Chapter 66: The Hidden Pursuit

The fleeting glimpse of a figure at the street’s end left Lia frozen in place.

That grey-black leather armor, that build, that profile…

There was no mistaking it.

It was the Three-Ring Mage.

Yet, shouldn’t he still be in the castle’s basement? That secret chamber had no other exit besides its entrance; inside, only an ancient, masked corpse and a few boxes resided.

When had he emerged?

And how had he managed it?

A myriad of questions exploded in Lia’s mind, and she almost succumbed to the urge to give chase.

‘No.’

She forcefully suppressed the tumultuous waves of alarm within her heart.

‘I cannot simply follow him.’

The fact that he could mysteriously depart from a place she had believed to be a dead end and then appear here was inherently unsettling.

Directly trailing him carried too high a risk of detection.

A new idea sparked in her mind.

Lia swiftly darted into an unoccupied corner, and with a subtle shift of thought, retrieved an ancient scroll from her spatial ring.

The scroll’s material was a supple, thin metallic sheet, shimmering with a faint silver glow, upon which intricate and exquisite runic structures were etched.

It was a Five-Ring Spell: “Veil of the Hidden One.”

Among the many magic scrolls Klein had given her, this one was quite exceptional.

The scroll itself was a rare magical energy storage medium, allowing for repeated use after its power was replenished.

Its effect was to significantly diminish one’s presence by distorting the surrounding light and magic field, causing others to subconsciously overlook the user.

As long as she avoided actions that would draw intense attention, amidst a crowd,

she would be like a drop of water merging into the ocean, a leaf falling into a forest.

A faint shimmer emanated from the silver metallic scroll in her hand, silently merging into her body.

In that instant, Lia felt a thin membrane separate her from the surrounding world.

She could still clearly observe and perceive everything, yet her aura, her silhouette, and even her very existence became indistinct, as if she were a faded, old painting.

Having made her preparations, Lia re-emerged onto the street, heading towards the alley where the man had vanished.

Her footsteps were exceptionally light, her body hugging the shadows along the wall.

Soon, she spotted the man again in the town’s livestock market.

He was haggling with a pungent-smelling vendor, eventually purchasing three plump, sturdy goats and two loudly clucking fat chickens for a few silver coins.

To Lia’s surprise, instead of leading the livestock with ropes, after paying, he pulled an unassuming cloth pouch from his tunic.

He aimed the opening of the pouch at the live animals, murmuring a brief incantation.

A faint ripple of magic passed through the air, and the lively goats and chickens, as if seized by an invisible hand, vanished into thin air, drawn into the small cloth pouch.

‘A living creature storage bag.’

Information about this magical item instantly surfaced in Lia’s mind.

It was a rather rare and expensive spatial artifact, specifically designed for temporarily storing living beings.

Because its internal space was highly unstable and lacked air, creatures stored within typically experienced extreme discomfort and panic, making very few willing to enter voluntarily.

Even apprentices or magical beasts capable of perception and minor cantrips could easily tear it open from the inside.

‘Why would he buy these live animals?’

Lia watched the man secure the bulging cloth pouch to his waist, her suspicions deepening.

Immediately afterward, the man entered a nearby shop that sold magical ingredients.

Lia did not follow him inside, choosing instead to stand at the street corner, pretending to examine the wares of a roadside vendor.

After about fifteen minutes, the man emerged from the shop, his steps hurried as he headed towards the town’s exit.

‘He’s leaving.’

‘This is my chance.’

Lia quickly formulated a plan.

She followed unhurriedly, maintaining an absolutely safe distance.

The man was highly vigilant; even in the bustling town, he would occasionally glance behind him with his peripheral vision.

However, under the scroll’s subtle effect, Lia’s figure blended perfectly into the background, failing to attract his slightest notice.

As they approached the town’s sole exit, Lia’s pace suddenly quickened, and she veered onto a shortcut leading to the gate.

She had to leave something on him before he departed.

Lia’s gaze rapidly swept the street ahead.

A cart heavily laden with straw was slowly trundling towards the town gate, its driver yawning, half-asleep.

‘That’s it.’

Lia quietly approached the cart’s rear wheel, her eyes quickly scanning the axle’s structure.

In her sight, the crude metal nut securing the wheel bore a generally imperceptible weak point, a result of years of jarring.

It was like a string about to snap.

She rapidly constructed a simple model in her mind, calculating the fragile point’s resonant frequency.

‘Now!’

A trace of almost imperceptible magic gathered at her fingertips, infiltrating the nut’s interior at a tricky angle, precisely targeting that most vulnerable stress point.

A grating sound of metal fatigue and fracture ripped through the air.

The cart’s left rear wheel suddenly buckled, and the entire vehicle lost its balance, overturning with a crash.

Mountains of straw spilled out, instantly covering most of the street and kicking up a cloud of chaff.

“My cart!”

The driver’s cry of alarm, the shouts and curses of dodging pedestrians, and the frightened whinnies of horses intertwined into a chaotic din.

The previously orderly town entrance instantly devolved into utter pandemonium.

The Three-Ring Mage was also blocked by this sudden disturbance.

He frowned, stopping impatiently, seemingly debating whether to take a detour or wait.

Lia, taking advantage of the confusion, slipped through the crowd like a nimble fish, silently brushing past the man’s side.

In the very instant they crossed paths, Lia’s fingertip lightly touched the leather armor at his waist.

The man showed no reaction; his entire attention was captivated by the chaotic scene before him.

Lia did not look back, walking straight through the crowd to the other side of the town entrance, where she leaned against a wall, waiting quietly.

She appeared calm, but only she knew the intensity of the mental energy she had expended to construct and unleash that precise model.

Pangs of sharp pain afflicted the depths of her brain.

What she had just left behind was not any known tracking mark from this world.

It was her own uniquely devised tracing mark.

It utilized a miniature magic model based on the theory of “quantum entanglement,” leaving a wisp of her mental energy on the target and forcefully binding it, establishing a superluminal connection.

As long as this connection persisted, no matter where the target fled, she would be able to vaguely perceive their location.

Furthermore, drawing inspiration from a certain four-character idiom from her previous life, she harbored further development ideas for this mark, though this would require her mastery of spatial magic.

Therefore, unless the target could comprehend this theory, which would completely overturn the understanding of the entire mage world, and sever this particle-level connection at its root,

this mark would never fail.

Lia held absolute confidence in this magic of hers.

Soon, the town guards arrived, dispersed the crowd, and began clearing the obstruction.

The Three-Ring Mage did not wait any longer; he chose to climb over the piled-up goods nearby and quickly exited the town gate, heading towards Silent Valley.

Lia remained in place, watching his figure disappear at the end of the road.

She closed her eyes.

A clear coordinate quietly illuminated within her spiritual world, steadily and persistently pointing in that direction.