Chapter 166: Chapter 165: Techniques of Magic

THUD.

The sled crested a snowdrift, then dropped onto a downward slope.

Colin steadied the parchment that had almost slipped from his grasp, incidentally touching his own, perfectly intact nose.

"Does it still hurt, Mr. Colin?" Orelia asked from her seat next to Ale.

"Not really, just a bit of phantom pain," Colin said. "My body probably just hasn’t adjusted yet."

"That’s good. I was worried my Divine Art had failed." Orelia cradled the Divine Emblem she had received a few days ago. "After all, this Magic Item doesn’t enhance my healing abilities. The good thing is, it can help us against Undead or Evil Demons."

"We’ll be counting on you to shine then."

"Shine... That will be up to you and Mr. Kase." Orelia pursed her lips and looked down, seeming a little shy.

Colin smiled, then turned his head to look at the surrounding snowy woods, relaxing his eyes.

They had reached the place where they had fought the great battle with the Skeletons a few days ago.

Not far off was a frozen lake. Right now, several mammoths were crossing its surface. There were large and small ones among them; it must have been a herd.

Colin figured the creatures must be enormous.

But without a point of reference, he couldn’t tell just how big they were with his naked eye.

As he stared blankly at the mammoths, Colin mentally reviewed the past few days’ events.

After his wounds were completely healed with Divine Art, they stayed at the Barbarian Tribe for another day, waiting for Orelia’s Divine Art to fully recover.

Although it felt like a waste of time, in this environment, they had to ensure the party had ample Magic and Divine Art. It would be disastrous to run into monsters otherwise.

It was worth mentioning that during their wait, Orelia’s relationship with Ale had somehow improved significantly. Lately, the Tiefling had even started reading books with Ale. He had no idea how the friendship between the two young women had developed.

The team’s resources hadn’t been depleted much after the battle.

Although he had Holy Water, the fight against the Centurion had been too intense, and Colin never found a chance to use it. In the end, it was saved.

Kase’s Fishing Net was also recovered and fixed with Ale’s Repair Technique.

Only after they were fully prepared did the group bid farewell to the barbarians and set out again.

Of course, during their day of downtime, Colin had also sorted out his commission rewards.

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[Commission: Exterminate the Skeletons]

[Rating: 6 (Local Hero)]

[Reward: 150 Skill Level, "Radiant Sword" Cantrip, +1 Intelligence]

-----------------

Although the rating was the same, the reward for this mission wasn’t as great as the one for dealing with the Frostland Druids.

After all, he had received an extra reward for the first-time completion back then.

’Compared to the fight with the Frostland Druids, this one felt a bit easier,’ Colin thought. ’After all, I could still stand after the battle was over.’

Naturally, all the Skill Level points he received were added to his Swordsmanship skill.

Since Colin spent most of his time in close combat with enemies now, every point added to his Swordsmanship Skill Level meant his melee techniques were stronger.

His current Skill Levels were: Casting 1352, Armor Technique 620, Silent Sword Skill 993.

The increase to his Casting and Swordsmanship hadn’t been that significant.

Because they had been constantly on the road and had to conserve their stamina and Casting Ability as much as possible, these two Skills were not easy to train.

His Armor Technique skill, on the other hand, had increased quite a bit.

After all, training this ability only required using Blade Ward on his Armor, which didn’t consume much energy. Plus, he could do it on the carriage, so Colin had been training it whenever he had free time these past two days.

However, the effects of the training weren’t very noticeable.

Honestly, if his Skill Level wasn’t increasing, Colin would have thought he was doing something wrong. It was hard to imagine what the first Dwarf to learn this combat style must have gone through.

Then there was the Intelligence Attribute.

Even after receiving so many Attribute boosts, Colin could still feel the improvement each time one increased. The feeling was especially obvious when reading, memorizing, and Casting.

There was an indescribable wonder to it; he felt like he was getting addicted.

He wondered what it would feel like to reach the so-called human limit in the future.

Finally, there was the new Cantrip he had learned.

This Cantrip wasn’t hard to learn; just like with Emerald Flame Sword, he got it in a single glance.

Radiant Sword: A Cantrip. When you make your next weapon attack, it deals an extra 1-8 Radiant Damage. If the creature hit is an Undead or an Evil Demon, it becomes blinded for six seconds. This effect can be resisted by monsters with a high Constitution Attribute.

Judging by its effect, it was a specialized skill for dealing with Undead.

Colin had tried it out yesterday. When using this Magic, he could also use his Blade Spell Mastery specialty to forgo the subsequent blinding effect and instead temporarily imbue his blade with the Radiant Attribute to add two points of Damage.

And just like Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, the blinding effect could be resisted by the enemy’s own willpower when hit by the Magic.

After reading about other spells in a book, Colin discovered that most crowd control Magic in this world could actually be broken free from, which wasn’t surprising.

Escaping Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, for instance, relied on the Perception Attribute.

Furthermore, when a controlled opponent was attacked, their brain would instinctively begin to struggle against the restraints. This was why most opponents Colin had controlled so far were able to break free from the Magic after taking their first hit.

This was basically common knowledge about Magic in this world.

"WHINE!"

Just then, the whimpering of the sled dogs came from up ahead.

Colin spoke up, "Kase, isn’t it time for a break?"

"Halt, halt!" Kase immediately gave the command, stopping the sled’s advance. The sled dogs all collapsed from exhaustion, lying in the thick snow with their tongues hanging out.

Orelia stretched, hopped off the sled, and waddled around it like a penguin to loosen up.

Next to her, Ale was still reading, looking like a Half-Elf statue.

Kase looked back and asked, "Should we get something to eat?"

"I’ve got some sausage and dried, preserved fruits." Colin took out yesterday’s leftover rations. He popped a piece of frozen fruit into his mouth, slowly letting the thick layer of sugar on its surface dissolve.

He then asked, "Have you been tense lately?"

"Tense? What are you talking about?" Kase laughed and waved his hand. "When have you ever seen me get tense?"

"Talk tough all you want. The Kase I know would never allow for any potential risks on a trip—and overworking the sled dogs is definitely a risk."

Colin said, "I’m practically your brother, Kase. I know how you think."

As the two were talking, a few sled dogs came over to Kase and anxiously nudged the Half-Orc’s leg.

"Alright, fine. I’m a little tense. That’s normal, right?" Kase said, pulling a bag of dog food from the sled.

Leaning against the sled, Colin said, "Relax. Think about our past adventures. We always manage to pull through."

Kase gave an odd smile at his words.

Their long-standing rapport allowed Colin to sense that he had indeed relaxed a little.

The Half-Orc then pulled out his Dimension Bag, took out some dog food, and sprinkled it on the ground.

But the pack of sled dogs just kept nudging his thighs, looking anxious but not daring to bark.

"What’s gotten into you guys?" Kase asked, looking at the dogs’ strange behavior.

Suddenly, a fierce, snow-laden gust of wind swept down from above.