It had been late at night when Liam and the others came to a halt. They decided to take some well-deserved rest after deciding on the rotation of the night watch and fell asleep on the cold floor.
Only Liam and Ludwig were left awake, which was quite a surprise. Liam was pretty sure that the others had never been forced to sleep on a cold and hard stone floor, yet they were unmoving and rigid just like the stones they had been sleeping on.
'Is that how much you guys desire strength or do you want to stay by my side to have someone to depend on?' He wondered while continuing to stare at Ludwig, who was playing around with azure currents that swirled around both of his arms.
Even though he was on night watch duty, he didn't really seem vigilant of the surroundings. Of course, Ludwig was a bit relaxed because he had already released a network of Arcane Power to make sure that he would be informed the moment something or someone approached them in a range of a hundred meters.
Had Liam not been aware that Ludwig was intelligent, he would consider him a genius. No monster or Demon would think that Ludwig was actually paying attention to the surrounding area as he continued to play around with Arcane Power.
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom 'Definitely an S-rank Arcane Power stat and a Soultrait related to Arcane Power. Anything else doesn't make sense!' Liam told himself the longer he observed Ludwig. He triggered his Devil's Eyes for a few minutes to observe Ludwig and watched the precise way in which Ludwig expanded his Arcane Power around their resting spot to form a security shield cum alarm. It was extremely accurate, and certainly not something anyone without Arcane Circle could accomplish.
The creation process of Arcane Circles was considered as 'Cultivation' in some Realms and by some races, while others considered it a form of 'Training'.
As for the Arcane System, it considered the existence of the Arcane Circle as some sort of ranking. Basically, it said that someone with two Arcane Circles would be a lot stronger than someone with a single Arcane Circle. Of course, the logic behind this was a little bit more complicated.
Arcane Circles were formed around the heart, and they strengthened the host in their entirety, drastically at that. There were several types of Arcane Circles. These types were basically a measuring stick to divide the quality of the created Arcane Circles, with the worst being Trash Arcane Circles.
It can be created with only three Stats at [C], forming the weakest Arcane Circle around the heart, and providing the lowest benefits in terms of overall enhancements.
None of that was important for Liam and the others since they would never create the weakest Arcane Circle, not as long as their heads continued to work properly.
The moment an Arcane Circle was created, it couldn't be fixed, upgraded, or destroyed. Meddling with it was highly risky and it would lead to severe backlashes. At the same time, it was not possible for the second Arcane Circle to be of a higher quality than the first Arcane Circle.
To become truly powerful, it was best to strive toward creating a high-quality Arcane Circle. That was the only way to allow the Arcane Circles that followed suit to be of the same high quality as the first one!
Yet, even then, Liam guessed that Ludwig's control over Arcane Power must be superior to someone with one Advanced Arcane Circle. That's how amazing Ludwig's achievement was!
Liam could see that Ludwig gained more confidence and that he was feeling a lot better and less tired than the days before. He seemed to have been struggling to control the massive amount of Arcane Power at first. But, right now, there were no signs of that struggle left behind.
Ludwig gained confidence and he collected a bunch of treasures while walking through the maze in the second basement, which boosted his confidence even further.
'As long as your head doesn't turn into a piece of decoration, you will make it far…though that's problematic,' Liam thought, almost instinctively considering Ludwig as a potential future threat.
However, instead of doing something against Ludwig, he merely sighed and told himself that he wouldn't end Ludwig's journey even before it had started, in the first place.
Liam closed his eyes and rested for a few hours before it was his turn for the night watch. He went over to the Arcane Shop and browsed through the other shops as well to take a look at the goods that attracted his interest.
There were a few items he wanted to purchase but most of them were simply too expensive. Right now, he wasn't in need of anything in particular, either.
He closed the shops with that in mind, put some firewood into the charcoal of the campfire, and retrieved the pan from his Keychain of Miniature Tools.
Liam got hold of the half-butchered boar corpse which he had put up for display to sell in his shop for an exorbitant price. He dissected it properly, drained all of the blood and he fashioned himself a meal. The fragrant smell of his dish woke the others. All of their stomachs rumbled nearly at the same time and everyone began to stare at him with puppy eyes. Saliva trickled down the corners of Felicia's mouth, which caught Liam a little off-guard.
He sighed deeply and reconsidered throwing the body of the boar at the hungry hoodlums of ducklings when he halted in his tracks as Ludwig stepped forward.
"Even if you don't want to teach us, please show us some tips and tricks on how we can survive in the Arcane Apocalypse. As for your payment, you can choose from any of the treasures, I've collected yesterday!" He said with a serious expression on his face. It was obvious that his offer was genuine and Liam tilted his head as if he was reconsidering it before he looked over to the small stash of items that belonged to Ludwig.
Since Liam told everyone that the rule 'finders keepers' applied in their group, he didn't take the things Ludwig found, no matter how useful they may be. He had his own principles, and he was not yet desperate enough to forcibly take away the treasures of the weak and poor.
"You do realize that some of your items are worth quite a bit even if you cannot use them properly, don't you?" Liam asked in return, rather than giving Ludwig an answer.
"I know, but I think that learning how to survive is more important!"
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