The one who wielded battle qi was none other than the bandit leader. Physically, he looked no different from the other bandits—only slightly more muscular. But when Kai's fireballs came hurtling toward him, he was the first to react, dodging the flames at a speed far beyond the limits of an ordinary human.
As a senior apprentice, Kai couldn't blanket an area with his mental power like a formal mage. But at such close range, he caught the sudden movement instantly. From the bandit leader, he sensed a faint aura similar to the surface knights he'd seen during Menzoberranzan's fall—though the gap between them was like that of clouds and mud. This bandit leader's combat power was probably only on par with a beginner apprentice.
Kai had only intended to drive them off, but this was an unexpected surprise. He'd long been curious about battle qi, the power wielded by surface knights, but had never had access to samples or books on the subject. Now, one had practically walked right into his hands.
Intimidated by Kai's fireballs, the other bandits fled in a panic. Only the leader was cut off by Kai's Fire Wall Spell. The scorching flames didn't touch him, but they singed his hair and eyebrows, leaving him even more disheveled and miserable than Kai.
When the fire wall faded, the middle-aged man stood there, his will broken and face ashen. Kai suddenly thought of the weak underground creatures he'd dissected during his dark magic academy classes.
"What's your name? Where are you from?" Kai's voice was cold. "And where did you learn to use battle qi?"
Kai had tried to soften his tone, but the ingrained aura of a dark magic apprentice made the burly man tremble. Faced with Kai's questions, he stammered out everything he knew—though his limited education and overwhelming fear left his words jumbled. Kai struggled to follow, and his expression turned colder still, making the bandit leader's face blanch even whiter.
The Underdark followed the law of the jungle, but the surface was hardly different. The key difference was that here, knights and mages with extraordinary powers were forbidden from wantonly killing ordinary people or conducting inhumane experiments on the Wizarding World's native creatures. Bandits like these, however, were not protected by the Holy Towers or Knight Orders. In fact, every year, Holy Tower academies and related mage/knight organizations sent their promising apprentices and squires on missions to eliminate evil magical beasts and ruthless bandit gangs.
From the bandit leader—who called himself Leif—Kai learned that Leif had picked up battle qi from the Seville City Guard. He'd once been a guard there, but had fled after being caught stealing from the city lord's mansion, later joining forces with other outlaws to become a bandit.
Leif explained that the guard captain had planted a "battle qi seed" in his body and taught him a breathing technique. Leif didn't know what a battle qi seed was, but he remembered the breathing technique clearly—it was why he'd grown so strong and become the bandits' leader.
The crude breathing technique Leif described reminded Kai of the one he'd learned as a child. Compared to Kai's, however, the Seville City Guard's version was far cruder and simpler. And a breathing technique alone wasn't enough; one needed a battle qi seed to nurture and refine over time to truly wield battle qi. Leif had battle qi in his body, but he was still far from mastering it—only when one could release battle qi externally could they be considered a true warrior.
Based on Leif's description of the Seville City Guard, Kai deduced that a knight who had just mastered external battle qi release was roughly as strong as a low-level apprentice who knew one offensive spell. The Seville guard captain, he guessed, was on par with a mid-level apprentice. He wondered if there were stronger knights in Seville.
"They select children aged 10 to 12 to give them battle qi seeds?" Kai mused. "So the reason my family only taught me the breathing technique and not a battle qi seed must be that I was too young. But then why was I kidnapped by traffickers and sold to the Underdark? With how sophisticated that breathing technique was, the Grant family should be more powerful than Seville City."
Grant—Kai's family name. This realization cast a shadow over his heart. He looked up at Leif, his mood so foul that his gaze sent a chill down the bandit leader's spine. Leif huddled like a frightened quail beside a tree root at the roadside.
Kai took a deep breath and waved Leif over. "Come here. I need you to help with an experiment. Don't worry—it won't hurt much."
As he spoke, a simple, white, human-sized experiment table materialized in the forest. Leif had no idea how the strange table had appeared. Staring into Kai's unsettling eyes, he tried to run—but a half-human-tall owl had appeared before him, blocking his way.
"Goo. Looks like this guy doesn't want to cooperate with your experiment. Let me help," Qi flapped its wings, and thin wind chains coiled around Leif's body. These elemental chains could easily trap a mid-level apprentice. Faced with the sudden appearance of the owl and Kai—who now held a silver scalpel and approached step by step—Leif let out a scream. It was quickly muffled.
Only a flurry of birds flying up from the treetops marked that something was happening in this sparse forest.
"Hmph. His body structure is no different from that of an ordinary human," Kai said calmly as he used a Water Sphere Spell to clean his hands and tools, having just finished a simple partial dissection. "There was a trace of strange energy in his abdomen, but it dissipated the moment I cut him open. So that's battle qi?"
Leif wasn't dead—Kai had even used Underdark blue moss to numb him slightly. But unlike half a day earlier, his body was now covered in stitched wounds. And his battle qi, it seemed, was gone forever.
Battle qi, a power system that stood alongside magical elements in the Wizarding World, was far too mysterious for a mere apprentice like Kai to understand through a single dissection. He'd only figured out where Leif's power came from and gained a vague understanding of battle qi. Questions likeWhat is the essence of battle qi? How much does it enhance human knights? How does it differ from ordinary magical elements?—these were beyond Kai's ability to answer right now. Not only would he need to expand his knowledge and experience, but he'd also need a large number of test subjects for research. He couldn't exactly kidnap a bunch of knight squires for human experiments—he lacked the means of a formal dark mage, and certainly couldn't stand against the retaliation of the Knight Order and formal knights.
(Note: The rank of knight squire is equivalent to that of a magic apprentice.)
His encounter with Leif was just a small detour on Kai's journey north. Still, it had yielded something useful: three gold coins, over a dozen silver coins, and dozens of copper coins—the common currency of the surface world. The black gold Kai had carried earlier was only used by Menzoberranzan's dark mages, limited to the Underdark's underground regions around the city. He dared not use it now.
With this money in hand, Kai decided to try entering the next human city he passed through. Besides wanting to observe surface life and learn more about knights and mages, he also needed to replace his tattered clothes.
Pete City was an ordinary city in the central Underdark. Rumor had it the name came from the family of its city lord. On a busy commercial street in the city, Kai—who had just arrived—paused in front of a tailor's shop.
"Excuse me, are you here to have clothes made?" A young girl with freckles stepped up to him, her eyes wide and voice clear. She was an assistant at the shop.
The prosperity and bustle of the surface city made Kai—fresh from the Underdark—feel uneasy. Even though he'd prepared himself mentally, years of living in darkness and isolation made him stand out like a sore thumb. His clothes were odd, and his aura kept people at a distance, but the glimpse of golden hair and pale skin under his hood still made him somewhat approachable—especially to a starry-eyed girl like the freckled assistant.
Every commoner's daughter dreamed of becoming a noble. They hoped to catch the eye of a handsome noble youth and become a lady admired by all. In Pete City and the surrounding towns, such dreams rarely came true. But bards and traveling mercenaries often brought tales of such romances to Pete City, fueling the fantasies of young men and women.
Golden hair was rare in Pete City—and according to the bards' stories, it was a telltale sign of a noble youth traveling incognito.
"Could I be the one destined for him?" The girl, named Martha, wondered as she stood before Kai.
Kai had no idea the freckled girl was lost in such vivid daydreams. Caught off guard by her question, he stammered, "Uh, yes. I need a black robe… and a pair of leather boots."
In the end, Kai left the tailor's shop with far more than he'd initially asked for. Gold and silver coins had strong purchasing power on the surface. He bought two black robes for daily wear, two pairs of leather boots, and several sets of underclothes—all for just a few silver coins.
Martha watched Kai's figure fade into the crowd at the end of Pete City's busy street, reluctant to look away, hoping he'd turn back. But he never did.
"Hehe. Are you a mage new to Pete City?" Just as Kai had wandered most of the city's streets and grown accustomed to its bustle, an old man's laughter suddenly reached his ears.
Kai turned to see a gray-robed elder smiling at him from across the street. The elder seemed to hold high status in Pete City—passersby bowed respectfully as they passed him. The words he'd spoken to Kai sounded like magic, too—low-ranked, no more than a cantrip. Still, this long-distance Voice Transmission Spell was surprisingly useful.
Kai didn't panic at being recognized. Oddly enough, he'd felt nervous and awkward when the tailor's assistant had spoken to him, but 面对(faced with) a mage like the elder, he remained calm and composed. He could tell the elder was also a magic apprentice—one likely weaker than himself.
Kai walked slowly over to the elder, his mental power tensing slightly as he spoke in a calm, casual tone. "Yes. I just arrived in Pete City. How did you know who I am?"
"Hehe. Only us mages dress like this," the elder chuckled. "William, the guard at the city gate, told me a young man who looked like a mage had entered the city. I had to come see for myself."
While ordinary surface people sometimes wore black robes, they were rare. Most commoners wore linen, nobles preferred luxurious silk, and mercenaries often wore leather armor. Since entering Pete City, Kai had noticed that many mercenaries wielded battle qi—it seemed battle qi was far more widespread in the Wizarding World than magic. The gray-robed elder before him was the only mage he'd seen since arriving.
The elder had been smiling as he spoke, but when he sensed Kai's genuine senior apprentice-level mental power, his expression changed instantly. Respect replaced his smile. In the world of mages, skill trumped all. If Kai's mental power was stronger, it likely meant his magical knowledge and abilities were too.
The gray-robed elder was only a mid-level apprentice. At over sixty years old, his potential for advancement was nearly exhausted. Kai, by contrast, was young and already a senior apprentice. Beyond respect, the elder's eyes held obvious envy.
"Umm… are you a senior apprentice?" the elder couldn't help but ask.
Ordinary humans in the Wizarding World called all spellcasters "mages," unaware of the difference between apprentices and formal mages. Only mages themselves drew a clear line between the two ranks.
The elder—named Frank—was a mid-level magic apprentice and the Pete City Lord's magical advisor. To the uninitiated, he was a mysterious, powerful figure. But he was kind-natured, so both nobles and commoners addressed him respectfully as "Master." In reality, he was just a mid-level apprentice. Back at Menzoberranzan's Dark Magic Academy, any apprentice who was still a mid-level mage at his age would have long been dead and buried.
Kai didn't mind the elder's blunt question. He nodded slightly. "Yes. I advanced to senior apprentice not long ago."
His answer made Frank's eyes widen with even greater surprise and envy. "To become a senior apprentice at such a young age… you must come from a noble magic family, or have a knowledgeable, powerful mentor?"
Kai fell silent. After a long pause, he nodded slowly. "Yes. My mentor is very learned."
"Then he must be a great formal mage!" Frank pressed.
The elder's questions were growing tedious, and Kai's patience was wearing thin—a flicker of coldness crossed his face. Frank was no fool, though. While he lacked talent for exploring magic and truth as a mid-level apprentice, decades of life (and working as a city lord's advisor) had sharpened his perception. Sensing Kai's displeasure, he laughed it off and changed the subject.
Moments later, Kai spoke up again. "What kind of magic did you use to talk to me just now?"
"Voice Transmission. Why do you ask?" Frank looked confused.
"It's a useful spell. Would you be willing to trade it?" Kai asked.
Kai had never encountered Voice Transmission at the Dark Magic Academy. In the harsh Underdark, every apprentice—whether beginner or low-level—learned offensive magic first; few chose utility spells. Even after advancing to mid-level apprentice, he'd only picked up a handful of practical cantrips like Light and Cleanse. Modesto had left him many magic books, but they only recorded spells of mid-level or higher—even a few powerful ones used by formal mages. There was nothing on low-level spells or cantrips.
Voice Transmission appealed to Kai, so he'd decided to negotiate directly. The trade would also help him gauge the prices of magical items on the surface. He didn't dare sell his Level 1+ energy crystals, but lower-ranked crystals or magical beast cores posed no risk. As a senior apprentice, moderate spending wouldn't attract unwanted attention.
Frank was stunned by Kai's request. Voice Transmission wasn't an advanced spell—in fact, it was one of the first cantrips many apprentices learned, on par with Light or Cleanse. He guessed Kai had probably just left his mentor's side to travel, and had simply never been taught Voice Transmission.
Of course—someone who became a senior apprentice at such a young age must have spent every moment of the past two decades immersed in magic and study, strictly following their mentor's instructions. Frank envied him. It meant Kai never lacked resources or access to advanced knowledge, and had a professional, knowledgeable mentor to answer his questions.
Frank, by contrast, was a "wild mage." After paying a hefty sum to be taken as an apprentice, he'd barely touched the edges of magical truth before being cast out. He'd been left to fumble his way along the path of truth, while struggling to afford the high costs of experiments and research. Even most nobles couldn't cover such expenses—which was why Frank had taken the job as Pete City's advisor. He'd been drawn to the pay.
Frank's own mentor had only been a quasi-mage. He'd taken Frank and other disciples solely for the large tuition fees they paid. Mages generally adhered to the principle of equivalent exchange; sometimes, taking on an apprentice was just another transaction. Still, it was better than the Dark Magic Academy, where some apprentices had to give up their lives to become a formal dark mage's disciple.
Frank had been about to agree to the trade immediately, but then he hesitated. If Kai really came from a magic family or had a powerful mentor, he must have valuable items. The shrewd old man smiled and said, "Of course we can trade. But in five days, there will be a small trade fair organized by magic apprentices outside Pete City. Would you be interested in attending? We can complete the trade there, and with other apprentices as witnesses, neither of us has to worry about being cheated." His eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
"Five days… that's a bit long," Kai murmured, tempted but hesitant.
"Four days! Only four!" Frank hurried to say. "I have a crystal ball to contact the organizers. Moving the fair up by a day or two won't be a problem. We're old friends—trust me, the apprentices from Pete City and the surrounding towns never cheat outsiders." He patted his chest confidently.
This time, Kai nodded. "Very well. I'll wait here for four days."
"Would you like to rest at the city lord's mansion? Baron Pete would definitely welcome a young, learned mage like you to Pete City," Frank invited.
Kai glanced toward the city lord's mansion, then shook his head, driven by caution. "No, thank you. I've already booked a room at an inn in the city."