Chapter 12 Zul
"What is a Rathma cult priest?"
After accepting Isendra's request and taking the letter, Ethan kept thinking about this question along the way. His understanding of the Diablo world was only superficial; he had no idea what kind of existence this Rathma cult was.
Following the clues provided by Isendra, Ethan left the camp and searched northward along a small path.
Calling it a small path was just because many people had walked on it, making it slightly flatter, and it also served as a directional guide.
In this world where technology was not advanced, if you got lost in the wilderness, the most reliable way was to find such a path, then follow it in any direction, and you would eventually reach a town.
Another advantage of following the path was that there were relatively fewer monsters. Especially the Bristlebacks and Fallen Ones that Ethan was wary of; these two types of monsters rarely appeared on the path. The most common encounters were with slow-moving zombies, and even then, their numbers were small. Even if he encountered a few, Ethan's current abilities were sufficient to handle them.
"According to Isendra, if I follow this path north for about three days, I should meet that priest. If I don't, I can just go back. Two days have already passed, and forget about the Rathma cult priest, I haven't even seen a single person."
At the same time, the erosion of the dark power was getting worse. Compared to when Ethan first arrived in this world, even during the day, the entire sky was gloomy, with not much sunlight, and the air was filled with an energy that made Ethan feel uncomfortable all over.
After staying in this environment for a long time, as his mental power gradually increased, he always had an urge to absorb this energy into his body and convert it into mana.
"Although for a mage, any energy can be used as mana... but this powerful negative energy will definitely have a significant impact." Ethan carefully recalled the tragic fates of mages who couldn't resist the temptation of powerful forces and used some negative energy, desperately controlling his impulse: "Power that cannot be controlled, no matter how strong, is not mine."
Ethan took a deep breath, then exhaled it completely, as if using this method to strengthen his resolve.
Just as he was about to continue forward, Ethan suddenly noticed a few skeletons wandering not far ahead.
"Skeleton warriors?"
These skeletons were all carrying bone longswords, and they gathered in groups of two or three, patrolling back and forth according to a specific pattern.
"A bit strange..."
Ethan cautiously approached a little, then discovered more skeleton warriors patrolling at the edge of his vision.
"There are quite a few. If I charge in, I'll just be seeking death."
He retreated decisively. To avoid being noticed by the skeleton warriors, Ethan slowed his steps, backing away little by little, while observing the surroundings for any suitable cover to hide behind.
The nearby area was open, not even a single withered tree that had lost all its leaves could be found.
Just as Ethan was cursing his bad luck inwardly, those skeleton warriors discovered his presence. Strangely, the skeleton warriors didn't swarm over; instead, they quickly gathered in one place.
What surprised him even more was that one of the skeleton warriors closest to him didn't move; instead, it waved at him.
"Uh... was that supposed to be a wave?"
Ethan was a bit bewildered. Had he encountered a skeleton warrior with intelligence? Surely he hadn't encountered someone who had transmigrated into a skeleton?
Ethan, who was hesitating whether to continue leaving or observe a bit longer, soon didn't need to agonize. A man dressed in black and white clothes slowly appeared in Ethan's line of sight.
And with a gesture from this man, the skeleton that had waved at him instantly scattered, then slowly disappeared.
"Necromancer?"
Ethan was too familiar with this style. As one of the five selectable classes in the Diablo 2 world, Ethan had also played this class.
"Those skeletons are his summoned creatures!"
No wonder these skeletons' actions were so 'weird'. They were probably on guard just now, protecting the resting Necromancer.
Since it's a Necromancer, he should be trustworthy... right?
There was no help for it. Although Necromancers were very popular among game fans, if put into the real world, a mage who played with corpses and souls didn't seem to align with the good alignment in any way.
Turning around and running didn't seem appropriate either, especially since he remembered that the initial game classes included the Necromancer. According to the official storyline, they were also one of the heroes who saved the world. So, he still needed to make some contact to make a judgment, but he needed to remain vigilant.
"Hello, young traveler, I am Zul, a priest of the Rathma cult. I sense the aura of an acquaintance on you. Did she ask you to find me?"
With a period of learning, coupled with his greatly enhanced memory from mental power, although Ethan could still only use single words and short sentences to speak and couldn't have long conversations with people, his listening ability had greatly improved, and he could understand most conversations without difficulty.
The content of the words confused him for a moment before he realized that the Necromancer in front of him was actually the priest of that cult he was looking for.
"Could there be some mistake?"
His hand still didn't let go of the sword hilt. Ethan took out the letter from his chest with his left hand: "You are a Rathma cult priest? Isendra's friend?"
Hearing Isendra's name, Zul first nodded, but then shook his head: "I've only met Isendra once; we are not friends. However, we now have a common goal, so we can reluctantly call ourselves partners. Previously, we agreed that if either of us found a clue and couldn't spare the time to notify the other, we would entrust someone to deliver a letter with our own mental imprint."
Hearing this, Ethan handed over the letter he was holding. He really didn't expect the Necromancer to be that priest; he always felt that the image didn't match.
Seemingly sensing his doubts, Zul, while reading the letter Isendra had written to him, explained his identity – he had encountered similar misunderstandings many times and was not bothered by it at all, even taking the opportunity to promote the tenets of the Rathma cult.
It turned out that the Necromancers of this world were very different from the Necromancers Ethan originally knew.
They were a cult followed by a minority of people, and their core tenet was the pursuit of balance in all things.
From their tenets, they belonged to the absolute neutral alignment.
The magic used by Rathma cult priests was not some evil power, but rather primordial magic based on the energy inherent in all things. In fact, many cults or tribes in this world used this kind of energy; a typical example being the Amazon warriors.
Using primordial magic and pursuing the balance of life and death, Rathma cult priests gained the ability to manipulate undead creatures. It was precisely for this reason that most people generally held prejudices against them and classified many of the spells they used as 'black' magic.
"Actually, this is incorrect and imprecise."
The Necromancer, who had been rather aloof, immediately turned into a chatterbox when his faith was mentioned, giving Ethan a lengthy lecture on the tenets of the Rathma cult and constantly complaining about how the magic they used was simply and crudely classified as black magic.
"We can discuss this matter later. Isendra asked me to take you to the Rogue Camp."
Speaking of business, Zul finally stopped his rambling and carefully put away Isendra's letter: "The letter says that she got some clues at the Rogue Camp, that the surge in dark power is related to a mysterious person, and also discovered that a large number of dark creatures have gathered in the Blood Moor, and even Andariel has occupied the Citadel, blocking the road to the east."
Zul paused, seemingly also troubled by this information: "From any perspective, I need to go to the Rogue Camp."
He turned his head and looked Ethan up and down: "Young man, Isendra said you are working hard to improve your mental power in order to become a mage?"
"Yes." In fact, Ethan himself didn't know if he could successfully become a mage, but all the 'learning materials' he had collected so far were in the direction of becoming a mage.
"Would you consider joining the Rathma cult?"
After only a short break, Zul started preaching again. Unfortunately, ever since he learned that the Necromancers in the Diablo world were a group of 'holy rollers' like puritanical ascetics, he had lost interest in this class.
"No, I think it's better to stick to the path I've chosen. Wavering back and forth won't lead anywhere."
Unexpectedly, this sentence earned him Zul's praise.
"That's right, young mage apprentice. With such a mindset, I think the day you become a formal mage is not far off."
He then looked at Ethan's thin physique.
"However, in the current dangerous environment, you need to quickly improve your self-preservation ability, otherwise you might not even survive until the day you become a mage. Since your mental power cannot be rapidly increased at the moment, you can consider improving your combat skills."
Ethan nodded, but then he realized something was wrong? Why did this priest look like he was criticizing his combat power and wanted to give him some pointers?"
Did he think he was also a member of the small team fighting against the dark demons? And what the heck was giving pointers on melee combat instead of magic? Was the first requirement to become a mage really to first become a melee expert?
"Uh, are you going to teach me close combat?"
"What? Do you think I can't teach you?" Ethan only felt a blur before his eyes. Zul, who was still two steps away, was already standing in front of him, and a cold dagger was pressed tightly against his neck: "You should know, as a priest of the Rathma cult, close combat is a required course."
"..."