CHAPTER 59: CHAPTER 58: ADVENTUROUS EXPERIENCES

Li Ang didn’t respond, and Dorothy moved her clasped hands slightly forward.

"What I’m thinking now is whether to knock you out, so you would think seeing me was just a dream."

Doing so was obviously unreliable, and he didn’t really plan on doing it; he simply couldn’t figure out this lady’s thoughts.

"Oh," Dorothy let out a light hum, "Are you going to leave me behind again?"

"Again? Why again?"

"Anyway, take me for a stroll inside."

Wiggling her waist, she walked to the wardrobe persistently.

At this time, the sound of footsteps on the floor came from outside her room; the person was very lively, approaching quickly with a half-leap, then knocked on the door with a thud.

"Senior, are you there? It’s Leona!"

It’s the half-dragon maiden she met before.

There wasn’t the joy of seeing a friend in Dorothy’s expression; she sighed softly, didn’t open the door, and just gently pushed the porcelain basin containing the blood from her wrist cut under the bed.

Leona continued knocking, "Senior, we haven’t had a chat before bed for a long time. I brought my bedding from next door."

Dorothy’s expression was indifferent, as if happiness immediately left her.

She said to Li Ang blandly, "Let’s go, don’t be seen. Just leave me here to rot."

"From the moment I saw you until now, you seem to be quite good at advancing by retreating?"

Dorothy’s eyes dodged, as if his words hit home. Outside, Leona’s knocking grew louder; she really wanted to come in and have a bedtime story session with the senior, almost like she was about to crash through the door.

Li Ang scratched his head and gestured, "Let’s go, let’s go."

He stepped into the wardrobe passage, the lady’s cold demeanor instantly melted, and she followed with interest.

Closing the wardrobe, darkness enveloped them, shutting off the knocking sound, as if they had entered a new world.

Dorothy walked down the stone steps, exclaiming, "So dark."

Li Ang lit the adventure lantern and took down the magic lamp from beside the door to hand it to her, "This was prepared by the previous owner of your house."

Receiving the magic lamp, Dorothy stared at it absentmindedly.

"What’s wrong?"

"I don’t know how to use it."

"This one’s a bit old-fashioned; you twist open the top cover, take out the wick inside, inject magic power, and put it back."

First, she cautiously wiped a bit of the dust on top with her index finger, looked disdainfully at her fingertip, then with the difficulty of making a major life decision, took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped off the dust.

Tossing the handkerchief to the ground, she fumbled with the magic lamp for a while, then looked up at Li Ang.

"Can’t open it?"

Dorothy nodded up and down.

Li Ang tried not to sigh audibly, took the magic lamp, opened the shell, injected magic power, and handed it back to her.

The warm yellow light illuminated the lady’s expressionless face.

Without speaking, Li Ang stepped forward, and she followed suit.

The secret passage was narrow and twisting; they couldn’t walk side by side, and Li Ang couldn’t always see her condition, just confirm she was following.

After walking for a while, Li Ang asked the doubt in his mind, "Did I abandon you before?"

He originally thought nothing really happened back then, but since she attempted suicide, he was a bit unsure.

He sensed the shift in the lady’s aura behind him; after a moment, she replied, "That’s why I spend my days here repeating boring tasks."

If she yearns for freedom, repeating the same life is indeed torture.

"How did I abandon you?"

Dorothy took a deep breath and said, "You talked about forming a team, going on adventures together. I... you didn’t take me in the end, you know."

"So that’s why you asked before if I keep my promises?"

"Yeah."

Li Ang felt that something wasn’t right.

"I remember you, but I don’t recall any events like that. I might indeed have said such things, but..."

Eight years ago, Li Ang began looking for reliable permanent partners. Before meeting the old captain, he indeed invited many trustworthy Sky Knights encountered on adventures to form a team, but it was unsuccessful due to issues with the witch profession.

Since he remembered Dorothy’s impressive healing spell, it was highly possible he had invited her to team up.

"But if you agreed, I would have had no reason not to bring you along."

Dorothy said nothing more.

Li Ang pointed at a newly arrived secret door, "This is an adventure now, whether I’ve done it or not, just consider it making up for your experiences."

He found the mechanism and slowly pushed the door; Dorothy extended a finger to poke the stone gate, merely to provide a sense of participation.

The stone gate opened, and Dorothy craned her head over, gasping at the scene behind the door.

Several bones were stacked together; the dry basement didn’t completely skeletonize them, still covered with withered tendons and membranes.

Li Ang didn’t move closer to touch, but used the Dragon Fang Sword to poke around, separating them.

In total, there were six sets of bones; judging by the attire and the environment of the basement, a battle had occurred here between five soldiers and one caster, and in the end, the caster was pierced by weapons but also released flames incinerating the entire basement, perishing together.

Most of the soldiers’ equipment was Tier 1, losing spirituality over the long years, fragile like tin and shattering upon touch. One sword seemed to be of Tier 2 quality, with spirituality more than half lost, holding no value.

On the caster’s body, Li Ang found a piece of equipment, the promised find of the hidden location.

[Mars’s Grip]

[A carefully stitched pair of gloves, containing fire spirit, able to ignite sparks when guided by magic power]

[Tier: 3]

[Category: Gloves]

[Equipment Skills: Spark Jet]

This was a piece of caster equipment.

Warriors’ needed equipment often didn’t need to be too fancy; weapons emphasized sharpness, armor emphasized toughness, that’s usually enough.

To them, attached skills are best suited to their own profession or combat techniques; if not, passive skills are better than active skills.

But casters are completely different; if equipment can attach extra magic, it saves time drawing magic power, providing extra reaction options in critical moments.

Low Tier casters’ early divine armor is a pile of additional magic, capable of instantly projecting all equipment skills, acting as a temporary pseudo-turret.

[Skill: Spark Jet]

[Activation Method: Magic Activation]

[The joy of striking flint is magnified a hundredfold]

[Effect: Cone-shaped jet of scalding sparks]

After sneaking in an energy source, this glove was already of no use to Li Ang in recent battles, but it could fetch a decent price in the market, and if there was a caster in the team, it could also be used.

Putting it into his bag, Dorothy next to him glared, "You just put something from a dead body directly into your bag?"

"That’s what adventurers do."

A single glove surely wasn’t the entirety of the discovery; there should be other things in the city’s underlayers.

After exploring the room, Li Ang returned to the secret passage, heading to the next secret door.

On the way, he asked, "So, you really want adventure and aren’t just saying it."

"Now you believe?"

"You even cut your wrists, so I’m considering it true."

"Considering." Dorothy pouted.

"Don’t want to get married?"

"Don’t want to with someone I hate, and—"

The lady had other reasons, but she didn’t continue.

"Then just decisively refuse," said Li Ang.

"Refuse? You don’t know, but he’s a member of the first Celestial Group."

"Oh?"