Waking up, Noid's entire body was consumed by pain, his ears ringing and vision blurred, but he had long been accustomed to this. After all, this wasn't the first time he had used such potent medicine.
However, being used to it didn't mean he could ignore the pain. He struggled for nearly an hour before his body was somewhat able to function normally.
"Where... am I?"
He was tied up in a shabby, rather dark room, with only a single candle burning about a meter away.
Noid's throat was parched, and he desperately needed water. He strained against his bonds. The ropes weren't particularly tight or durable, and with his current strength, he could likely break them.
His armor was still intact, tightly fastened to his body, making it impossible for an outsider to remove.
If he hadn't been unsure of the intentions of those who brought him here, Noid would have broken free immediately. If they were good people who had only tied him up for safety, he didn't want to cause trouble.
From what he could tell, aside from being tied up, these people didn't seem so bad.
"Hey, hello. Is anyone here?"
"I don't mean any harm."
Soon, footsteps appeared. The room door opened, revealing a boy about 12 or 13 years old. His clothes were wrinkled, his face smudged, and his hair was a mess. He looked at Noid with a hint of wariness.
Noid retracted his helmet into the system's storage and offered a friendly smile.
"Hey, kid, are there any adults here? I'd like to talk. I don't mean any harm."
The boy watched Noid for a moment, then, without a word, ran off. A moment later, a second set of footsteps appeared. It was an older, middle-aged man with a scruffy beard and the boy with him. The boy stood tucked just outside the door, peeking in. The man walked into the room and spoke to Noid.
"I apologize for tying you up. You know... it's hard to trust anyone these days. I hope you understand."
"I do. I should be thanking you for bringing me back."
"That was the children. You can thank them later. I'm Kaular."
Kaular untied Noid, who rotated his wrists and said, "Just call me Noid."
The three of them left the room. The boy kept his distance from Noid, and Kaular gave an awkward smile, explaining that the boy was just a little afraid of strangers. Noid didn't mind.
Carrying the lit candle, they walked through a dark corridor. Noid was led into a large room. It was then that he realized this was a church, and the large room was the main hall.
Through a stained-glass window, he could see it was nighttime. A fire was burning in the center of the room, with a few people gathered around it. Although the room was covered in dust and moss, the area around the fire had been swept clean.
After a brief introduction, Noid and Kaular sat down. The old man handed him a simple plate of food and a cup of water.
"You probably need this. Sorry, but this is all we have."
"It's fine."
The two began to talk. Kaular didn't ask Noid about his background, where he came from, or what he had been doing. He simply gave him some basic information about the place.
Kaular's group consisted of ten people in total—three adults and seven children. They had been living there for a year.
The church was located on a mountain. From there, you could see a small town below. The town was completely deserted, with no one living there.
Noid also heard that about ten kilometers from the town, there was a major city.
One of the houses in the small town had collapsed yesterday because Noid had crashed right into it. Because the town was considered safe, every few days, the seven children, led by a 16-year-old, the eldest among them, would go down to the town to scavenge for food and useful items.
That's how they found Noid and brought him back.
"By the way, Kaular, have you seen a somewhat older woman who might also be lost like me?"
"No, there's only you."
After waking up, he had asked his system about the flying carpet, learning that even after being physically torn, it didn't immediately malfunction. It could still maintain its flying function for a while, taking its user to a safe place.
"So the commissioner has been separated."
Noid thought to himself that he must find the commissioner tomorrow and bring her back. However, even if he found her, getting back wouldn't be easy, as he didn't know where he was or in what direction Rorgh City was.
"I'll figure it out when the time comes."
Noid asked to stay the night and planned to leave in the morning. Kaular agreed to let him. Noid decided to start his search in the small town first.
The night passed quickly. The pain in his body had lessened considerably thanks to a healing capsule. He woke up at dawn and quietly went outside, making sure not to disturb anyone. Putting on his helmet, he began his search.
Although his armor had been damaged, he had asked the system to repair it, and all its functions were working normally.
After a long time of making his way down from the church to the town, he found the spot where he had fallen yesterday, along with the tattered fragments of his flying carpet.
He collected all the cloth fragments and continued to search the small town. There were no clues.
He supposed it made sense. If the commissioner had also fallen in the same place, she would have sought help from the children yesterday.
Sitting on an old stone step, he pondered how to determine the commissioner's location. An idea suddenly came to him.
"System, open the store. Show me an item with a magical tracking function."
The item shop refreshed. He thought for a moment, then selected an item.
Shadow Trace.
Use an object related to the person or thing you want to track. Using this orb will show random images. Note: Cannot track objects or people with a value higher than 3.0.
Price: 50 accumulation points.
In his hand appeared a clear, glass-like orb. He held a fragment of the cloth near the orb. Immediately, the magic imbued in the cloth was activated. The glass orb showed a few blurry images of streets and some building-like structures. At the same time, the magical flow also pointed towards the big city Kaular had mentioned earlier. The answer was obvious.
With the magic dissipated, the tattered cloth fragments were truly just torn rags now. Noid buried them in the ground; they had fulfilled their purpose.
The "Shadow Trace" orb simply used a magical medium to project images or short clips of the object or person to be found.
Because this was likely just a low-grade item from some wizarding world, each use consumed the magic imbued in the medium. This rendered the medium completely useless, turning it into a normal object. Thus, the cloth fragments only had enough magic for a single trace.
Having found the answer, he didn't rush to leave. Instead, he wanted to ask Kaular about the city. From the old man's description, it seemed he had either passed through or even came from there. Noid wanted to gather more information to be sure. To make his upcoming trip more secure, Noid planned to use his last强化剂 (strengthening fluid) today.
The strengthening fluid was only effective on people with a physical strength of 1.0 or below. He had used it twice before, once to break through to 0.7 and a second time to break through to 0.8. He intended to repeat the same tactic this time, using the third bottle to break through to 0.9.
Breaking through to 0.9 would allow him to use the A.T.A Power Armor. With it, Noid's strength would be ten times greater than normal.
He felt the chances of success were very high this time. Repeatedly using the potent medicine and forcing his body to its limits had not been without effect, making his body more receptive. He had now officially reached the peak of 0.8.