Chapter 14: Neutral Good and Lawful Evil

Li Rui’s heart skipped a beat.

—The man wielding the long staff opposite him was actually a spellcaster!

Although Li Rui himself had barely stepped onto the threshold of spellcasting, his meager spell list contained only a solitary “Ice Spike.”

In contrast, the other party, who even mastered the spell “Detect Alignment”—a spell that neither attacks nor defends, nor aids in production—likely possessed a spell repertoire far richer than all the abilities Li Rui had acquired so far.

The gap between spellcasters could be greater than that between man and dog; such a disparity often boiled down to the sheer number of spells one commanded.

Paul, the staff-wielding spellcaster, immediately intended to detect Li Rui’s alignment, clearly wary.

The spell “Detect Alignment,” true to its name, allows a spellcaster to sense and discern whether another being’s alignment is good, neutral, or evil.

Li Rui had never committed heinous crimes like murder, arson, robbery, or theft. With a clear conscience and upright conduct, he had no fear of others using this spell on him.

Moreover, the “Universal Language Memory of Jay” contained this warning—if a spellcaster tells you they intend to use “Detect Alignment” on you, it’s best to stand still and let them do so; otherwise, they’ll likely strike you down before casting the spell.

Of course, those who knew this spell rarely used it recklessly, especially not in crowded places.

Otherwise, as soon as the “Detect Alignment” spell was cast, hundreds of mercenaries wielding axes and knives might leap out and shred the spellcaster to mince meat—after all, in this world’s environment, who hasn’t done something shameful?

With these thoughts, Li Rui nodded decisively: “Go ahead.”

Upon Li Rui’s consent, Paul waved his long wooden staff, muttering indistinct incantations. Soon, a white orb slowly coalesced before him, floating midair before bursting.

From the explosion, concentric white ripples spread rapidly, enveloping all five of them.

An aura first appeared above Paul—a white circle radiating light.

White signified that the person’s recent disposition was generally good, and the circle represented someone somewhat smooth or neutral. Together, the white circle indicated a neutral good alignment.

Next to show a sign was Kate, the archer beside Paul, who bore a black square above her head.

Black signaled recent malevolent deeds, while the square denoted strict adherence to order. Combined, it marked an lawful evil alignment.

The third and fourth to reveal their auras were the sword-and-shield bearer and the burly two-handed axe wielder beside Paul and Kate. Both bore the same white circle of neutral good as Paul.

Finally, it was Li Rui’s turn.

When his alignment sigil appeared, everyone exhaled in relief.

Li Rui, too, was neutral good.

The alignment spectrum stretched between order and chaos, while most ordinary people were neutral—especially neutral good, the most populous alignment in the world.

Compared to this, both lawful and chaotic alignments were somewhat extreme, with lawful good and chaotic evil being particularly incomprehensible to common folk.

In this primal forest, encountering anyone from either lawful or chaotic alignments would invariably be troublesome.

Seeing Li Rui’s alignment mark, Paul relaxed somewhat, but his gaze immediately darkened upon seeing Kate. “Kate! Why does your alignment still show lawful evil? Didn’t I tell you to stay away from the Robbs Gang?”

Kate retracted her arrow and shrugged indifferently. “They pay well. It’s just a job, Paul. I’m only collecting debts for them.”

His three teammates shook their heads, clearly disapproving.

Though Kate was not lying, they knew she actually relished the sight of debtors weeping in torment. She wanted to continue this work just to witness those who owed money groveling at her feet.

This was a private matter for their squad, unsuitable for Li Rui’s ears, so Paul merely shook his head and ceased pressing, then said to Li Rui, “Since you’re no villain, you can come with us. But remember what you said—keep your distance.”

“Detect Alignment” could only reveal past alignment, not future changes.

If someone suddenly lost their mind and became a lunatic, their alignment would immediately shift to chaotic neutral, rendering the previous detection meaningless.

Hence, a measure of caution was always necessary.

“Understood.”

Li Rui agreed and then knelt down, taking out a second set of clothes he had stripped from a corpse to carefully wrap the skull he had just hidden in the bushes. He slung it behind his back to avoid the other four adventurers noticing.

He still hadn’t figured out the source of the mist surrounding the skull. If it were produced by the vortex iron piece, that would be understandable. But if the protective mist that repelled wild beasts and poisonous insects relied on the undead’s presence to maintain, then the dilemma of whether to keep the undead to preserve the mist became a troubling choice.

Undead were universally reviled wherever they appeared.

After Paul and the others agreed to Li Rui’s accompaniment, the five of them silently set off, skirting the outskirts of the Pure White City, heading south.

Along the way, Li Rui remained cautious, keeping about ten meters behind them.

At night, when Paul’s group lit a campfire to rest, they did not invite Li Rui to share the fire and meal, nor did Li Rui approach. Instead, after chewing on some black bread and leaves, he climbed onto a fairly broad tree branch to sit.

He was not familiar with Paul’s group, so he planned to spend the night sitting there. Yet his usual sleep habits hadn’t fully adapted since arriving in this other world.

Especially after experiencing a night’s sleep under the protective mist, he felt somewhat more at ease.

As drowsiness swept over him, he unconsciously lost control of his body, instinctively shifting from sitting to a semi-reclined position less prone to falling off the branch, then slipping into a deep slumber.

At the campfire, Paul and Kate noticed Li Rui’s movement, exchanged glances, and both shook their heads.

“To think he dares to just fall asleep like that, ha…” they mused.

To them, Li Rui seemed a lucky but weak fellow, who had merely gotten his hands on a magical item capable of sustaining mist around his body for a long time, perhaps with other functions, and fancied himself about to strike it rich in the low-level monster forest.