“No need.”
Lin Gui waved his hand in refusal.
He was grateful for the dwarves' loyalty, but when crossing a Forbidden Zone, having more people wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Besides, he didn't want too many people knowing the secrets of 【Eyes of the Netherworld】 and 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】.
Lin Gui's refusal seemed to be within Blackbeard's expectations as well.
The old dwarf sighed.
“The Fortress Lord also said you would choose this way.”
“Alright then, our human friend.”
Blackbeard said solemnly,
“What do you want to know?”
Lin Gui held up a finger.
“First, what is the greatest obstacle to crossing the Wall of Sighs?”
Blackbeard fell silent for a moment.
The atmosphere in the tavern grew heavy.
He spoke slowly, each word sounding as if it were being hammered out on an anvil:
“First, the invisible... spectral demons.”
“They are the true ‘residents’ inside the wall.”
Blackbeard's gaze drifted, as if recalling some gruesome scenes.
“Physical attacks hit them like hitting thin air.”
“Magic bombardment can only disperse them temporarily, and they gather back in the blink of an eye.”
“You can't see them, can't touch them, and can't even perceive any energy fluctuations.”
He lowered his voice.
“You can only occasionally hear them... whimpering or hissing.”
“You barely determine their direction based on that.”
“But it's only a ‘guess’—”
Blackbeard clenched his fist.
“Only at the exact moment they actually launch an attack, when their claws are about to touch your throat...”
“...will they reveal their physical form.”
“But by then, it's usually too late.”
“Second, the mist.”
“That endless, thick fog that stands like a wall.”
Blackbeard's face darkened further.
He grabbed the ale next to him, took a huge gulp, and slammed the cup back down.
“That mist... is even more sinister than the demons.”
His voice was very low, as if he was afraid of disturbing something.
“First of all, within half an hour of entering, your sense of direction is completely thrown off.”
“You think you're heading north, but in reality, you might be walking in circles, or even heading straight south.”
“If you stay too long...”
Blackbeard's eyes grew somewhat vacant.
“...your mind will start to go fuzzy too.”
“Your memory begins to jumble up, and you won't be able to tell the present from the past.”
“Some people who came out even forgot their own names and why they went in.”
“The most fatal part is the visibility—”
He gestured with his hand in front of his eyes.
“Beyond ten paces, you can't see your companion's back clearly.”
“Beyond twenty paces, there's nothing but a sheet of gray-white.”
“And those specters hiding in the mist...”
Blackbeard's Adam's apple bobbed.
“They will mimic your companions' voices and call out your name.”
“Or they'll create fake lights and paths.”
“Leading you step by step toward cliffs, deep pits, or... their nest.”
Lin Gui's brow furrowed.
These were indeed details he hadn't known.
Through Eli and Balin, he knew that the Wall of Sighs was home to rare spectral demons.
He had also heard rumors of survivors eventually going mad and ending their own lives.
But he had always assumed it was purely due to the mental attacks of the demons.
He hadn't expected that the true source was actually the seemingly harmless mist.
“Then, after so many attempts...”
Lin Gui pressed.
“...you must have found some way to deal with it?”
Blackbeard nodded.
“Of course.”
“Otherwise, no one would have come for this bounty decades ago.”
He held up three thick fingers.
“First, and also the most common—”
“...taking potent mental stimulants.”
“For example, the ‘Iron Will’ potion, or ‘Clarity Elixir’.”
“They can forcefully boost your spirits for a short time to resist the confusion.”
“But once the effects wear off, the backlash is even worse, and they are highly addictive.”
“Second, relying on a Wind Mage in the team.”
“Deploying an isolation barrier to forcefully push away the mist.”
Blackbeard shook his head.
“The risk is too high. The moment the mage's mana fails, the whole team is finished.”
“As for the third method...”
He suddenly fell silent.
His gaze drifted, as if sinking into a memory he couldn't bear to look back on.
Only after a long time did he let out a heavy sigh.
“That method... is indeed the most reliable.”
“But probably no one can use it anymore.”
Lin Gui chimed in at the right moment:
“Are you talking about... the team of the Night Elf leader, ‘Lynn’?”
Blackbeard nodded slowly.
“Yes, the pioneers she led.”
“Relying on that method, they went in and out ten times.”
“They were so close... to truly making history.”
His voice was dry.
“Unfortunately, after they went in for the eleventh time...”
“...they never came back out.”
“Three whole Epic experts.”
Blackbeard wiped his face.
“That was truly... a disaster.”
Lin Gui didn't feel much about this and asked directly,
“What exactly was the method they used?”
Blackbeard raised his eyes and said, word by word,
“It was a spell.”
“In the entire Akara Continent, the mages who have mastered it can be counted on one hand.”
“A Novice Soul Magic spell—”
“Clarity.”
Lin Gui: “...???”
He almost thought he had misheard.
Unaware of Lin Gui's subtle expression, Blackbeard continued to explain,
“Clarity has two key functions inside the mist.”
“First, it continuously stimulates the target's mind.”
“It's like a needle pricking your brain, keeping you in a state of ‘painful alertness’.”
“This allows you to resist the memory confusion and disorientation caused by the mist.”
He gestured.
“Second, it is a Novice Soul Magic spell.”
“Its consumption is extremely low, and once cast, the effect can be stably maintained for a whole day.”
“The mana consumed is practically negligible.”
“For a team that needs to explore for a long time, it is practically a god-tier skill.”
Speaking up to this point, Blackbeard let out a heavy sigh.
“But the problem lies in the fact that—”
“...mages who know Soul Magic are already pitifully few.”
“And every single Soul Magic spell is exceptionally difficult to learn.”
“It requires special talent and consumes precious materials.”
“More importantly, Clarity is normally... too useless.”
“Who would specifically learn a spell that only keeps someone from falling asleep?”
“Most soul mages go on to study practical spells like soul tracking or Mental Shock.”
“Sigh...”
Blackbeard sighed heavily, his beard shaking along with it.
“Where can we find another foolish soul mage like Shadow Blade Lynn—”
“...who ‘accidentally’ learned the Clarity spell?”
Lin Gui: “............”
Failing to notice how subtle Lin Gui's silence was, Blackbeard went on with his advice,
“So, this method can practically be ignored.”
“Human friend, I suggest you still take the potions.”
“Although the duration is short, they've at least been proven and reliable over decades of testing.”
He turned around, fished out a few small dark purple glass bottles from under the bar, and placed them on the counter.
The liquid inside the bottles was thick, glinting with an unnatural metallic sheen.
“Here, this is ‘Iron Will’.”
“I happen to have some in stock.”
Blackbeard rubbed his hands together, revealing a shrewd smile typical of a merchant.
“Seeing that you are a friend of the Fortress Lord...”
“I'll give you a fifty percent discount. One thousand gold coins a bottle, how about it?”
Lin Gui fell silent for two seconds, then pointed at himself.
“I... can barely be considered a friend of the Shield City dwarves, right?”
Blackbeard chuckled and waved his hand.
“But I'm not a dwarf of Shield City.”
He puffed out his chest, his tone carrying a touch of the pride unique to the dwarves of the Royal Capital.
“I am an ‘envoy’ stationed here, directly dispatched by the Dwarven Royal Capital.”
“I have to give the Fortress Lord face, but business...”
He tapped the potion bottles, his smile unchanging.
“...must still be done by the rules.”
Rate on N.U.
