It was time for the equipment check. Yeats rubbed his hands together with anticipation.
At this point, he had no choice but to reluctantly loot the bag.
"Gray, can you check that bag? See if there's anything useful inside?"
"Why me?" Gray groaned, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm afraid something like a ghost might pop out," Yeats said seriously.
"I'm scared too, alright!" Gray sighed. "If I get injured, you'll need to pay for compensation and medical expenses according to the employment law!"
"Got it, hurry up," Yeats mumbled under his breath, medieval employment law? This place is oddly becoming more urbanized!
Gray slowly approached the skeleton, cautiously poking at the dirt with her foot, accidentally kicking the skull a meter away.
Clink, clink!
Gray turned back, embarrassed, only to see Frakas pointing at his shoulder armor and then staring at the sky.
Yeats muttered under his breath, "My bad, my bad... Please, holy light—ah, I mean, my bad."
Gray stiffened, quickly picking up the dusty satchel, jogging back to Yeats.
The snowy owl gave her a casual glance, its posture oozing an "I'll handle this" vibe!
Then, the snowy owl dug around in the dirt, pulling out a wooden staff.
This staff had a smooth, polished shine to it, and the top was slightly concave with a dusty aquamarine gem embedded in it.
"This... this is a staff!" Frakas gasped, holding the staff carefully.
"Looks like the birdie earned some serious points!" Yeats grinned.
"Hoo~," the snowy owl perched on Yeats's shoulder, contentedly preening its feathers.
Owls have keen eyesight, and being a magical species, this snowy owl was especially attuned to magical energies. Without its help, finding this hidden treasure would've been quite the challenge.
Yeats poked the snowy owl's fluffy head, taking the staff from Frakas's hands.
Although Yeats didn't know Identification spells, when he opened the staff's menu, a small game-like description appeared next to it.
"Rainstaff: First-ring staff. Grants bonus to water-based spells. Enchantment: Create Water"
According to Phantom Wings lore, magical energy flows through everything in the world, like a massive magic web. Mages typically use staff-like implements to channel this power, which makes staffs highly valuable—especially enchanted ones.
The Rainstaff, with its ability to cast the "Create Water" spell, would be incredibly useful, not just for travel, but also for cooking and even agriculture in his future territory.
"Anything else in the bag?" Yeats asked eagerly.
Frakas inspected the contents. "There's a scroll, a manual, a leather contract, a colorless crystal, and five gold coins."
"From the seal on the scroll," Frakas said, "it looks like it contains..."
"Is that a second-ring spell?" Yeats's eyes widened.
Frakas shook his head in disbelief. "It is! Strong Wind, a second-ring spell that creates strong gusts to disperse poison mists, push enemies back, and deal damage!"
"A second-ring scroll?" Gray's eyes nearly popped out. "This is worth a ton of gold!"
Scrolls had two main uses: one-time use for spells or as spell-learning material. The Strong Wind scroll was something Snowy Owl could potentially learn, boosting its combat potential!
But with no one in the team skilled enough to teach the owl magic, learning this second-ring spell would be no easy feat.
For now, Yeats didn't have much hope for the snowy owl learning it, especially since second-ring magic was notoriously hard to master.
As for the five gold coins in the pouch—enough to buy a plow ox—Yeats couldn't help but grin at his good fortune.
"Not bad at all," Yeats nodded. "This necromancer clearly wasn't hurting for cash."
Gray raised an eyebrow. "What about this leather contract? Is it for summoning undead?"
"It's a contract to bind a magical beast, and it requires the colorless crystal, which we already have," Frakas speculated. "Looks like this necromancer was trying to form a pact with the Firestorm Antelope, but instead, it ended up being its undoing."
Gray's eyes widened, and she turned to Yeats and the snowy owl. "So... is this a ready-made contract for us?"
Binding a magical beast required a special ritual called the "Contract," and beastmasters were experts at it. Currently, the snowy owl was still wild, merely traveling with them. But with a contract, it would officially become Yeats's magical pet.
Having traveled with the snowy owl for these past few days, Yeats was already set on making the contract.
He took the contract from Frakas and walked up to the snowy owl, who was wobbling slightly as it perched on his shoulder.
"How about it? Want to form a contract with me? You'll get free food and lodging for life."
The snowy owl blinked, confused for a moment, before Yeats added with a smirk, "If you don't sign, there's no Firestorm Antelope feast for you tonight."
"Hoo!"
Without hesitation, the snowy owl pressed its claws down onto the parchment.
The colorless crystal gleamed brightly, enveloping the parchment in a soft light. Then, as if by magic, the parchment burned to ash, scattering in the wind.
Yeats felt an invisible connection form with the owl.
Communicating with it, giving commands, all became smoother.
Yeats made a gesture, and the snowy owl flew onto his outstretched arm, standing tall and proud.
Yeats couldn't help but smile, thinking of a classic line from his favorite game: "I choose you, snowy owl!"
He immediately turned to Gray, his voice brimming with excitement.
"Gray, what's our goal now?"
"Hunt ancient dragons!" Gray responded eagerly.
Yeats's smile faded, and he deadpanned, "Forget about it. Don't ever bring up hunting ancient dragons again."
"Why?" Gray asked, puzzled.
"Because it's just asking for death," Yeats replied dryly.
As Yeats was about to resume his thoughts, he opened a manual left by the necromancer, thinking it might be a treasure trove of knowledge, much like the protagonist of some novel inheriting a legendary tome. But after flipping through the first two pages, Yeats's expression turned odd.
The necromancer, a user of bodies for research, had written down his methods for meat preservation and even fermentation techniques using molds to extend food shelf life.
Yeats slowly closed the manual, realizing that what he had hoped was a magical secret guide was actually... a production manual.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later that night, after the tiring hunt for the Firestorm Antelope, the group was utterly exhausted.
Yeats ordered Frakas and Gray to sleep while he and the snowy owl stayed up to keep watch.
Gray immediately crawled into her sleeping bag, falling asleep almost instantly; Frakas, moved by Yeats's concern, reluctantly fell asleep with his clothes on, leaning against the carriage.
The campfire crackled as Yeats sipped tea, using the hot beverage to keep himself awake.
Beside him, the snowy owl stared at him with its amber eyes, occasionally turning its head 270 degrees.
"You really have energy," Yeats mused, resting his chin in his hand lazily. "Maybe you should open that scroll and study it. Who knows, you might learn something."
The snowy owl, now able to understand more complex commands, flew over to the backpack, retrieving the scroll inside.
It pecked open the scroll's seal and laid it flat, focusing intently on the magical runes written across it.
Yeats poured himself another cup of lemon tea, placing it next to the snowy owl.
Then, he watched in disbelief as the owl pecked the tea, giving him a look as if it were reading the newspaper.
Yeats: "..."
This moment was too much. He half-imagined a meme of the owl with glasses, reading a paper.
Using a scroll required understanding the text, and Yeats's magical aptitude had long since outgrown his ability to read scrolls.
The snowy owl, despite its budding magical talent, was only a first-ring creature. It would take a couple of months to learn a second-ring spell like Strong Wind.
The next morning, with the sun just beginning to rise, Yeats glanced at his new companion, who was still intently studying the scroll.
"You've been studying all night?"
Yeats smiled. "No need to rush, after all, magic isn't something you can just learn by pulling an all-nighter..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the snowy owl's gaze sharpened.
Whoosh!
With a mighty flap of its wings, a powerful gust of wind blew out the campfire, shaking the trees in the forest.
Yeats stood still, his silver hair tousling in the wind, awestruck.
He quickly opened his menu to check the snowy owl's status.
To his shock, under its list of spells, Strong Wind was now there!
"Wait... you learned it already?" Yeats stammered in disbelief.
The snowy owl tilted its head.
Yeats blinked, realizing the owl had spent the whole night learning the spell and was now fully capable of using it.
"Well, looks like you've self-taught yourself a new skill."
The snowy owl gave a satisfied whoo, and Yeats's mind immediately started racing with new plans.
Perhaps it was time to start gathering more scrolls to help his new magical companion learn and grow.