Chương 231: B4–Chapter 11: Bait, Hook, Annihilate—A Guide to Monster Fishing

I flew at top speed to the junkyard, heading for the Gate to Lumis. Flying over the junkyard, I saw two more scraglin behemoths or brutes, but didn't use Identify to figure out which. An Aggressive Clean took care of them, and I flew on. It's always good to make the world a safer place, especially when we're visiting it. I crossed the Gate to Lumis and had to fight through almost a meter of snow blocking the Gate. Ugh! I hate winter! The wind swirled around me, carrying a sense of joy and welcome.

I sent her my own happiness at meeting her again. She tugged at my clothes—my hair too short to ruffle—and chilled me to the bone, raising goosebumps all over. Wrapping myself in warm clothes, I flew at top speed toward Crystaledge. I didn't know where to buy scrolls, but I was confident I'd find out after asking around. About a kilometer from the city, I landed in a hidden spot, became visible, and continued slogging through the snow on foot. Did I mention I hate snow? I'll say it again—I hate snow!

Two guards stood by the gate, chatting idly, their hands resting on their weapons. I approached, catching their attention.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a place to buy single-use scrolls. Do you know where I can find some?" The older guard with a thick mustache gave me a nod.

"Sure, you'll want to head to the southern market. Go straight down this road until you hit the big stone fountain in the main square. From there, take the second street on your left, then follow that road all the way until the market stalls start popping up." The younger guard added, "Once you're in the market, look for a shop called Tollen's Scrollhouse. It's between a butcher and an apothecary, not too far from the big bakery with the blue awning. You'll see a red sign hanging over the door. Can't miss it."

"Thanks," I said, giving them a nod before heading off. The city felt like a maze of winding streets and unfamiliar faces, but following their directions, I soon found the main square, complete with the stone fountain. A few turns later, the bustling market opened up before me, vibrant with color and noise. After a quick glance around, I spotted the shop—Tollen's Scrollhouse, right where they said it would be, nestled between the butcher and apothecary, with that unmistakable red sign hanging overhead.

Inside Tollen's Scrollhouse, the air felt dense with the smell of old parchment and ink. Shelves lined the walls, filled with scrolls and various magical trinkets. Behind the counter stood a middle-aged man with greying hair, his eyes sharp despite his years. He bowed slightly and asked, "Good day, esteemed merchant. How may I be of service?"

"I'm looking for Blade Storm scrolls," I said, stepping up to the counter.

"Do you have any?" He nodded with a grunt.

"Plenty. How many are you after?"

"All the inventory you have." His eyebrows shot up, but he didn't hesitate. Turning to the shelves, he pulled out scrolls and stacked them on the counter.

"I have 59 Blade Storm scrolls here," he said, patting the stack.

"At three gold each, that's 177 gold." I glanced at the pile, considering.

"Do you have anything else good for casting on monsters from above? Something with a wide reach." The shopkeeper paused for a moment, then reached for another set of scrolls.

"You're in luck. I have 71 Hail Barrage scrolls in stock. Rains down shards of ice over a wide area—good for hitting multiple targets at once. Same price, three gold each. That'd be another 213 gold."

"Perfect. I'll take them all." The shopkeeper's eyes widened, and his eyebrows shot up even higher.

"All of them?"

"Yes, I have a big hunt coming up." He nodded and quickly tallied the total.

"That'll be 390 gold for the lot." I took out an assortment of coins from Earth and showed him.

"Do you accept these?" He inspected them carefully, one by one, his eyes losing focus.

"Yes, I can accept those." I expected the usual questions about where I got them, but to my surprise, he didn't ask. I kept handing him coins until the payment was complete—about seventeen kilograms in total. Gotta love interdimensional exchange rates.

"Here you go," he said with a grin, passing me a cloth sack filled with the scrolls.

"You're armed to the teeth now." I found an abandoned, dark alley, turned invisible, and shot toward Crystalspire. The wind danced around me, once again expressing her joy at meeting me. That gave me an idea. In the past, she refused to carry me when I was in the air, having too much fun watching me try to fly. Now that I knew what I was doing, I hoped she'd be more cooperative. I sent her the feeling of pushing me forward—of speed, of wanting to reach my destination quickly—and it worked.

The wind picked up and carried me forward at a much faster pace. I still flew as fast as I could, monitoring my mana, but the boost she gave me pushed my speed beyond anything I could have imagined. I wasn't a bird—I was a jet plane, maybe even a spaceship. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. I couldn't help myself and shouted, "Woo-hoo!" Then adopted a Superman pose, thrusting my fist forward with a grin. It was an incredible flight.

Wrapped in the wind, there was no resistance. My eyes didn't dry, and my clothes didn't flutter. I wasn't just flying fast—I was part of the wind itself, and it felt amazing. The journey to Crystalspire, which should've taken at least seven hours from Crystaledge, only took four, though the speed took a toll on my mana. By the time I arrived, my mana was down to 1, 345 out of 11, 700. In Crystalspire, I headed straight to the bazaar and bought every scroll I could find for both spells.

My total haul was 164 Blade Storms and 236 Hail Barrages. Apparently, the hail was less popular than the knives. After paying the last seller, I asked, "Is there another place where I can buy single-use scrolls?"

"You can try at the Consistory of Solaria. They have a shop there that sells national products. I'm not sure about scrolls, but it's worth a try." I got directions, thanked him, and set off to find the Consistory. When he said the word in Lumisian, I instantly knew the English translation, but the word itself was unfamiliar. After leaving the bazaar, I found a quiet spot in the plaza and pulled up a dictionary. Consistory: An assembly, tribunal, or council.

You learn something new every day—even unfamiliar words in your own language when you're in another world! I arrived at the Consistory shortly before closing time, and sure enough, they had scrolls! I mentally gave my Luck a pat on the back, convinced it had done the hard work to make sure I got what I needed. After finishing all my shopping, I reconnected with the wind and flew at top speed toward the Gate, making the trip in under three hours.

I sent my appreciation and gratitude to the wind, along with a farewell, and crossed back to Zindor. What was once a special experience—crossing a Gate between worlds—now felt as casual as moving from one room to another. I shook my head with a smile and flew back to the group. I already knew my time in Lumis would be negligible because of the time skips, but I still returned in the afternoon. The main culprit was the time I spent on this side of the Gate, so we postponed our operation to the following day.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on the porch with a book and coffee, Rue's head resting in my lap, making his usual ear-scratching demands. In the morning, we began the operation. We arrived over the city in the balloon and marked the first areas we wanted to clear. We chose the southeast side of the city since it was more ruined and had more open space. I flew out of the balloon, invisible, and started scanning the city in a zigzag pattern.

Below, the ruined city stretched out—a mess of crumbled buildings and wrecked streets. The air reeked of old smoke and dust, and I could spot movement between the debris—monsters crawling around like they owned the place. Well, they actually do own it. For now. It didn't take long to find what I needed—a big, fat slime sliding through the ruins, the perfect bait. I split my mind into four: one part stayed connected to the wind to keep my flight, while the other three focused on lifting the slime with Telekinesis.

It wriggled and squirmed, but there was no way it was getting out of my grip. I carried it over to the first open area we'd marked, dropped it, and zipped back to the balloon. Almost immediately, sleek, shadowy creatures emerged from the ruins, creeping out of the dark. I was right—they were feline. Dark gray, with tufts of hair at the tips of their ears and a more elongated muzzle than the cats on Earth. They gathered around the slime, stalking it low to the ground, ready to pounce.

Mahya didn't waste any time—she activated a Blade Storm scroll, and in a matter of seconds, a whirlwind of blades shredded the creatures to bits. Bye-bye, creeping cats. I flew down, turned them into crystals, and went looking for more bait. In this systematic way, we started clearing out the city, block by block. The first few areas were easy—drop the bait, watch the critters swarm, blast them with scrolls, and repeat. But not all the monsters played along.

In some spots, I had to drop a few slimes or other creatures to lure out the majority. Even then, I could still spot shadows lingering in the wrecked buildings—monsters that weren't in any rush to attack. The black cats were easy prey for the Blade Storms, but then we ran into bigger problems. Literally. The next area had these hulking, furry brown beasts lumbering around. They looked like hornless rhinos covered in thick fur that reminded me of an angora goat. These guys were tough.

Blade Storms or Hail Barrage didn't even scratch them, and rifle bullets just bounced off. Their fur acted like armor, making them a real pain in the ass to deal with. Flame Wave turned out to be a good first step. The moment the fire hit them, their fur lit up like dry kindling and gave them a fiery haircut. Their skin was tough too, and after going through our options, the quill bolts I commissioned at the Enchanted Smithy from the Tuonela quill-bears worked best. The bolts got the job done.

Fire acted like a spoiled teenager again. She wasn't ignoring me or being condescending this time—she just didn't feel like cooperating to give the rhinos their haircut. Whatever her problem was, it left us relying on Flame Wave more than I wanted. I knew I'd need to make another trip to Lumis for more Flame Wave scrolls soon. I'd started with 34, and they had 20 each. Now, between Mahya, Al, and myself, we were down to 14 by the time we finished clearing the furry rhinos.

As we moved through the city, the variety of monsters forced us to switch tactics constantly. The cassowary-like creatures with their weird little arms were fast, darting through the streets in quick bursts. The Ice Slick scroll turned out to be a winner. They slipped on the ice, tumbling head over heels, and a few well-placed shots to the head finished the job. Then there were the massive bugs. They crawled up the sides of buildings, their legs skittering against the broken stone.

For them, it was all about timing. Dropping bait and hitting them with Hail Barrage before they could scuttle away worked best, but we had to be quick. They were surprisingly agile for creatures with so many legs. Their exoskeleton was strange, too. Blade Storm didn't even scratch them, but the less sharp Hail Barrage turned them into ice porcupines. The slimes were the easiest to deal with. I'd find a big one, float it over to an open area, and watch as the smaller creatures swarmed.

The moment they got close enough, Mahya or Al would activate a scroll, and I'd swoop in to turn the leftovers into crystals. It was so effective we eliminated them first, without even targeting them. It wasn't perfect, but we made good progress. More often than not, the bait didn't draw out everything in the area. I could still see movement inside the more intact buildings—some creatures just weren't interested in coming out to play. We'd have to deal with them another time.

Still, with the lures and the scrolls, I'd say we cleared about eighty percent of the monsters in each area. After about five square kilometers, we had cleared most of the southeast side of the city. The streets looked less chaotic, at least for now, though I knew there were still more monsters hiding in the shadows. We left those for the following day and headed home for a well-deserved dinner and rest. After dinner, Rue dropped his head on my lap and announced, "Beer!"

We all laughed, and Mahya asked him, "Celebrating a lazy day?" Rue shook his head and huffed.

"Snakes no yummy and no levels. Monsters no need Rue shake shake to go splat. Scrolls do whoosh whoosh and no bad cats. Rue need beer!" I scratched his ears and neck. My poor boy had a bad day.