Chapter 39: Reflections on Principles

"What kind of talk is that?"

"What do you mean legends don't lie? Legends are often the ones doing the lying."

"But... I'm an outsider. I'll believe first and doubt later."

The crowd looked up, staring blankly at the sky for a while.

"Ah!"

"That's right!"

"Let's hurry back!"

"What's wrong? Is there danger?" Zhou Er suddenly suggested, causing a flicker of alertness in Lu Cang's heart.

It was gradually getting dark, and it was common knowledge that the night was more dangerous than the day.

Zhou Er's sudden suggestion made Lu Cang feel that something bad might happen.

"No... it's not necessarily dangerous."

"It's just, tonight is the changing of the Moon-Star, the best day to worship Yakadictok. If we go back now... we might still make it in time to offer a prayer."

*What the hell... go back to pray.*

*I thought it was something urgent.*

*You're just a mortal in some remote corner of the world; do you really think a god would pay attention to you?*

Even someone like Lu Cang, who had just transmigrated, knew that gods wouldn't just bother with mortals. Otherwise, with everyone in the world praying, the gods would be working themselves to death.

However, it made sense.

The night was more dangerous than the day, and even with the illumination of the "Ever-Lamp," Lu Cang didn't want to be exposed to unknown dangers unnecessarily.

Today's commission was already finished. Although his spirit was relatively high, his body was indeed fatigued.

As expected, a mage's physical stamina is a universally recognized weakness...

It was time to head back.

"Alright, let's go back then."

In this battle, the other two were essentially just spectators.

But Lu Cang didn't mind the small sum of 2 gold they brought in.

They were like a safety rope—they could remain unused the entire time, and ideally, they should never be needed.

But you absolutely cannot be without them.

Only...

Lu Cang glanced at Gaton and Jidi.

The old man was quite useful as a gatherer, but as a healer and a defender, Level 2 was indeed too low.

It would be much safer to switch to Level 3.

Especially a Level 3 Defender; Lu Cang hoped he could defend against sudden dangers that Lu Cang might not react to in time.

As long as he could buy Lu Cang reaction time, barriers and heavy walls could quickly mitigate damage.

But based on this guy's performance, Lu Cang was worried about whether he could even react.

However, a Level 3 adventurer wouldn't be this cheap.

...

Returning to Rain Town.

The total reward for the commission was 4 gold. The three Tier 2 lords combined for 2 gold and 20 silver.

The Tier 3 lord's reward was 1 gold and 80 silver, making exactly 4 gold.

Lu Cang gave them 2 gold to split among themselves, while his own net profit for the day totaled 31 gold.

The bulk of his earnings came primarily from the loot obtained by scavenging corpses.

The total amount he paid them today was 2 gold and 60 silver.

For them, this was equivalent to earning nearly 1 gold in a single day without any risk.

After receiving the money, they expressed their gratitude to Lu Cang.

They even praised him, saying things like, "Little Lu Cang is truly a child prodigy; he will surely shine brightly in the world in the future," and so on.

After settling the rewards.

Each of them approached the blank statues placed in the guild, tossed in a single silver coin—a precious treasure to them—and prayed toward the statues with pious expressions.

*Oh?*

*They're actually that willing to spend?*

*If that's the case, the Adventurers' Guild must be making a killing...*

*Collecting silver coins from the statue altars every day and such.*

Lu Cang couldn't help but think this.

However, in the next second, Lu Cang immediately retracted his thought.

He saw the silver coins tossed onto the pedestal beneath the statues evaporate like water being boiled away, releasing countless bubbles.

Lu Cang's mouth twitched as he looked toward the sky.

*Huh?*

*Hey—*

*You god, this is a bit ridiculous, isn't it?*

*You actually take people's money?*

*You don't actually do anything, do you? You'd better actually do something!*

...

Having worked an entire day, his body was exhausted.

Lu Cang returned to the inn to prepare for a bath.

He stripped off his clothes and stood before the mirror.

His height... it seemed he had grown a little... Come to think of it, today he could already stand a head taller than the counter when standing on his tiptoes.

He had indeed grown taller.

Do children in this world develop that quickly?

Lu Cang looked at his body again. While his muscles weren't sharply defined, he had gained quite a bit of muscle.

He flexed his biceps and squeezed; they were rock hard.

He also had some abdominal and chest muscles.

As expected, his body was getting stronger.

After all, this world wasn't like a game where you could see specific numerical values; Lu Cang could only measure himself through these visible physical changes.

"Powerful magic, but a weak body."

Although his body had become slightly stronger, compared to his progress as a mage, it was indeed far behind.

"If I could, I'd really like to change my class to a Warrior."

But with Kumironi not around, the pollution following an advancement would be very dangerous for him.

He also couldn't rely on Kumironi forever; he couldn't depend on others to advance indefinitely.

He had to find a way to remove the pollution himself.

*Sigh, why did I transmigrate as a child?*

*If I were 16, it would be much more convenient.*

As Lu Cang bathed, he lamented in his heart.

Since his body was exhausted from the day, Lu Cang used the stretching methods taught by Chicheng to relieve muscle fatigue and prevent soreness from affecting his combat the next day.

The people Lu Cang interacted with most were Kumironi and Iz.

Next were Chicheng.

As for Stone, Lu Cang had actually only seen it a few times.

Basically, he never saw it from morning till night; he didn't even know if it lived in the inn.

But whenever they crossed paths, it would greet him.

Occasionally, it liked to tell him a cold joke.

Um...

Aside from that, Lu Cang knew nothing else about Obades.

Chicheng had mentioned that when Izparut and the others were away, it was Obades who partnered with him in battle.

Thinking about it, it made sense...

*Chicheng, if even Obades won't go to battle with you, you really are solo-grinding.*

The relaxation techniques Chicheng taught Lu Cang were quite useful.

He had heard that the combat techniques of this world were divided into various different schools. Learning combat techniques often required mastering a well-established "School" as a primary focus, supplemented by other "Combat Techniques" to create one's own combat system.

Of course, it wasn't said that one could only learn one school, but much like magic, combat schools required years of hard training.

If one tried to learn too many, they would likely fail to master any of them.

The relaxation technique Lu Cang was currently using was the "Living Form," part of the "Invincible Style" created by Wumei.

*Invincible Style...*

*He certainly has the nerve to name it that.*

But speaking of which, both Iz and Chicheng seemed to enjoy creating their own skills and styles.

Iz seemed to have created "Mana Void" at Level 1.

And Chicheng had created the "Invincible Style."

*Maybe I should also research creating my own skills.*

Iz's teachings flashed through Lu Cang's mind again.

"The advancement ceremony is the witness to your practice of professional principles..."

"While learning, you also need to have your own thoughts."

*Practice the principles?*

It should be like the College Entrance Examination. For ordinary people, scoring anywhere from 0 to 750 is part of the test.

But for some exaggerated geniuses who can publish top-tier papers or win a Nobel Prize while still in high school... the exam score becomes irrelevant.

In other words.

Whether one achieves a perfect score on the advancement ceremony doesn't matter.

What matters is... the excellence in practicing the principles.

However, does "Transcending Magic" count as his own creation?

Even though it was a harvest brought by talent, he was indeed the first person in the world to possess "Transcending Magic." That should count, right?

(End of Chapter)