Elwynn Forest

"You are insulting the dignity of the Asgardians."

"No, if you get eaten by those wolves, that would be an insult to Asgard’s dignity. You’d become the biggest joke among the Aesir… Believe me, I’d break down the story of you being attacked and eaten by these wolves into thirty-six chapters, with each chapter further divided into one hundred and eight sections. I’d tell it on an endless loop in Asgard for years, analyzing every psychological reaction you had at the time in painstaking detail."

After a pause, Yinsen added, "We could turn it into a stage play, too!"

A vein popped on Loki’s broad forehead again. He had the urge to stab Yinsen to death with the scepter in his hand, but that would cut off his way home, so he would not do it.

"Hmph. Watch closely and see how I wipe out these filthy vermin."

Once Loki made his move, an ordinary pack of wolves had no chance of surviving. Yinsen mainly wanted to see how well Loki had mastered Ice Power.

With a casual swing of Loki’s scepter, a pack of starving wolves before him was frozen into ice sculptures by the surging chill. Even those of them who had not been struck by the cold could clearly feel the icy aura within it, showing just how tyrannical that power was.

As Loki’s scepter continued to whirl, more and more starving wolves became ice sculptures, permanently "remaining" where they stood. What truly surprised Yinsen was one of them. It was struck by an Energy Bullet containing Ice Power while leaping through the air, and at the instant it froze into an ice sculpture, it actually remained suspended in midair for several seconds.

"Did it freeze space?"

It only lasted an instant. The frozen wolf then fell to the ground and shattered into fragments—and not a trace of flesh or blood could be seen. The shattered wolf looked as if it had truly been made of ice, and every fragment turned into icy powder.

"It seems that without energy in the body capable of resisting that chill, even the smallest components will be frozen. I wonder just how far it can go?"

As more and more wolves were killed by Loki, the wolves at the outskirts did not continue attacking like fools. Instead, they decisively turned and fled. The huge pack scattered in every direction, making pursuit impossible. Loki was even less likely to run wildly through the forest to chase a group of ordinary wolves.

Once he saw that there were no more "enemies," Loki spread his hands without even breathing hard and faced the others. "Well? Are you satisfied with my splendid performance?"

Yinsen obligingly clapped until his palms turned red and even whistled a few times.

The group’s reaction pleased Loki. He loved enjoying the feeling of being the "lead actor."

Yinsen, who had been observing carefully, noticed that Loki’s breathing had faltered for an instant, and the hand holding the scepter trembled slightly. The Ice Power within the scepter’s core had not been fully contained either.

"Loki is highly talented, but this power is too strong. Even someone as gifted as Loki can’t truly control it in such a short time. He looked relaxed just now, but he had already used his full strength."

It was not that the wolves were so powerful that they had forced Loki to go all out. He simply wanted to display his strength. Just as Yinsen often found ways to intimidate Loki, Loki would respond in kind. He was also warning Yinsen: Don’t really treat me as your subordinate. It’s not as if I can’t kill you.

Yinsen understood Loki’s meaning. Naturally, he would not push things too far. At the same time, he was glad he had not devoted too much effort to the Holy Light Energy he had collected.

"Extreme energies really are difficult to truly control."

As for Holy Light Energy, he still believed that having enough to use was sufficient. He was not overly obsessed with gaining complete control over it.

Yinsen’s own magic had already reached a basic scale. On his Mental Power Land, the spring representing magic had condensed into a sufficiently large pool and was beginning to spread outward in little streams.

He greatly anticipated the day when those streams would become great rivers. At present, his magic leaned more toward Water Element, Fire Element, and spatial attributes. However, he was still some distance from being able to turn his magic into flame or water with a mere thought. Those were attributes he had begun studying early on. As for Holy Light…

After wiping out the starving wolves, the group did not intend to remain among the wolf corpses. They continued in one direction, and not long afterward, they discovered a fairly large lake.

"A water source is always a good thing."

If humans lived nearby, following the water source would surely provide some clues. Even if they avoided living near water to stay clear of large beasts, they might still find traces of human habitation.

His plan had been sound, but when a strange blue creature that looked like a fish with arms and legs rushed at them shouting an odd language and wielding crude, battered weapons, Yinsen knew what world they were in.

"Fuck!"

Caught off guard, Logan was nearly struck by the javelin the creature threw. It could not kill him, but it would hurt badly. Enraged, Logan even forgot about the various Firearms on his back. He immediately extended his Adamantium Claws and charged forward, carving the creature that had rushed at him into eight pieces.

Wolverine’s fighting style was always so simple and brutal. He had enjoyed himself, but his body was inevitably splattered with strange slime and a fishy stench.

"Shit!"

Other than continuing to curse and complain, Logan had no better solution. He could hardly strip naked here and change into another set of clothes.

"Don’t move, Logan."

Seeing Logan in that state, Yinsen had no choice but to lend a hand. Now that he truly possessed magic of his own, many minor spells recorded in the Book of Inheritance were no longer things he could only stare at longingly. He practiced a few whenever he had time these days. Although such minor spells were not much help in battle, they were quite useful in everyday life.

As Yinsen drew a mysterious, wondrous symbol with his outstretched finger, the magic gathered in the air and finally turned into flickering specks of light. They circled Logan once, and his previous bedraggled appearance vanished. Not only were the odors gone from his clothes, they became even cleaner and neater, as if they had just been washed and dried.

"This kind of spell is pretty convenient."

Mages were especially skilled at "slacking off." No matter the world or system, Mages almost always mastered a wide variety of minor spells for daily life.

Such spells consumed little magic. They were somewhat difficult in terms of technique, but not enough to stump real Mages. Nearly all Mages could learn them.

Someone like Merlin, who had lived alone for years, had mastered a great many such spells. Otherwise, it was hard to imagine a legendary Great Sorcerer spending huge amounts of time cleaning up his room every day.

The Book of Inheritance in Yinsen’s hands came from Merlin. Although it contained some magic from Kamar-Taj and Asgard, its most systematic contents were still the Magic Knowledge Merlin had given him. These minor spells were also ones Merlin used in daily life.

It had to be said that even the minor spells used by a legendary Great Sorcerer were better than those taught by ordinary Mages. At the very least, Yinsen would never have needed to wait until now to master the minor spells used by common Mages. Of course, higher learning requirements also meant better results. Logan’s current appearance made that clear.

"Enough about spells. From your expression earlier, it seemed you already knew where this was?"

Loki was not focused on such a minor spell. What interested him was the change in Yinsen’s expression after seeing that strange creature. He must have recognized the place.

"If I’m not mistaken, this should be Azeroth…"

A dense forest with a pleasant climate, a huge lake, and Murloc—it was enough for Yinsen to determine that they were currently in Elwynn Forest.

This was good news for Yinsen, because Elwynn Forest was human territory. Unless he had arrived during the First War between humans and Orcs, then apart from these low-level humanoid creatures, there would only be some Beast in Elwynn Forest. No matter which kind they were, they could not threaten the group as they were now.

Yinsen examined the lake, then looked toward the far shore and roughly determined their current location.

"If my judgment is correct, we should see a town if we keep following this lake forward." Yinsen thought for a moment, then turned to look in the other direction. "Or we can head directly that way. There should be a main road there, and it’ll be much safer than traveling through the forest."

The group looked at one another. Though they did not know how Yinsen knew this information, no one doubted his judgment.

Logan especially had no doubts. He had long known that Yinsen possessed considerable knowledge about many "planar worlds." He had learned that before joining the group.

"Let’s go to the main road. If we follow the lakeshore, will we run into those strange creatures from earlier again?"

"Yes."

The lakes in Elwynn Forest all hid Murloc. These humanoid creatures could not be reasoned with at all. They were extremely aggressive, and their first reaction upon seeing creatures outside their own kind was always to rush in and attack. Only an extremely small number of Murloc could communicate rationally with people—but none of those lived in Elwynn Forest.

When they heard Yinsen say they would encounter those creatures again, everyone chose to reach the main road before continuing their journey. Going straight ahead might sound closer, but no one wanted to be harassed nonstop by a group of strange creatures.

"By the way, are there people in this world?" Logan suddenly thought of a question. He was not the only one who wanted to know. "I mean people like us… or at least similar to us."

"The place we’re in now should be human territory."