RNP 028: The Unlucky Star
028: The Unlucky Star
The whip is raised, whistling through the air as it is about to fall.
The girl cowered, tightly closing her eyes, waiting for the familiar pain to arrive. However, the expected blow never came.
She opened her eyes slightly, her expression uncertain, and peered through the gap in her arm. She saw a slender, clean hand firmly gripping the whip handle above the slave trader's thick wrist.
The owner of that hand was none other than the young nobleman, dressed in dark clothes, who had just left without looking back.
Lin Qi had returned at some point and was now standing by the cage, casually restraining the enraged slave owner with one hand.
His gaze passed over the bewildered vendor and landed directly on the girl curled up on the ground.
There was no sympathy or pity in his eyes; rather, it was as if he were examining a dusty, unexpectedly discovered object, with scrutiny, doubt, and a hint of... interest.
"You just said..." Lin Qi began, "What is this little girl? A jinx?"
The slave owner quickly smiled ingratiatingly and explained in rapid succession, "Yes, yes... Your Excellency, please don't let this unlucky thing afflict you! This girl's name is Lucy, she's a bastard found in the mountains north of the city, born with bad luck!"
"She brought death to the entire hunter family who adopted her, and was later sold to the city twice. The first time, the grocery store that bought her was destroyed by fire less than half a month later, and the second time, the small merchant was swindled into bankruptcy not long after. Everyone said she was a 'jinx' who brought bad luck wherever she went!"
"Look at her hair color, it's so abnormal! Even the most indiscriminate brothels won't take her, afraid it'll ruin their business! I'm just frustrated keeping her, and I'm planning to... get rid of her."
Lin Qi listened and began to ponder.
One or two things might be coincidences, but so many misfortunes happening to the same person could be problematic, and Lynch guessed that the problem might be related to the girl's constitution.
She is very likely a potential wizard.
Every potential wizard will show some differences from ordinary people from birth. For example, some people will subconsciously let fire get close, while others are not afraid of the cold, or they can see the spirits of the dead that ordinary people cannot see.
The girl's series of misfortunes may be related to her unusual mental development since childhood.
of course,
This was merely Lin Qi's guess. Lacking effective means of detecting an apprentice's potential, Lin Qi was unable to make a concrete judgment.
However, having one more person just means having more mouths to feed, so there's no reason not to try our luck.
then,
"Martin," Lynch called out to the old butler standing nearby.
"Yes, sir." The old butler immediately stepped forward.
"Take this girl with you," Lin Qi said in a flat tone, as if he were ordering someone to buy an extra bundle of firewood.
......
Back at the manor, after preparing for half a month, Lin Qi used all the materials in his spatial pocket to concoct a mental recovery potion before embarking on his journey to the wizard town.
A few days later, in the southern part of the Abyss Witch Domain.
The entire Wizarding Continent of the Karen Plane is divided into Wizarding Domains, which are further classified into levels 1 to 5 based on their elemental content, wizarding power, and other factors.
The highest level is level 5 Witch Domain, while the lowest is level 1 Witch Domain.
The Abyss Witch Domain is a level-three witch domain located in the southern part of the Wizarding Continent, and the entire southern coastline is only a part of this witch domain.
At this moment, in the southern part of the Abyss Witch Domain, in the Misty Forest.
The thick, grayish-white mist, like a living entity, flowed and accumulated slowly through the forest, blurring and distorting everything in its path. The silhouettes of towering ancient trees appeared and disappeared in the mist, like silent giants.
Lin Qi stopped, his brows furrowed, his gaze piercing through the thick fog as he tried to find a familiar landmark.
"Where is the entrance?"
Hidden within this misty forest is a wizard town called Tree Town, where Lynch frequently traded when he was roaming the Abyss Wizarding Domain in the game.
However, a game is a game after all, and the map is quite different from reality. Faced with this complex and realistic scene, he couldn't find the specific entrance to the town for a while.
After wandering around in circles for a while, just as Lin Qi was in trouble, suddenly—
"Whoosh!"
A slight whooshing sound rang out. A small, hard object traced an arc through the mist and landed precisely on the moss at his feet with a "thud".
Lynch looked down and saw a dark brown nut with strange spiral patterns on its shell, still covered in fresh dew.
He immediately looked up and followed the sound.
Not far to the right, on a twisted old oak tree, a squirrel sat perched on a horizontal branch. Its fur was not the usual reddish-brown, but a silvery-gray as if stained with mist, and its bushy tail was almost as long as its body.
What is most striking is its eyes, which are not the bewildered look of a wild beast, but rather radiate a clear, almost scrutinizing, spiritual light, staring unblinkingly at Lin Qi.
Seeing Lin Qi looking over, the squirrel actually grinned and spoke in a clear, even somewhat condescending, human voice: "Lost young apprentice, are you looking around searching for the entrance to 'Tree Town'?"
Lynch knew that this was the guide from Tree Town, someone Tree Town had placed here specifically to guide wizards who were visiting for the first time.
He nodded quickly, maintaining basic courtesy: "Indeed, esteemed guide. This is my first visit, and I am bewildered by this fog."
The squirrel stretched out its tiny forepaws, rubbed its fingers together, and moved with the practiced ease of a shrewd merchant: "Two magic stones, I'll show you the way. Fixed price."
Without hesitation, Lin Qi took out two magic stones with gentle energy from his pocket and handed them over. The squirrel nimbly leaped closer, and with a swift sweep of its paw, the magic stones vanished, disappearing into who-knows-where.
It wagged its large tail contentedly, its silvery-gray fur leaving streaks of light in the mist.
"Follow me, don't get lost."
The squirrel leaped nimbly between the branches, moving slowly and always staying within Lynch's sight. Lynch followed closely behind, navigating the labyrinth of thick fog and towering trees.
About fifteen minutes later, the squirrel stopped in front of a huge oak tree that looked unremarkable.
This tree is no different from other ancient trees in the forest except that it is exceptionally thick.
The only unusual thing is that there is a dark hole about half a meter in diameter in the tree trunk, about a person's height above the ground.
The squirrel pointed with the tip of its tail at the tree hole: "Go in. That's it."
Lin Qi didn't ask any more questions and walked to the tree hole. The hole was not the solid or rotten wood he had imagined, but a deep darkness, with a faint airflow carrying the scent of soil and tree roots rising from below.
He took a deep breath and bent down to crawl inside.
The moment your body enters the tree hole, you are not on solid ground, but in a steep downward tunnel formed by countless smooth and tough tree roots that are naturally interwoven!
He immediately slid down this natural "slide".
The speed started slowly, then picked up, with the whooshing sound of the wind and the rustling of the smooth tree roots filling the air. The slide wasn't straight, sometimes curving slightly, but the overall direction was clearly downward.
Unable to see in the darkness, only the body could perceive the strange fall.
A few minutes later, a faint light appeared ahead and quickly expanded. The slope of the slide became gentle, and finally, Lynch was gently "spit out" and landed on a thick, soft, carpet-like layer of dark yellow moss.
He stood up, dusted off non-existent dust, and then looked up.
The next moment, a stunning scene unfolded before my eyes.