Chapter 946

Anton had every intention of letting his first day in the Xinati Wilderness pass by while idling inside the comfortable tent he had set up on top of his Grizzly. He planned to let all of his summons handle the search because, in truth, they were probably better equipped to find the spatial-energy-laced mithril ore.

Anton could only use his eyes and mana sense to search for the ore, while his summons had other senses they could rely on, particularly their sense of smell. Even though they weren’t actual animals, they possessed all the senses associated with the forms they took.

Even the ravens, which weren’t particularly well known for using their sense of smell to find things, had other senses they could use to search for the ore.

Even if Anton joined the search, he would simply be flying around and relying on his eyes, which he considered inefficient. He thought the best way to spend his time was to let his summons search for the ore while he studied the spell structure of his spatial spells. His goal was to adapt them so they could be included in the skill tab of one of his Diablo II characters, just as he had done with the Cleaning spell.

After about an hour, Anton felt defeated by the complexity of the Gate spell’s structure. It was the spell he planned to adapt since he already had the Teleport spell. In truth, the Blink spell was essentially the same as the Sorceress’s Teleport spell.

So far, the Sorceress was the only Diablo II character whose skill tab Anton had successfully modified to include a fourth tab, and he had only managed to adapt three spells: Cleaning, Light, and Underwater Breathing.

Anton decided that the best solution to his current problem was to learn more about adapting spells. It would be better to start with Cantrip spells and gradually work his way up to the most complex spells he could use.

He also decided that the spells he would try to adapt should primarily be utility spells.

The first spell he decided to tackle was Mending, a highly useful Cantrip.

While he was studying the spell structure of Mending, Anton received a message from one of his wolves informing him that it was being attacked by a group of monsters.

Anton checked the situation through his summon’s eyes and saw a group of underground, giant leech-like creatures attacking the wolves. There were around ten of the creatures, and they looked horrendous.

The leech monsters were huge, and one end, which Anton assumed was where their faces were located, was filled with what appeared to be thousands of dagger-like teeth.

Anton didn’t want to bother saving the dire wolf since he could simply summon another one if it were killed. However, the wolf was holding its own against the monsters. Anton had expected his summons to be powerful, but the fight was taking too long and could be better spent searching for the ore.

Anton summoned the Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master and ordered them to assist any of his summons that were attacked by local monsters.

The Shadow Master and Shadow Warrior from his Assassin character moved extremely quickly and reached the wolf that was fighting the leech-like monsters in no time. With their assistance, the monsters were soon defeated.

The Shadow Master dug through the corpses of the leech monsters and retrieved their mana stones.

Afterward, the Shadow Master and Shadow Warrior returned to Anton and handed him the mana stones. He didn’t dispel either of the summons. Instead, he summoned the Valkyrie as well.

Anton expected that his other summons would encounter more hostile monsters, so he decided that the Valkyrie, Shadow Master, and Shadow Warrior would be responsible for assisting any of his summons that came under attack.

Anton returned to studying the spell structure of Mending. However, about an hour later, he received a message from one of his ravens informing him that it had spotted a group of people nearby.

Anton used the raven’s eyes and saw that the bird had reached the border of the wilderness, near a road. The people the raven had spotted were travelers.

Anton immediately ordered all of his summons to avoid the border, especially the roads. A rare resource like the mithril ore he was searching for was unlikely to be found in an area where many people regularly passed through.

Before sending the raven away, Anton allowed it to remain there for several minutes so he could study the appearance of the people living near the Xinati Wilderness.

They looked like what Anton imagined ancient Chinese people would have looked like.

After studying their clothing, Anton remembered the cultivator novels he had read. Their attire was remarkably similar to what he had imagined people in those novels wearing.

Before leaving Traveler’s Haven, Anton had read several books containing information about the Huoxi continent. One of the more pertinent details was that the local language was different from the language he was accustomed to. If he wanted to interact with the locals, he would need to cast the Tongue spell.

Fortunately, he already had the spell memorized, so communication wouldn’t be an issue.

Anton suddenly wondered what kind of magic system the locals practiced.

Do they practice cultivation?

He remembered when he had first encountered cultivation novels. At the time, he couldn’t understand how the system worked. How could someone become more powerful simply by sitting around and meditating?

Eventually, however, he accepted the concept. Cultivation novels were entertaining, and he had eventually consumed hundreds of them.

In truth, his Spatial Magic Meditation spell was somewhat similar to the cultivation techniques he had read about. Because of that, he thought the possibility of encountering powerful cultivators was fairly high.

Anton had assumed that he would only encounter such people after traveling to another dimension. However, once he completed his mission, he planned to explore Huoxi for a while before returning to Traveler’s Haven. He wanted to find out whether the local powers practiced cultivation.

Soon, while he continued studying the spell structure of Mending, Anton received another communication from his summons informing him that they had been attacked by local monsters.

The monsters were powerful. Based on what Anton observed through his summons’ eyes, they were comparable to the dungeon monsters found on the fiftieth floor of a high-level dungeon.

Fortunately, with the assistance of the Valkyrie, Shadow Master, and Shadow Warrior, his summons were able to dispatch the monsters with ease.

In truth, the mana stones obtained from the monsters alone were enough to make the mission somewhat lucrative.

When night fell, Anton set up the tiny house he had purchased from the forest elves. He didn’t dispel the Grizzly and also summoned the Clay Golem. The two summons would serve as his guards while he rested.

Fortunately, his summons didn’t need to rest, so Anton allowed them to continue searching for the ore throughout the night.

For a brief moment, he felt a little guilty about exploiting his summons, but he reminded himself that they weren’t living beings. They were mana constructs.

He remembered when he had first started summoning them. He had tried communicating with them to determine whether they were sentient beings from another dimension, but despite all his efforts, they never responded. They simply continued behaving like emotionless robots.

Anton even had a theory that if he were a deeply disturbed man and attempted something perverted with his summons, they probably wouldn’t complain.

Even the summons that came from the tablet he had created behaved the same way, despite some of his friends insisting that those summons had started becoming attached to them.

While Anton was resting, he received a notification that several monsters had attempted to attack his tiny house. Fortunately, the Grizzly and Clay Golem were more than enough to drive them away.