When you travel and see parts of the world that you have never seen and known before, then reflexively, you will begin to find out.
How the trees in this new place look, what is the state of the sky in this new place, how to pass through this new place to reach your destination... Unconsciously, you will look around. Searching, and trying to know everything.
Of course, that also applies to people you're meeting for the first time. Especially, for someone who has a different way of acting and has his own unique characteristics.
The number 2 team magician, Farna, now feels that way.
While she helps her other teammates pack up the items inside the hut while sheltering from the heat of the sun, Farna subconsciously sees what their special team member, a Zombie named Zen, is doing.
On Zen's side, Jonna is busy with notebooks and wide papers; Draw a map and take notes of everything that needs to be recorded.
However, that is not what makes Farna interested.
As a magician, Farna is also able to spread her magic energy just like Zen does.
However, her control was very lacking when compared to Zen, so the maximum area she could do was 10-20 meters.
From afar, Zen looked like he was sitting and lazing; does nothing but play his fingers.
But as Farna approached, Farna saw something extraordinary happening between Zen's fingers.
The space between Zen's fingers was distorted!
Yes, the space itself was distorted by Zen's fingers.
It was as if he was processing bread dough.
Farna swallowed her own saliva.
As a magician, she certainly knew about spatial magic.
That said, once a magician had enough magic control, they was even able to control even the space itself.
Despite having some limitations, they will be able to move from one place to another in an instant.
But it could only be done by a mage above level 7.
Farna herself was a level 2 Magician, so she couldn't do such high-level complicated things.
Has Zen reached level 7?
Farna began to wonder.
She recalled Zen's youthful appearance, as well as how Zen consumed the Monster Gem from the Z-Emperor pouch and underwent a change in appearance.
After all, he was a Zombie, so maybe he had lived a very long time...?
The curiosity of this woman over 20 years old continues to grow.
Should I ask and ask him to teach me about magic?
She wanted to ask, but she hesitated.
She didn't know how she should handle the curiosity that tormented her.
At that moment, Zen turned his head towards Farna.
"What's wrong?"
Farna immediately inched up.
"N-no... It's nothing, really!"
"..."
***
What the Skeleton Necromancer left behind inside the hut wasn't much.
In addition to various types of dried plants that seemed to be useful for concocting some kind of medicine and potions along with jars filled with strange things, Igav and the others found only a few notes and books about black magic and necromancy.
After a brief discussion on how to handle these items, they used the hut as a resting place and started having lunch.
Zen sat on the terrace of the hut and flipped through books and notes on black magic and necromancy.
Perhaps because this was just one of the many hiding places of the Skeleton Necromancer, Zen found that what was listed in the books and notes was only basic and incomplete about black magic and necromancy.
Black magic, roughly, it is things related to curses and so on.
This, surprisingly, also falls into the category of elemental magic and is the parent of the dark element.
A curse like this looked very useful, so Zen began to learn it.
Necromancy... It is also quite useful.
In a nutshell, Necromancy is about how to generate special magic energy that is capable of turning corpses into Undead or enslaving corpses that have become Undead in one way or another.
Since the one Zen had was incomplete, Zen only knew how to turn a corpse into an Undead.
Following the instructions in the book, Zen tries to convert his magic energy into special magic energy that can turn corpses into Undead.
Zen widened his eyes when he saw the change in his magic energy.
"As expected. Magic is really interesting!"
***
Zen and the others spent about an hour in the hut before packing up their loot and continuing their voyage.
The heat of the sun again shades 5 humans and 1 zombie floating on the canoe.
This time, Zen's magic energy radar didn't find anything but just something like a few small creatures such as insects, fish, and some weak undead monsters around.
He didn't find anything special during the trip. It made him to get a little bored.
Bored, Zen began to experiment with his magic.
He also named his magic energy radar, which has now grown to over 400 meters, as
A name is needed to ... Well, to be cooler?
While Zen was experimenting with his magic, time was ticking.
Their water supply is rapidly decreasing.
They could only breathe a sigh of relief after the sun was blocked by thick clouds that seemed to bring rain.
A fighter on the number 2 team, a man named Dean, wiped the sweat from his forehead before looking back.
"It seems that the rain will fall soon. Should we pull over?" Dean asked Jonna.
Jonna thought for a moment.
She checked the map before answering.
"That's right... I think we better keep going for a while. Our direction is quite good, so as long as the river path doesn't store up there, we'll find an abandoned town."
"How far?" Farna asked.
"Around... 900 meters from our current location..." Jonna replied while scratching her cheek shyly.
"900 meters..."
"900 meters, huh..."
Team number 2 looked at each other.
It is difficult to make the right choice.
Farna looked around in hesitation, then found Zen creating a ball of light in the palm of his hand.
The ball of light was an extremely harsh light elemental magic for any kind of Undead, so the skin of Zen's palm had been torn apart and exposed the bones and muscle tissue underneath.
Ignoring the terrible condition of Zen's hand, Farna chose to ask Zen for his opinion.
"Do you have an opinion on this... Uh... Sir Zen?"
Farna didn't want to offend Zen, but calling a Zombie as 'Sir' also sounded strange, so Farna hesitated before deciding to call Zen like that.
Zen stopped his magic experiment when he heard Farna's call.
The skin of his palm began to regenerate at a speed that looked as he replied.
"900 meters is too far. If we force ourselves, we will inevitably get wet by the rain on the way to the abandoned town that Jonna mentioned.So, it's better to find shelter."
Team number 2 looked at each other once again.
Igav immediately agreed with Zen's opinion.
"Shelter is the best option, I think."
He had been drenched in sweat when the sun was still bright in the sky. He would have suffered too much if it had to rain after that.
Following Igav's initiative, everyone agreed to seek shelter rather than heading straight to the abandoned town ahead.
Jonna checked the map once more.
"If we're going to find shelter, then I think we should head to this place. The place is quite close from here..."
***
Following the river path, their canoe continued to move for a while before stopping at the spot where the river path turned near a rocky hill.
There are a lot of dead trees nearby.
The atmosphere looks scary coupled with the lack of sunlight due to the dark cloud curtain.
However, they found a large cave lip that looked suitable for shelter from the rain on the side of the rocky hill, so they stopped there.
Igav and the other two Team number 2 fighters tied the canoe tightly to the trunk of an dead tree to prevent it from drifting away before starting to transport their luggage to the cave's ledge.
Jonna lit the lantern and walked in with Zen and Farna first inside.
"What a vast cave..." Jonna was amazed.
Although the lip of the cave was only 6 meters high by 4 meters wide, the inside of the cave was very spacious.
Jonna, Zen, and Farna were only able to see near the entrance of the cave by the light of the lantern.
In the distance, they saw the dark silhouettes of dozens of natural rock pillars; hinting at how vast this cave is.
Farna turned to Jonna.
"Is this the cave you found on the map earlier?"
Jonna frowned and opened her map and notebook.
"I don't think so... The cave I found on the map is not very large..."
The sound of the two of them chatting echoed inside the cave before stopping.
They looked at each other, then, after seeing that even Zen didn't refuse to enter this cave, they decided to stay here.
Together with the fighters who have finally completed the transportation of their luggage, Farna and Jonna begin to build a bonfire.
The sound of thunder was heard outside when the rain finally started to fall.
The rain was very heavy.
They feel grateful that they have decided to stop here.
Otherwise, they will get drenched and may even be washed away by the river currents that go wild due to the heavy rain.
Sitting on a cloth mat, Farna warmed her body with a campfire.
She looked around at the faces of her comrades, then realized that she couldn't find Zen anywhere.
"Huh? Where is Sir Zen?" Farna asked.
Igav pointed to the deeper part of the cave when he heard Farna's question.
Farna turned her head, then found Zen carrying a lantern to the inside of the cave.
He was currently crouching.
At the blind spot of Farna and the others, Zen brought what he was holding before his eyes.
It is a stone.
To be precise, it is a carved stone identically resembled the face of a man who had a frightened expression.