Chapter 22 (2/2): The Ruins of the Campsite

Inside, it wasn’t filled with normal incantations but a massive collection of alchemy material records. Dense symbols, formulas, and experimental notes filled nearly every page.

She couldn’t understand some of the words, and some of the symbols gave her an inexplicable feeling of discomfort.

Cadela walked over and said quietly:

“This book is a heretic’s book.”

Qiu Meng immediately looked up.

“Then… can you read it?”

Cadela flipped through a few lines, her brow gradually furrowing.

“I can’t understand it at all. It contains some forbidden languages. I suspect it’s a relic from the Dark Decade.”

Alisia looked at Qiu Meng.

“As I recall, alchemy is considered heresy by the Holy Temple. At the very least, it’s not something accepted by the public.”

Qiu Meng looked at the skeletons.

“So they were heretics?”

Cadela didn’t answer immediately.

She looked again at the fragmented text on the pages.

“It should be related to that mad princess.”

Alisia was taken aback.

“Princess?”

“During the Dark Decade, a princess annihilated her entire kingdom.”

“A lot of forbidden alchemy is connected to her. The Holy Temple archives mention it, but the details were never made public.”

Qiu Meng instinctively closed the book.

“Then it’s better not to look at it anymore. What if there’s something like spiritual corrosion…”

Alisia nodded.

“Historians might be very interested, but we don’t need to take the risk now.”

Qiu Meng looked around, then suddenly thought of something.

“Even though it feels a bit disrespectful… Alisia, can you use your greatsword to dig around here?”

Alisia glanced at her.

“You suspect there’s something underground?”

“A camp in a forest, with someone dressed so ornately, and carrying a forbidden magic book… I feel like there’s probably more to it than just a few skeletons.”

Alisia was silent for a moment, then nodded.

“Alright.”

She carefully used her greatsword to dig up the soil near the campfire remains.

Soon, the tip of the blade struck something hard.

When the soil was cleared away, some gold and silver treasures were revealed.

Gold coins, silver chains, fragments of precious stones, and a few discolored jewelry boxes.

“Just gold and silver treasures?”

Alisia frowned.

Qiu Meng crouched down to look.

“These should count as points too, right? But it’s strange to have so many treasures hidden in a forest camp. Could it be alchemy materials, or samples infused with magic power?”

Alisia continued searching, and soon found a golden box.

The surface of the box was very clean, showing no signs of corrosion from age. The edges were carved with the runes commonly used for Academy point magic.

She opened it cautiously.

A number lit up inside.

100.

“It’s points after all.”

Alisia stared at the box, hesitating briefly.

Qiu Meng was still checking the other treasures on the other side. Soon, she discovered a pitch-black magic stone ring.

A red inverted cross pattern was engraved on the inside of the ring.

She immediately frowned.

That symbol reminded her of certain ominous symbols from her past life.

“This thing… looks very bad.”

Using the tip of her sword, Qiu Meng carefully picked up the ring.

The moment Alisia saw the ring, her expression changed significantly.

“A red inverted cross?”

She had heard her father talk about this before.

These items were magic tools from the Demon Capital.

“A Demon Capital item… appearing here…”

She instinctively glanced at Cadela.

The red cross emblem on Cadela’s shoulder was, of course, different from the inverted cross on the ring, but in this time and place, it still made one involuntarily draw connections.

Alisia spoke:

“I have a guess. Want to hear it?”

“Ornate clothing, a Dark Decade-era alchemy book, and this ring.” Alisia said in a heavy voice. “This place probably isn’t a former student camp.”

“Rather, it’s a deserted camp left over from the Dark Decade, connected to the Demon Capital.”

Qiu Meng looked at the ruins and skeletons around her, her face paling slightly. At the same time, she thought:

‘If it’s from the Dark Decade, why is there a point box…?’

Alisia looked at the point box.

“How do we split the 100 points? I’ll take 30, you two take 35 each?”

Qiu Meng thought for a moment.

“Don’t split them for now. Let’s decide on the fifth day. Don’t use them unless necessary.”

Alisia nodded.

“Alright.”

Qiu Meng looked at the ring again.

“As for this ring… we need to find a container for it.”

She searched around and eventually found an old magic compass. The compass itself was nothing special; it could still point to directions normally, but it came with a small box.

Qiu Meng placed the ring into the small box and then put the box into her own small pouch.

“And a compass. This makes it much easier to figure out our bearings.”

After one final sweep to confirm there were no more useful items, the three decided to temporarily use this camp.

The surrounding fog was still thick.

But at least there were the remains of tents and half-collapsed stone walls that could provide shelter from the wind and facilitate defense.

When Alisia checked the tents, she was surprised to find that one of them was still usable.

“It can still be pitched after all these years of weathering?”

She tugged at the fabric.

The tent material was exceptionally tough, clearly some kind of reinforced textile from the Demon Capital era.

Qiu Meng, meanwhile, looked for firewood.

But the only wood nearby was damp.

“Let’s try using a fire magic crossbow bolt.”

She raised her hand, and with a soft click from her sleeve crossbow, a fire magic bolt shot out, hitting the center of the piled-up wet wood.

With a whoosh, a flame erupted.

The campfire began to burn fiercely.

However, the next instant, the small box in Qiu Meng’s pouch emitted a glow.

She paused for a moment, then opened the box.

The black ring inside had turned a fiery red, as if it had absorbed a part of the flames.

Qiu Meng frowned as she observed.

“It absorbed the magus from the flame?”

She tried to let the ring come into contact with other elemental magic, but there was no reaction.

It seemed this ring could only absorb one element. At least in its current state, it had only absorbed fire-type magus.

As for what the price was, she had no idea.

Cadela glanced at the ring, then at the alchemy book in Alisia’s hand.

“If you two keep researching this stuff, you’ll be judged as heretics.”

Alisia sighed.

“I guess so.”

She closed the book.

“Since you say that, I’ll stop reading it for now. The historians can deal with the headache themselves afterward.”

Cadela stood up.

“It’s almost time to eat… I’ll go catch some fish first.”

Qiu Meng quickly reminded her:

“Be careful on the way…”

“Stay safe,” Alisia also said.

Cadela nodded, then turned and headed towards the lake.

While she was fishing, Qiu Meng and Alisia tried to find materials near the camp perimeter to make traps. Unfortunately, this ruin was preserved in a bizarrely intact state, but the surrounding area was nothing but broken rocks, wet mud, and a small amount of horsetail grass. There were almost no suitable small branches.

In the end, Alisia could only gather some stones and pile them around the campfire.

“Too few materials.”

Qiu Meng looked at the sky.

“No rush. We can look for more after we eat…”

Soon, Cadela returned.

She was holding two fish in her hand.

“There’s a demon beast on the other side of the lake.”

Alisia immediately looked up.

“What kind?”

Cadela thought for a moment, then gestured with her hands.

“About the size of a rhinoceros. Very big.”

Qiu Meng took out some salt.

“Now that we’re here, let’s eat first.”

Alisia: “…Fair enough. We’ll deal with it properly after eating.”

And so, the three began to roast the fish.

Qiu Meng was initially full of confidence, but she quickly discovered she wasn’t good at roasting fish in the wild.

The fish skin charred too quickly, and when she tried to salvage it, she got burned.

“Waaah!”

Cadela tilted her head, covering her mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Pfft…”

Alisia took the fish, skillfully using a small knife to shave off the blackened skin.

“The skin is a lost cause… but the meat is still edible. At least the flesh isn’t carbonized.”

After she finished the preparation, the fish meat smelled quite fragrant.

Alisia ate some of the fish meat sandwiched between hardtack biscuits. The texture was dry, but in the wilderness, it was a decent source of energy.

Alisia remarked:

“Things you don’t usually eat can be surprisingly useful at times like this.”

Lunch had just ended.

A heavy, dull thud suddenly came from deep within the forest.

It sounded like a boulder crashing through a tree trunk.

Immediately after, the tree shadows shook, and a massive demon beast burst out.

It resembled a rhinoceros, its body covered in a thick layer of earth and dark brown armor. A horn on its forehead was entwined with dense magus.

The moment it appeared, it didn’t pause at all. It charged directly towards the camp where the three were.

BOOM!

Qiu Meng felt her vision blur, and her body was sent flying several meters by the shockwave.

“Ugh!”

Alisia was also pushed back a short distance before quickly drawing her greatsword.

“Cadela, are you okay?”

Cadela landed, flipped to her feet, and looked at the demon beast with a serious expression.

“What’s your plan for attacking?”

Qiu Meng gritted her teeth and stood up.

“Fall back! Rhinoceros hide is too thick. We can’t win in a head-on fight. Find a way to trap it or get behind it!”

As she spoke, she used the compass to confirm their direction and took the lead, weaving deeper into the woods.

The demon beast charged again.

Alisia grabbed Cadela and dodged the attack. The beast struck the ground, immediately creating a large crater, sending dirt and碎石 flying.

Using the forest cover, Qiu Meng circled to its flank and finally noticed that the root of the beast’s hind leg was not covered by the thick earth armor.

“Found it!”

She raised her left hand and fired two consecutive wind magic crossbow bolts.

The bolts hit the weak point on its hindquarters.

The demon beast let out an enraged roar and began to rampage, crashing into things wildly.

Alisia seized the opportunity and rushed towards its rear.

Her greatsword slammed heavily into the ground. She pressed the mechanism on the hilt.

An explosion echoed.

Using the shock and momentum, she launched herself into the air, swinging her greatsword down onto the weak point on its rear. A clear sound of bone cracking was heard.

The next instant, the greatsword split down the middle into two longswords.

Alisia, with both swords, stabbed them into the beast’s abdomen, then used the momentum to roll, slicing the blades from its spine up to its neck. Then, she re-merged the two swords in mid-air, reforming the heavy greatsword, and smashed it down hard.

BOOM!

The beast’s skull was shattered directly.

Its colossal body crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.

Cadela watched the entire sequence and said:

“That’s a ferocious way to attack.”

Qiu Meng’s eyes were wide.

“Whoa…”

Alisia landed, flicking the tainted blood off her sword.

“Time to process this.”

Qiu Meng took two steps closer and nudged the demon beast’s corpse with her toe.

“Is this rhino meat edible…”

“I wouldn’t recommend eating demon beast meat…”

Just as Alisia was about to begin skinning it, she suddenly sensed something was wrong.

A corrosive, blackish-green liquid was flowing from the cuts in the corpse, not normal blood. A few drops of the liquid fell onto the grass, and the blades of grass immediately curled up and turned black.

Some of the liquid also touched the glove on Alisia’s right hand.

The leather instantly started to smoke.

“Damn it!”

She immediately tore off the glove and threw it aside.

“It’s corrosive…”

Then Cadela said:

“Demon beast meat is inedible, and the hide is extremely difficult to process.”

“The only thing of value is the magic core inside its body.”

Cadela used her longsword to pry out the magic core and handed it to the two.

“Take it.”

Qiu Meng instinctively wanted to poke it.

Alisia immediately grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t poke it randomly… If it explodes, we’ll be in big trouble!”

Cadela also warned:

“Don’t poke the magic core. You’ll lose points if you break it.”

Qiu Meng pulled her hand back.

“Hmph…”

Alisia put the magic core away.

Then, she began to clean up the camp.

The three spent over an hour patching up the usable tents and digging a grave to bury the skeletons in the ruins.

They didn’t know who these people were, but leaving the bones exposed in a forest full of demon beasts just didn’t feel right.

After they finished, Alisia used rocks and remaining wooden stakes to build a simple fence. Cadela set up a few alarm points around the perimeter using potions and string. Qiu Meng kept the campfire burning at a level that wasn’t too conspicuous.

The first day of the five-day trial was barely half over.

Qiu Meng sat by the campfire, feeling the box containing the inverted cross ring in her small pouch, and glanced at the old camp they had just buried.

“Phew… At least we have a place to sleep…”

Alisia stood at the edge of the camp, gazing into the depths of the fog.

“Yeah… indeed.”

The campfire crackled.

Night had not yet fallen, but the forest had already grown dim. They prepared for the possibility of an encounter, quietly waiting for the night to arrive.