Chapter 31: Larr Bats

The more he knew, the less safe he was.

Arnold’s gaze grew colder and colder, and Ace felt extremely dangerous.

“All my life, I’ve wanted a good friend. You are the smartest person my age I know. I love your Dictionary, and I greatly admire your Logic Book (Volume One). Can we be friends from now on?”

“It would be a great honor to be friends with Your Highness. How about we first sign the Wonder that ensures secrecy, and then chat slowly?”

“That’s wonderful!”

Athena joyfully spun around and pulled the stern-faced Arnold. “Uncle, you are a Great Hero. You couldn’t be more suitable as a witness to our oath.”

Arnold reluctantly stood between the two, pressing their hands onto the secret pact scroll. “In the name of the descendant of the God of Combat, I witness that Ace must keep the secret about the curse that Athena has told him. This is an unbreakable oath!”

The secret pact scroll instantly burst into a white light, engulfing the two. In a trance, Ace felt as if his soul was branded with something. An extra layer of restraint was placed on him in the unseen world, making it impossible for him to express the other party’s secret about the curse in any way.

After the oath was established, Athena happily invited Ace into the palace to seek instruction on Logic. Ace, however, felt terrible. Although he hadn’t found any other immediate problems, the feeling of not being able to control his own destiny was simply awful.

But since this was the case, he could only try to adapt to the new situation.

Ace continued writing Logic at night for the next few days and lectured Athena on Logic during the day, taking the opportunity to look at Noble’s secret knowledge in the Royal Library.

This day, he finally completed the entire Logic Book (Volume One) and prepared the exercise book. After transcribing a copy to send to Romon for printing, he presented the first complete set of Logic Book (Volume One) as a gift to Athena and bid her farewell.

“Do you really have to go? Can’t you stay with me a little longer?”

In a trance, Ace seemed to sense the girl’s loneliness. He was a rare playmate for her. If he were just a mortal, it might be fine, but he had his own path to the supernatural, which was also a lonely and difficult path.

“Your Highness, I am determined to found the New Medicine and alleviate the suffering of all those afflicted by disease. The New Medicine must travel throughout the city-state and even the Salia region, searching for local remedies, treating various patients, and collecting and recording all kinds of medicinal materials. This is my ideal!”

Ace replied with a look of righteousness.

“I truly envy you. Although you are not a Divine Descendant, the brilliance of your character far surpasses most Nobles.” Athena gently touched the complete set of Logic Book (Volume One) and the exercise book Ace had given her, her expression showing a mix of envy and emotion.

“You gave me a gift, and I must give you one too.” She rummaged through her belongings and found a bracelet, which she placed on Ace’s right hand.

“This is a farewell gift for my good friend, Ace. It is called the Ring of Protection. When the wearer suffers a fatal injury, it will project a shield to protect the wearer. This shield can withstand several powerful low-level Monster attacks and lasts for a maximum of nearly half an hour. Once activated, the bracelet needs one month of dormancy before it can be activated again. I hope you achieve your ideal and return safely.”

Ace was a little surprised and also touched.

In the few days of interaction, he felt that Athena was indeed pure in nature, which was the result of being meticulously protected. He had only given her the book hoping she would not detain him further, but he unexpectedly received a precious Wonder. He did not refuse but accepted it readily.

Having a friend like this was not bad either.

After bidding farewell to Peter, Romon, and the others, Ace left the city-state, riding a horse, preparing to return to the estate. The sky gradually grew dark. This road he had traveled many times felt unusual for the first time. The horse under him was also restless.

A dark mass of bats flew from the sky, about a few dozen of them, diving vertically straight toward Ace and his horse. Ace’s pupils constricted. His mental power sensed a vague rhythm; these were a group of low-level Monsters! He jumped off the horse, rolling continuously, evading most of the bats’ attacks.

The horse Ace was riding was not so lucky. It was immediately surrounded and gnawed by the bats. The swarm of bats emitted a scream that Ace could not hear, but it made his head feel dizzy and nauseous.

Ace strongly suppressed the dizzying and sickening feeling, activating the Calm spell on his Spell Book. The negative effects were partially cleared. A few bats, unable to squeeze into the swarm feeding on the horse carcass, rushed toward Ace.

Ace dodged awkwardly, rolling left and right, and communicated with the card using mental power. Bats are near-blind creatures, so gaze-based spells are difficult to use effectively. Stun. Any creature within its range will undergo a mental power check. Any creature with mental power weaker than Ace’s will be stunned. Several bats were hit by Ace’s Stun spell and fell to the ground in a daze.

Ace seized this gap to cast Mechanized Mind on himself to shield himself from the negative effects of the bats’ screams. He then immediately pulled out his short sword and finished off the stunned bats.

By this time, the bats had completely consumed the horse carcass, leaving only white bones. One particularly strong bat screamed loudly. The other bats seemed to hear a command and circled in the air, then swooped down toward Ace.

Extreme danger!

In his Mechanized Mind state, Ace’s emotions were calm. He quickly reviewed his spells. He decided to activate Charm Creature, targeting the particularly strong bat.

The card activated, triggering a mysterious rhythm that condensed into an alluring power, striking the strong bat directly. It was hit by a Charm Creature spell and flapped and struggled, finally stopping mid-air. Its mouth opened and closed silently, emitting short, silent screams. The other bats also circled in the air accordingly, no longer attacking Ace.

It worked! This bat’s mental power is indeed not stronger than mine.

After the fight, Ace’s mental power was largely depleted. He estimated that his remaining mental power could only cast three more Lesser Spells.

To prevent any accidents, Ace had the strong bat command the remaining twenty-some bats to gather at the horse bones. He activated a spell card: Stun.

Ace picked up his short sword, stabbed the bats one by one, and then used Acid Conversion to turn most of the bats into a viscous liquid. He saved the remaining dead bats, keeping three.

The remaining two, he picked up by their wings. These are rare experimental materials. I can’t waste them.

The strong bat circled in the sky as a lookout. By the time it was evening, Ace finally arrived at Buku Town. He ordered the strong bat to wait near a dead tree in the town. He wrapped the few dead bats in his robe and went to the inn in the town.

“Owner, I need a clean guest room. Please prepare some hot milk and bread, and hot water for a bath, and send them to my room.”

Ace said to the inn owner, looking tired. The owner was a sharp middle-aged man who had seen Ace before. Ace had stayed here overnight when he first came to Buku Town to buy the estate.

“Welcome back, scholar. You look a bit tired. Would you like a mug of pure wheat beer? I see you are a bit injured. Did you run into trouble on the road?”

“Don’t even mention it. I was attacked by Monsters. A few terrifying bats attacked me. My poor horse was completely gnawed clean by them. Fortunately, they were only focused on feeding, and I managed to stab a few to death. The rest escaped.”

“The Monster you encountered must be the Larr Bat. This kind of Monster is not scary when only a few are present. But once they form a swarm of more than 20, they can easily wipe out a small squad of militiamen. I never expected our scholar to be not only lucky—not encountering a swarm—but also an outstanding warrior. Otherwise, I would not be seeing you now.”

Ace nodded with a lingering fear. “From what you say, you must be very familiar with these Monsters?”

“Haha. This kind of Monster appears in swarms every September and doesn’t stop until winter sets in. They seem to migrate from the Larr Mountains to an island somewhere at sea. They attack creatures along their path during the migration. Anyone from Buku Town knows to stay indoors and avoid going out in September.”