"What was that sound?!"
Ronan's expression tightened, his gaze shifting rapidly before he started walking step by step toward the direction of the sound.
Curiosity is in human nature, especially when someone like Ronan feels increasingly confident due to both his enhanced strength and physique cultivation.
Trying to prevent him from checking out an exciting event was harder than reaching the heavens.
"Just a glance. Just one glance... to see what made the sound, and I'll leave right away!"
Ronan repeatedly warned himself in his mind, but deep down he was still a bit afraid.
However, sometimes it's like that—the more you fear something, the more you want to understand what's causing that fear.
Ronan did his best to move without making a sound.
His deerskin boots stepped on the soft, damp earth, occasionally making a slight crackling noise from breaking twigs.
Pushing aside a cluster of dark green bushes, a scene came into view before Ronan's eyes.
He saw a mess of an area, with broken and fallen trees all around, patches of grass blasted apart, and the ground pocked and dented...
A man lay stretched out on a piece of charred and cracked rock, surrounded by thick splatters of dark red blood, his chest cavity completely blown open, with strands of blue smoke rising from within, obviously dead beyond doubt.
About a dozen meters away from the corpse, a man with pale face and a red mole on the left side of his nose was leaning against a tree, gasping heavily.
The strong scent of blood, the smell of charring mixed with the odor of decaying leaves underfoot, continually burrowed into Ronan's nostrils, causing the calmed blood in his body to slowly accelerate again.
The traces of energy particles lingering in the air and the attire of the two figures indicated that a fierce wizard duel had just taken place.
The specifics were unknown, but the situation clearly showed that it was over.
"These two guys must be intermediate, maybe even advanced wizard apprentices..."
Ronan's heart was pounding rapidly while he thought about slipping away quietly the way he had come.
He had no intention of scavenging.
Logically, this was not even an event one should spectate.
But Ronan didn't feel any regret, he had witnessed similar events twice before, and he performed much better this time than the last.
For a moment, Ronan felt that occasionally stumbling upon such events was not a bad thing; at least it allowed him to witness the cruelty of the wizard world and suppress his gradually inflated self-confidence.
Just as he took a few steps back, a new development suddenly unfolded on the scene.
Ronan stopped in his tracks, driven by curiosity, he looked toward the center of the area.
He saw the surviving wizard seemed to have regained some strength, his lips moving faintly, with clear energy particle fluctuations around him, evidently casting a spell.
"Just killed someone... is he planning to destroy the body and erase the evidence?"
Ronan casually thought to himself.
But in the next instant, a cold and sinister gaze suddenly fixated on him.
"Go!"
The chanting wizard spat out terse syllables and with a wave of his hand, a massive burning fireball appeared out of nowhere, carrying layers of heat waves, heading straight for Ronan's position.
"Damn!"
Ronan, locked in by the intense killing intent from afar, intuitively felt all his hairs stand on end, and a chill surged straight to his heart, only then realizing that he had already been exposed.
Not bothering with cursing, he turned around and ran without hesitation.
"Boom!"
The searing fireball exploded behind him, instantly igniting surrounding bushes and vegetation in flames.
Ronan rolled on the ground, narrowly escaping the terrifying power of the fireball technique, and when he touched his back with a grim expression, he felt slickness on his hand.
The pain wasn't too bad; it was just a burning sensation on his back, likely from a burn.
Looking up, the wizard who had just thrown the fireball was now slowly walking toward him.
Walking along, he continued to chant the spell under his breath, his gaze sweeping over Ronan with coldness and disdain.
Ronan didn't have the luxury to care about anything else; he clenched his teeth, got up, and continued to run like mad.
He hadn't run far when he felt a clear wave of energy particles from behind him. His scalp tingled. With a leap, he sprinted forward and jumped onto a tree. Timing the heat wave that was trailing him, he kicked hard off the tree trunk and flung himself in a different direction.
"Boom!"
"Creak, creak—"
The blazing tree let out a grating moan as it slowly fell and turned into a pile of char in the blink of an eye.
Ronan couldn't even afford to give himself a moment's breath; he immediately followed it up with another dive and roll...
"Bang!"
The third fireball almost grazed the back of Ronan's head as it flew past.
"If it weren't for the Body Forging breakthrough... I reckon I'd have been dead several times over by now!"
Ronan roared in his heart as he fled, then he felt like crying.
If it weren't for the Body Forging breakthrough, damn it, he wouldn't have run here and encountered this mess.
After the third fireball, Ronan ran for a while and suddenly realized there was no more movement behind him.
He was tempted to stop and check the situation, but he was worried that turning his head would be greeted with another fireball and might end it all then and there.
"Running like this isn't a solution; the Wizard World has plenty of ways to track me down...
Since this guy has already shown a desire to kill, he definitely won't let things go easily..."
After much thought, Ronan clenched his teeth and simply stopped.
Then he turned around and walked back.
"That guy had just ended a big fight, it was a tough victory, I guess.
He must not have fully recovered yet. Right now should be his weakest moment.
If I wait for him to recuperate, I will completely lose any chance of survival..."
Ronan's eyes flickered as he quickly analyzed the situation, and unconsciously quickened his pace.
He admitted that there was an element of gambling to his actions, but as a mere Level 3 Wizard Apprentice, facing an opponent who was obviously much stronger... gambling gave him a chance, not gambling would just mean waiting to die.
With this thought, a determined look crossed Ronan's face, and in a swift motion, he drew the dagger he always carried.
He began chanting quickly, and as the energy particles flowed through the air, a thin layer of shimmering light gradually coated the bright surface of the dagger.
[Charging Weapon].
Ronan held the "Charged" dagger in a reverse grip, hiding it inside his robe as he moved forward with a serious expression.
The spells he knew were only two, and while [Charging Weapon] might be underwhelming and its power quite ordinary,
it should still be able to leverage some fighting power alongside his current physical condition.
After walking for a while, Ronan once again encountered the Wizard who was hunting him.
The guy was standing still, slowly pouring an unknown potion into his mouth.
Although Ronan didn't know what the other party was drinking, he could guess with his heels that it had to be a Recovery Potion.
The situation was just as he had predicted!
Ronan couldn't help feeling invigorated.
But it still seemed far from optimistic.
Because when the Wizard saw Ronan returning after fleeing, even though his own weakness was exposed to Ronan, not a hint of panic or anxiety was on his face. His gaze towards Ronan grew even more mocking and disdainful.
"Damn it!"
Ronan had been somewhat scared and nervous before, but seeing the look in the other's eyes, his frustration turned into anger, and he no longer felt fear.
With a determined heart, he charged straight at the other party.