A Crown of Shadows and Starlight

Chapter 5

It was definitely not drowning!

A nearly one-meter-long crossbow bolt was still lodged in the corpse. Meilin recognized this type of bolt—it was fired from a specialized crossbow, usually mounted on ships or airships. In other words, this wizard had been hunted down.

Glancing around to make sure no one was nearby, Meilin dragged the body onto the shore and began examining it. She had no particular aversion to corpses—she had seen far worse in dissection classes. The man was long dead, his breath gone, and his blood had already drained from the wound, leaving the injury with only faint traces of seeping blood. What was certain was that he hadn’t been dead for long. This meant that if his killers wanted to confirm his death, they would likely come searching soon.

Whoever was capable of killing a full-fledged wizard was far beyond Meilin’s ability to deal with. Instinctively, she was about to push the corpse back into the water.

But wait—this was a full-fledged wizard!

Meilin’s hands paused. She glanced around furtively, like a thief, then immediately started searching the body.

Moments later, a palm-sized leather pouch appeared in her hands.

“A storage bag!” Meilin’s face lit up with joy.

This was a high-quality storage bag—a spatial magic item with an internal storage space of varying sizes, allowing objects to be kept fresh. Normally, only full-fledged wizards or extremely wealthy apprentices could afford such an item. Most others relied on simple enchanted bags, which couldn’t compare in the slightest.

Just owning this storage bag was already a huge profit, and Meilin highly doubted it was empty.

“Hmm? This ring looks like a magical artifact as well,” she noticed a peculiar black ring on the corpse’s right hand and promptly yanked it off.

Now was not the time to examine her spoils. Not only were the wizard’s pursuers likely still searching nearby, but she could already see the massive silhouettes of snow crocodiles emerging from the water in the distance.

“Dust returns to dust, water to water. I suppose you wouldn’t want your belongings falling into your enemies’ hands. Forgive me for desecrating your body,” Meilin muttered apologetically.

She had initially wanted to bury the corpse properly, but that would only leave behind evidence. Wizards had numerous tracking methods, and she couldn’t afford to take any risks.

Quickly, she pulled a crocodile egg from her pouch, cracked it open, and poured the contents onto the corpse. Then, with all her strength, she hurled the body into the river.

The moment the egg cracked, the snow crocodiles swimming toward her turned furious. Before the corpse even hit the water, they had already locked onto the scent and lunged toward it.

Meilin wasted no time. Without even looking back, she tossed the pouch containing the crocodile eggs and the ring into the storage bag, then secured it carefully. She swiftly erased any traces of her presence from the shore and retraced her path back to the academy.

Behind her, the enraged snow crocodiles tore into the corpse, their fury driving them to shred it apart. Within moments, the remains were scattered, the tattered robe and dismembered body parts swept away by the rushing river.

⸻

“Damn it!”

Hours later, near a swirling eddy downstream, several robed figures examined the tattered remains of a wizard’s robe with frustration.

There was no doubt—the target’s body had been attacked by crocodiles and was now in an unrecognizable state. As for whatever he had been carrying, it was either in the stomach of some crocodile or lost to the river’s currents. Even the most powerful beings on the continent would struggle to retrieve it now.

“My lord, what should we do?” a wizard apprentice asked hesitantly.

“Hmph! Keep searching,” the leading wizard snapped before adding, “Report the situation to our superiors. We’ll continue the search while awaiting further instructions.”

⸻

Meilin knew nothing of what was happening, nor did she care. Right now, she felt like someone who had suddenly struck gold, jittery and anxious. Every glance from others felt suspicious.

To avoid raising suspicion, she stuck to her usual routine—selling all the game she had hunted, having dinner, and then giving Qianyu an hour-long lesson.

“Meilin, is something bothering you? Don’t tell me Filler is harassing you again?” Qianyu asked with concern.

“No, it’s nothing. I’m just tired today,” Meilin replied casually. Of course, she wouldn’t share her recent experiences, not even the incident with the defective potions.

“Oh, alright then. Get some rest,” Qianyu said, studying her skeptically before finally leaving.

Once she was alone, Meilin locked the door, carefully checked the windows, and finally pulled out the storage bag. She had been so cautious that she hadn’t even dared to sell the snow crocodile eggs yet. Now, all she could do was hope the bag’s contents were worth it.

“Hmm? The space is quite large,” she noted, inspecting the bag. The internal storage area was at least twenty cubic meters—an exceptionally high-grade storage bag—and it was filled with various items.

With a rustling sound, she emptied the bag’s contents onto the floor.

A pile of gold coins gleamed in the dim light—currency from the mortal world, totaling several hundred pieces. However, for a wizard, such money held little value unless she wanted to live as a wealthy noble.

What truly caught her attention was the pile of over a hundred magic stones. With these, she could afford better potions, which might help her advance in her training.

“This is… high-grade Focus Potion!” Meilin excitedly fished out five vials from the pile of gold. Two of them contained a liquid as silvery as mercury—clearly top-quality Focus Potion.

A single vial of mid-grade potion was worth hundreds of lower-grade ones, making it an unimaginable luxury for even wizard apprentices.

“Hehehe, with these two potions, I might actually break through to a first-rank apprentice!” Meilin nearly jumped with excitement.

Stay calm! Stay calm!

She took several deep breaths to suppress her giddiness before continuing her inspection.

The remaining three vials contained specialized potions—two were Poison Mist Potions, and one was a Frost Potion. While not exceptionally powerful, they were quite useful for her.

Additionally, there were six or seven intricately designed spell scrolls. These scrolls contained pre-recorded spell models that could be activated instantly with a mere thought. They were perfect for someone like Meilin, but her excitement faded when she realized they only contained weak, zero-rank spells.

“Tch, a full-fledged wizard carrying such low-level scrolls? That’s kind of embarrassing,” she grumbled before picking up the black ring.

Now, it was time to examine this particular prize.