The group led by Flain continued walking across the meadow until Sugi stopped Flain.
"A bit ahead is the main camp," said Sugi.
Flain didn’t sense any magical energy ahead of them, and according to his calculations, his sense had a range of approximately 50 meters.
They continued forward, and Flain began to sense around 10 individuals ahead. The closer he got, the more he could feel.
"Hehe, I hope there’ll be some action again," said Ghosty, flying next to him.
Ghosty had already come to terms with the fact that Flain was immortal, even though he didn’t like it. When the fish killed Flain, they had quite a bit of fun, so he was in a good mood. Though he had started to somewhat like Flain, even if he didn’t want to admit it. He enjoyed it when Flain fought — especially when he lost, which didn’t happen often. That’s because Flain only fought when he was sure he had a chance of winning.
A moment later, they arrived at the main camp, which looked more like a small village. There were many large tents and even houses that didn’t look cheap at all. Many bandits were walking around, each of them at least Stage 2.
So far, the strongest individual Flain could sense was at Advanced Stage 2.
"Wait here, I don’t want you getting in my way," said Flain and left them at the entrance of the camp.
Flain walked around, and right away, a bandit ran up to him. To Flain’s surprise, he was Novice Stage 3. So it was already clear to him that their chief would most likely be stronger than him.
"May I ask who you are and what you want here? I don’t recognize you," he said.
A magical map appeared in Flain’s hand. "I’m here on behalf of the Head Bandit. He entrusted me with this magical map which I’m to deliver to the Chief," Flain said.
The tension on the bandit’s face disappeared. "Ah, I’ve been expecting you. Didn’t think the Head Bandit would send someone this strong, but so be it," he said.
"Follow me," he said.
Flain and the bandit walked through the camp. Once he identifies his Stage, he’ll fly off. That’s the plan, and it should work — of course, there’s a chance it won’t, and the bandits will kill or capture him, but that’s unlikely since Flain doubted the Chief had so much mana that he could fly, plus he’d need a flight spell on top of that.
"Are you new? I know quite a few colleagues at your strength level, but I haven’t seen you before," asked the bandit.
"You’re right. I only joined this month. I was originally an adventurer, but I got on the bad side of a noble, and I had to run," said Flain.
"That sucks. Anyway, with your strength, you can already put in a request for a house in the main camp," said the bandit.
"I’ll think about it," said Flain.
As they got further, Flain sensed magical energy at the end of the camp. And the strongest one was Mid Stage 5 — that was the Chief.
There was also one Early Stage 4 and five Stage 3s, including the bandit who was leading him. Flain couldn’t defeat this group by attacking. The source of this content ɪs novel⦿fire.net
Flain smirked—he had learned what he wanted to know. This would be a good EXP farm, even if only in the future. And everything suggested there was another large camp under this Chief, led by someone they called Head Bandita.
So those five bandits might still be useful for something. Flain guessed that the Head Bandita would be at most Stage 4, which could turn into an early EXP farm for him. So his next move was clear: fly away and head toward the Head Bandita’s camp.
Flain set a checkpoint on this location within the magic map. He unfolded Transparent Wings and soared into the air, heading back toward his group as fast as possible.
It took a while for the bandit to notice Flain was gone, since he was seriously quiet.
Meanwhile, Flain reached his group and ordered them to run forward as fast as they could. He emphasized that they should stay close together. Finally, he quickly instructed them to regroup at the start of the meadow.
"Damn, so you’re just running away? You coward," Ghosty’s voice rang out from the wings.
Flain flew above the bandit who had guided him, making sure the man noticed him, and then flew off in the opposite direction from where Itai and the other bandits were running.
The bandit who had led Flain couldn’t believe his own eyes. A Stage 3 could fly? And on top of that, he had no idea why he fled. Chasing him was useless—Flain had already vanished, and the bandit didn’t know how fast he could fly. He already had a huge head start.
Instead, the bandit ran toward the large building where the Chief lived. When he entered, he wasn’t entirely sure how to convince the Chief that a Stage 3 had just flown off.
The room was dim, with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling that emitted only a few yellow lights. Ahead of him was a golden carpet leading to a large throne, where the Chief sat flanked by two beautiful naked girls.
Gold coins were scattered everywhere, and in some places there were even Mana Crystals.
The Chief was a tall, muscular man with long messy hair and a short beard. He wore a black eyepatch over one eye and was dressed in black armor. When the bandit entered the room, the Chief turned his gaze toward him.
"You have a cigarette break," he told the girls, and they left.
"Well, Chief, the messenger who was supposed to bring you the Type 4.5 Magic Map arrived at the camp, but on the way here he suddenly flew into the air heading north," the bandit said.
The Chief’s eyes widened. "What Stage was he?" he asked.
"I sensed Early Stage 3," the bandit replied.
"That’s what I sensed too. But why should I believe you?" the Chief asked.
"Well, the other bandits saw it too, and you must’ve felt that Stage 3 suddenly flying away," the bandit said.
A smirk appeared on the Chief’s face. "And what if you lot out there are staging a betrayal against me, and now just need to cover your tracks?" he asked, suddenly appearing right in front of the bandit and staring him straight in the eyes.
The bandit stepped back and swallowed. "We’d never dare thad," he said.
The Chief’s expression began to change...