Chapter 13: The Wishing Sprite and the Angel of Sacred Light
When they reached the fifth illusion barrier, the barbarian priestess returned to the original secret chamber. According to her, this distance was far enough that even if the barrier was destroyed directly, those monsters wouldn’t sense her. As long as the monsters didn’t go on a rampage, Luo Yong could easily take care of them, and the two of them would be able to move forward much faster.
Since she was so confident, Luo Yong didn’t bother with further questions. He destroyed the barrier without hesitation and waited a moment in silence.
Sure enough, the monsters showed no reaction.
Luo Yong strode forward into an even larger chamber ahead.
“This underground palace is really enormous!” he marveled, waving his staff as he spoke. A skeleton soldier went forth to attack the monsters, while Luo Yong headed straight for several broken chests in the corner.
The first chest was empty.
The second contained only some coins.
Opening the third, Luo Yong found, beneath some tattered, filthy rags, a small bear-shaped badge. It was silver-grey, less than the size of a palm, without any place to attach it, so it couldn’t even be worn as a decoration, and it had no special attributes.
Utterly useless.
“What kind of rubbish is this...” Luo Yong grumbled, tossing the bear badge to the floor in disgust.
You couldn’t even sell this for scrap!
Three chests in a row, and nothing valuable. Compared with slaying monsters for gemstones, Luo Yong couldn’t help but question his own luck.
Wasn’t he supposed to be favored by fortune?
He glanced toward the place where the barbarian priestess was waiting, then looked at his own hand.
It must be... these cursed accounts interfering with his luck! He’d been standing too close to her earlier!
As he watched the skeleton soldier slowly dispatching the monsters, Luo Yong quickly found the sixth illusion barrier and slipped quietly into the next area.
Here, there were even more monsters, and in the corners lay several chests of different colors. Luo Yong rushed over and opened one. Besides coins, there was a rather unremarkable brooch.
“Goddess’s Blessing!”
A lucky brooch!
This one could boost his fortune!
“Now, this is a good find!” Luo Yong picked it up, about to pin it to the outside of his cloak. Then he thought better of it and pinned it inside, just to be safe.
The effect would be the same.
He rifled through the other chests, which contained only gemstones and the like. He simply dumped them out with a crash.
At the sound, the hoarding spider scuttled over.
Luo Yong was curious to see just how much the item could actually hold. Maybe from now on, he wouldn’t need a coin pouch at all—sparing himself from being targeted, especially by a certain cursed witch...
Yes, perhaps he’d find some gear to boost magic resistance, something to guard against negative effects.
The chamber beyond the seventh illusion barrier was smaller, but all the monsters within were level nine.
There was no way to fight through them easily. Even if Luo Yong and the skeleton soldier worked together, it would take a long time.
He searched the chests—nothing of value—and let the hoarding spider clean up after him, while he continued on to the next space.
There, all the monsters were level ten.
If it weren’t for the barbarian priestess still waiting in the secret chamber, he’d probably have found his own way out and left by now.
Meanwhile, the priestess, hiding in her chamber, had no idea she was being so thoroughly disregarded.
Luo Yong pressed forward without pause. The deeper he went, the higher the monsters’ levels became. He didn’t even bother to look anymore—he simply opened each chest and moved on.
At last, after passing a group of level fifteen monsters, Luo Yong reached the end of the passage.
There was a small secret room with only a stone bed inside.
Upon the bed lay a figure of enchanting beauty... a female demon of some kind. He couldn’t tell what race she belonged to. Her upper half was that of a woman, but her lower half was hidden beneath a voluminous garment—too far away to see clearly.
Luo Yong didn’t dare get too close. He wasn’t sure if his skills would work on such a formidable creature. If they didn’t, things could become very dangerous.
He kept to the wall, searching as he went, but found nothing. Only at the demon’s bedside sat a golden chest.
“A treasure chest?”
Luo Yong pondered. Was this the chest those people had spoken of?
He’d seen no other passage leading here.
But how was he supposed to leave this sprawling underground palace?
He opened the golden chest, and inside was—
“Oh my, has someone finally awakened me?”
A dazzling light burst from the chest. A tiny, glowing being rose slowly into the air.
“Brave warrior, your courage, your valor, your—”
A childish, fairy-like voice began to recite a speech, but faltered abruptly.
Amid the hazy radiance, Luo Yong saw clearly: it was a little sprite, like a miniature angel from legend, or perhaps a fairy? In any case, that sort of figure.
Its small body was perfectly proportioned, with exquisitely delicate features. Enlarged to human size, it would have been a stunning beauty of world-shaking allure.
But...
Luo Yong noticed that the little sprite’s lovely face seemed to twitch.
He followed its gaze to the bed, where the demon—whatever her race—appeared to be having a pleasant dream and was stretching languidly.
Beyond the secret room, monsters occasionally let out guttural roars.
This was... not at all how it was supposed to go.
Where was the gallant hero? Where was the epic battle?
How had he just opened the treasure chest without even fighting the monsters?
The sprite looked at the still-living monsters, then at Luo Yong, who was only level eight, and was utterly dumbfounded.
The two stared at each other, wide-eyed, for quite some time.
At last, the sprite was the first to recover and spoke in a sweet, childish voice: “Brave warrior... um...”
“To commemorate your... um, well...”
“In short, meeting me is your good fortune!”
“Make a wish! Whatever it is, I will grant it!”
After finishing this formulaic speech, the sprite felt a little tired.
In the past—though it had been a very long time—this was always carried out according to script, never with any hiccups.
But this time, for some reason, the lines felt oddly out of place—
Ahem. Perhaps they were just too outdated for the times.
When the speech was done, the sprite pursed its lips and gazed at Luo Yong with a blankly adorable expression.
“A wish?”
At these words, countless thoughts flooded Luo Yong’s mind.
He had come to this world in his sleep, completely unaware and unprepared. He still felt much attachment to his former life, and was not entirely over the girl who had rejected him.
He had wanted, with time and hard work, to become a lawyer and live the life he desired. Then, perhaps, she would look back at him.
But somehow—he didn’t know how—he had ended up here, in this world, as a mage.
Ahem. Just one letter away, but a world apart.
And even now, Luo Yong still felt as if he were dreaming, uncertain of when he would wake.
“I miss my parents. I want to go home.”
“Very well, I’ll send you home right away.”
The sprite seemed eager, waving its tiny fists and scattering a shower of radiant light that enveloped Luo Yong.
And then...
He waited a moment—nothing happened.
“Is... has it started?” Luo Yong asked.
The sprite was silent.
It was already over!
“Um, well... I can’t find... It seems something went wrong, but it’s definitely not my fault!”
Luo Yong was speechless.
“Why don’t you make another wish?” the sprite suggested weakly.
“But didn’t you just say you could grant anything?”
“I really can grant anything! Hmph!”
“Well then...”
Luo Yong recalled the online shopping cart he’d always wanted to empty.
What you can’t have is always on your mind.
“Give me everything in my shopping cart!” Luo Yong said, utterly serious.
Though those things probably had no use in this world, having them in hand would be a comforting thought.
“Shopping cart?”
The sprite... or rather, it was clearly the first time it had heard the term. It tilted its head in confusion for a long while.
Then, it summoned a scroll.
“Even though I don’t understand what you’re asking, this scroll should be able to fulfill your wish.”
With that, the sprite transformed into a beam of light and vanished into the treasure chest.
With a click, the chest locked itself.
Luo Yong was left speechless.
What a lousy... scroll.
A wish-granting sprite, unable to fulfill even such a small wish!
Luo Yong unrolled the scroll and saw two familiar figures.
Inside were two magic circles—both summoning arrays.
At the center of each array was an emblem that made Luo Yong’s heart pound.
“One is a Holy Light Angel, looks like Tsunade, immune to negative effects.”
“The other is a Magitek War Doll, looks like the Empress, boosts both physical and magical output.”
Amazing!
Aren’t these the two figurines from my shopping cart?!
He’d wanted to buy them for ages, but as an ordinary student, he never had the spare money.
Who would have thought! In this other world, he could encounter such fortune!
“Which one to choose? Only children make choices!”
Luo Yong reached out and summoned both at once.
Flash!
Brilliant light nearly blinded him. He stared unblinkingly, afraid of missing anything.
And then...
A tiny, egg-sized chibi figurine appeared before him.
Both magic circles faded at the same time, evidently depleted of energy.
“That’s it?”
Luo Yong cupped the “Tsunade” figurine in his palm, at a loss for words.
“So this is the Holy Light Angel?”
Ding!
“Holy Light Angel, activating!”
A shower of sacred light descended. A small figure circled Luo Yong several times, then alighted on his shoulder.
New information flashed before his eyes.
Item: Holy Light Angel!