Outside Maple City, Li Wei arrived at the Maple Forest.
He looked around, searching for any sign of Reina.
A figure emerged from behind a large tree, waving and calling out to him, "Li Wei, over here."
Li Wei heard the voice and turned to look.
Seeing it was Reina, he walked toward her.
As he got closer, he could see that Reina was wearing Knight Armor, a helmet, and carrying a Longsword and a Shield on her back.
She was, in a word, fully armed.
Li Wei felt something was strange. He asked, "Why did you ask me to meet you outside the city?"
Reina said, "I need you to do me a favor!"
Li Wei's brow furrowed, and he refused without hesitation. "No."
Reina froze on the spot.
Seeing his reaction, she didn't press him for help any further.
Reina said with a calm expression, "Last time, my master found out I snuck the Magic Book out, so I never had a chance to show it to you."
She pulled the Magic Book from inside her Armor and said, "My master left Maple City the day before yesterday, so I took the opportunity to bring it out."
"You only have half a month. My master will be back then, and I won't have another chance to sneak the Magic Book out."
Reina paused for a moment before continuing, "If I don't come find you to get the Magic Book back in half a month, take it to the Knight Academy."
Li Wei took the Magic Book, which was still warm from her body, a look of surprise on his face.
After glancing at the Magic Book in his hand, he looked up at Reina and asked, "What are you planning to do?"
Reina said, "That has nothing to do with you. Just take the Magic Book and go."
With that, she turned and walked alone into the depths of the Maple Forest.
Li Wei watched Reina walk further and further away, clutching the Magic Book in his hand, his feelings in turmoil.
He didn't want to get dragged into trouble.
But the lingering warmth of the Magic Book reminded him that if anything happened to Reina, he would regret not following her.
'Sigh... If you had just begged me a couple more times, I would have agreed.'
Li Wei sighed to himself.
A cold wind blew past, and the warmth on the Magic Book completely vanished.
His fingertips grew cold, and that trace of impulse in his heart disappeared with the warmth.
He put away the Magic Book and turned back toward Maple City.
'Reina is an important member of the Golden Shield Clan. If she's in danger, the Golden Shield Clan will definitely send experts to rescue her.'
On the way back to the Mage Tower, Li Wei ran into Little John, who was wearing the training uniform of a Knight Apprentice.
"Hey, Li Wei, long time no see! How have you been?" Little John greeted him proactively.
"I'm all right."
"By the way, do you know what Reina is doing outside the city?" Li Wei asked.
Little John looked puzzled. "My sister went outside the city? I don't know."
'My heart just skipped a beat. Did Reina sneak out without anyone from the Golden Shield Clan knowing?'
After a moment's hesitation, he turned and ran back toward the city gates.
"Hey, Li Wei, where are you going?" Little John shouted hastily.
Li Wei yelled back, "I'm going to the Maple Forest to find Reina! Hurry up and tell your family to come to the Maple Forest!"
Little John stood stunned for a moment. He only snapped out of it after Li Wei had disappeared from sight.
A moment later, he realized that Reina had gone to the Maple Forest.
The scattered Beastman troops recently defeated by Maple City had all fled into the Maple Forest, hiding there to survive.
The Maple Forest was much more dangerous than before.
Little John didn't understand why his sister would go to the dangerous Maple Forest at a time like this.
But he knew he had to tell his father about this.
Li Wei returned to the spot where he had met Reina.
Reina was long gone.
He followed the tracks she had left behind.
'I hope I don't run into any danger.'
Feeling the Magic Book under his cotton-padded jacket, Li Wei suddenly felt like he was holding a hot potato.
If Reina didn't come back, this Magic Book would be a ticking time bomb.
One that would go off in half a month!
An hour later, Li Wei stared helplessly at the tracks stretching ever deeper into the forest.
'How did she get so far?'
Reina was a Tier One Knight; her constitution and stamina were far superior to Li Wei's.
If Reina kept walking without stopping, Li Wei would never be able to catch up to her.
The only good news was that the weather was so cold that the wild beasts and Magic Beasts in the Maple Forest were all hibernating in their warm dens.
Otherwise, who knows how much trouble he would have run into along the way.
Another half an hour passed, and Li Wei's back was already soaked with sweat.
Suddenly, he heard the sounds of a fight not far ahead.
Li Wei quickly picked up his pace and ran forward.
After running a few hundred meters, three figures came into view.
Two Beastmen clad in animal skins were ganging up on Reina, who fought back with a Shield in one hand and a sword in the other.
The corpse of a Beastman lay on the snow not far away.
Clearly, the battle had been going on for some time.
Li Wei slowed down, cautiously approaching the battlefield. He stopped when he was still forty to fifty meters away.
Reina had faced three opponents and even managed to kill one of them.
However, under the combined assault of the remaining two Beastmen, she no longer had the strength to kill another.
Reina knew that as long as her Fighting Spirit wasn't depleted, these two Beastmen couldn't do anything to her.
But she also had no way to break free from the Beastmen and escape.
Sooner or later, her Fighting Spirit would run out.
The situation was bad, but it hadn't reached its worst point yet.
Li Wei hid behind a tree and began Casting. He waited for the right moment, locked onto one of the Beastmen, and launched a Small Fireball Technique.
WHOOSH!
By the time the Beastman noticed the Fireball, it was less than ten meters away from him.
At such a short distance, the Beastman had no time to dodge.
He swung his weapon in desperation, trying to block the Fireball.
BOOM!
The Fireball struck the Beastman and erupted in a violent explosion.
In an instant, the force of the blast tore through the Beastman's body, leaving it grievously wounded.
The Beastman's arm was blown off. It lay on the ground, covered in blood that steamed as it poured out endlessly.
Seeing its companion so heavily injured, the other Beastman's face went pale with fright.
It immediately abandoned its wounded comrade and fled without a second glance.
Reina started to chase the fleeing Beastman, but Li Wei shouted, "Don't chase it!"
Hearing his voice, she turned and saw Li Wei, freezing for a moment.
Reina asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
She had thought a passing Mage had helped her.
She never expected it to be Li Wei.
Li Wei didn't answer her question. Instead, he asked, "What exactly are you trying to do?"
Reina said, "My friend is missing. I want to find her."
She explained the whole story to Li Wei.
"Half a month ago, Susan took on a mission from the Warrior Guild to encircle and suppress the Beastmen. She wrote to me every day to update me on the mission's progress, but five days ago, her letters stopped."
Hearing this, Li Wei's expression flickered slightly.
'Five days ago? That's about when Teacher Gu Ze came back.'
He seemed to have thought of something.
Reina continued, "Later, I investigated and found out that Susan had joined a grain transport's Guard Team. The Master Mage who returned said everyone in the Guard Team had mysteriously disappeared on the road."
"I don't believe Susan would just vanish into thin air. I have to find her!"
Reina's eyes were firm, her tone resolute.
Li Wei felt a headache coming on. This girl was so single-minded; there was probably no talking her out of it.
He was sure that if he tried to persuade her to go back, Reina would just tell him to go back himself and then continue searching for the missing Susan alone.
Gu Ze had also mentioned the mysterious disappearance of the Guard Team to him.
At the time, he had just treated it as an interesting story, never expecting it would one day have something to do with him.
Li Wei asked, puzzled, "The Guard Team went missing, so why did you come to the Maple Forest?"
Reina said, "I suspect the Beastmen were behind it, so I wanted to capture one to question it."
Li Wei looked at the grievously wounded, dying Beastman on the ground.
"Whatever you want to ask, you'd better hurry. It looks like it's about to die."