wen begin giving instructions to the others.
“It should be somewhere nearby. Split into groups and search. He’s bound to have left some trace behind. But don’t wander too far—this may be a trade route, but the dangers here go far beyond just a mage.”
After a quick discussion, the group divided and dispersed.
Li Wen stayed behind, lost in thought.
Why would a mage from the Secret Institute steal an unknown shipment?
It couldn’t have been for money—mages from the Institute were the last people who needed that.
Nor did it seem to be a personal vendetta; if a mage wanted someone dead, they’d have dozens of followers to do it for them.
That left only one conclusion—there had to be a compelling reason.
Perhaps the cargo wasn’t ordinary at all, despite what the Blackwind Fangs claimed.
Before she could dwell further on it, Taketori and the others called out—they’d found something.
Or rather, what they found wasn’t a clue—it was a mess left behind by the mage.
Li Wen followed Taketori and saw the aftermath: shattered wagons, scorched cargo, and unrecognizable objects charred to cinders.
And when they reached the heart of the destruction, they found a scene straight out of a nightmare.
The earth had been blackened, as though ravaged by a wildfire.
Unidentifiable materials lay charred and twisted, and the lingering heat beneath her boots hinted at just how recent the blaze had been.
Li Wen frowned.
Beyond the suffocating stench of burnt wood and ash, she sensed something else—a wild, searing, and violent presence: the essence of fire.
Elements were part of the Aetheric Spectrum—a path of power unique to the Aether discipline.
From the evidence left behind, there was no doubt: their enemy was an elemental mage, and most likely one who specialized in fire.
As she stood amidst the devastation, a picture formed in her mind:
A merchant caravan from Lester—or even Arthur’s royal city—passed through Stonecreek Ravine.
There, they encountered the mage from the Secret Institute.
For reasons unknown, the mage attacked.
Flames engulfed the wagons, and the panicked caravan members scattered, trying to flee.
But in the end, none escaped the mage’s wrath.
Li Wen recalled the signs she had seen along the road earlier—marks suggesting that at least part of the caravan had made it some distance before being slaughtered.
This meant the mage hadn’t killed everyone immediately.
That suggested one of two things—either the mage had been injured, or there were limits to their spellcasting.
Otherwise, there was no reason anyone should have escaped with cargo in tow.
That, at least, was good news.
But one thing still didn’t sit right with her.
The Blackwind Fangs—or more accurately, the Tsukuyomi faction—wanted her to recover the lost goods.
Yet judging from the wreckage, everything had been reduced to ashes.
If they knew the culprit was a Secret Institute mage, surely they had already investigated the scene.
And still, they insisted Deep Dawn recover the “lost” cargo.
That could only mean one thing: the burnt goods were a decoy.
The real item had been taken, and the fire mage wasn’t fooled.
After annihilating the entire caravan, he took the real cargo—and vanished.
So where had the fire mage gone?
He couldn’t have left the Black Dragon Territory.
Long-range teleportation spells were high-tier magic that required immense power.
Unless the Institute had a teleportation array hidden somewhere nearby—a fact Li Wen wasn’t aware of—the mage had to still be within the region.
To recover the cargo, finding the mage was the first priority.
Fortunately, Li Wen had come prepared.
She pulled out a small bottle from her pack, no thicker than her thumb.
Inside was a glowing, deep yellow viscous liquid.
[Secret Tracking Elixir]
[Consumable – Potion – Magic (Blue)]
A potion favored by mage hunters in the Sinful Dominion.
Said to have guided the deaths of countless mages.
When spilled, this potion will guide the user toward the mage’s location.
Potion-making originated from alchemy, later evolving into a discipline of its own.
Alongside ritual magic, it was a fundamental branch of knowledge for all transcendents.
After completing a ritual the day before that required advance preparation, Li Wen had used the leftover materials to concoct this potion.
Though the purity was low due to limited equipment, it would be enough to point her in the right direction.
Without hesitation, she threw the bottle onto the scorched ground.
It shattered, and the thick liquid oozed out.
The moment it touched the dry air, it seemed to come alive.
Tendrils of potion writhed, absorbing the faint remnants of ambient magic.
Then, it trembled—and began crawling desperately in a specific direction.
It only stopped when all its magical energy had been expended.
“Let’s go. It’s that way.”
Tftc!