Chapter 59: The Second Warlock Spell

With the wail of the final sonic bat abruptly cutting off, the ambush battle waged within the dark waters finally came to an end.

Through this engagement, Li Rui accumulated a total of seven draw opportunities.

Originally, there should have been ten, but the battle had dragged on somewhat longer than anticipated.

Throughout the encounter, Li Rui operated much like the commander (observer) and helmsman of a ghost submarine, his nerves tightly strung.

He was responsible for constantly monitoring the movements of the sonic bats by employing [Necrotic Vision], [Minor Darkvision], and [Thermal Vision].

At the same time, he had to carefully gauge the gaps between the flying sonic bats, maneuvering the "gelatinous ray" to constantly ascend and descend, dodging the approaching creatures and ensuring that their sonic attacks found no opening against either of them. The entire battle required relentless, unyielding concentration.

Millie, meanwhile, played the role of a pure "gunner." Her task was to remain poised, her eyes fixed firmly through the transparent gel and the gently undulating water ripples on the massive bats patrolling above the firelight.

The moment Li Rui piloted the "gelatinous ray" to break the water's surface, parting the gel to create a firing window, the arrow in her hand would leave the string with a sharp piercing sound, striking the targets illuminated by the firelight with pinpoint accuracy.

Unfortunately, Millie lacked darkvision; her effective range was restricted solely to the area illuminated by the burning debris on the small pier.

Once the sonic bats flew beyond the reach of the firelight and plunged into the boundless darkness, she was effectively blinded and could only put away her longbow with a sigh of resignation.

Consequently, to evade the diving and shrieking attacks of the sonic bats and to await opportunities for counterattacks, the two of them had spent several minutes lurking underwater—more than a dozen times longer than the time spent surfacing to launch attacks.

Had Millie's archery not been exceptional—allowing her to shoot down targets before the bats could recover their bearings every time they surfaced and exposed themselves to echolocation—this underwater game of hide-and-seek would likely have dragged on even longer.

When the battle concluded and Li Rui surfaced to harvest the spoils, he discovered that the three bats that had fallen into the lake first had already drowned in the pitch-black water before the fighting ended, missing his finishing blows entirely. It was a rather regrettable outcome.

Still, that was of little consequence. After all, sonic bats were merely low-tier magical beasts, with only three traits setting them apart from ordinary bats, one of which was merely being larger without anything particularly magical about it.

Therefore, Li Rui figured there was likely not much worth drawing from the roulette wheel; even with three extra draw opportunities, the rewards would amount to no more than three basic consolation prizes.

'Well then... let the draws begin!'

On the sonic bat's draw wheel, the red section representing physical traits accounted for approximately 49%, the blue section representing the soul also accounted for about 49%, while the gray section representing memories cowered pitifully in the corner at a meager 2%.

The draw wheel spun rapidly, and soon, seven entries appeared before Li Rui in succession.

First came the expected consolation prizes, five in total: three [Lesser Life Energies] and two [Lesser Soul Energies].

Following that were two distinct new entries.

One of them originated from the blue region of the wheel; it was the sole entry orb Li Rui extracted from the blue zone.

[Quasi-Spell: Rending Scream (1st Circle): Unleashes a destructive, inaudible sonic wave that blasts a 3-meter cone directly ahead, with a chance to inflict negative states such as nausea, dizziness, and tinnitus on creatures positioned between 3 and 7 meters away.
This spell consumes only a negligible amount of mana, and the number of daily uses is not strictly limited; however, overuse will result in severe vocal cord damage, rendering the spell temporarily unusable until healed.]

'Wonderful!' Li Rui felt a surge of elation.

With this addition, his Sorcerer class was finally no longer confined to the solitary and lonely [Ice Cone].

Furthermore, from this day forward, he would no longer fear close combat!

Imagine a fierce enemy closing in for a surefire kill, only to be met not by a blade, but by a silent, devastating sonic wave!

Even a warrior class character with the most robust physique and highest damage mitigation, if forced to endure this blow head-on, would emerge dizzy and disoriented, leaving a massive opening.

As for rangers or rogues with slightly weaker constitutions, they might genuinely be scared out of their wits by a single shout and perish on the spot!

Gleefully equipping the [Rending Scream] entry, Li Rui turned his attention to the second new entry.

This second entry came from the red region of the wheel, and it was likewise the only entry orb he extracted from the red zone.

[Echolocation: You gain the ability to emit and receive high-frequency ultrasonic waves, allowing you to precisely construct a "sonar map" of your surrounding environment within your mind.
The coverage of this ability is primarily concentrated in three directions: directly ahead, to your left, and to your right (approximately a 120-degree sector). The top of your head, directly behind you, and beneath your jaw constitute your perception blind spots.
The perceptual range of this ability is affected by environmental noise, ranging from a minimum of 1 meter (at 80 decibels or higher, equivalent to a heated argument among multiple people) to a maximum of 100 meters (at 20 decibels or lower, equivalent to whispering a few meters away).
The perceptual precision of this ability is sufficient to discern the outlines, sizes, movement speeds, and directions of objects, and can even penetrate certain non-metallic obstacles (such as thin wooden boards or cloth curtains), though it cannot distinguish colors or fine textures.]

Upon reading the description of this entry, Li Rui felt as though he had evolved into a human-shaped radar.

From now on, at close range, he had [Minor Darkvision] to provide visual outlines and [Thermal Vision] to trace biological body heat; at medium range, [Echolocation] offered precise three-dimensional spatial modeling; and at long range, the [Necrotic Vision] inherent to [Soulfire] scanned spiritual fluctuations...

Within the absolute core zone 20 meters ahead of him—where all four of these entries overlapped—darkness, dense smoke, and even certain obstacles would lose their shielding effects, practically equipping him with a perspective cheat in his brain!

...Wait, was something still missing?

Li Rui instinctively turned his head to glance at the small pier, which still retained a few lingering sparks. No, it should be the ground of the pier itself.

He was still lacking a crucial vibration-sensing ability.

Against threats originating from underground, his current perceptual network was not yet airtight.

However, that was a matter for the future.

Li Rui firmly believed that among the thick, four-finger-wide tome provided free of charge by the Adventurers' Guild—the *Monster Compendium*—there was bound to be some creature possessing the ability he needed.

Once he managed to return to the surface world, he could resume his previous plan, make specific preparations, and hunt down those monsters.

Yet, here in the deep underground, to achieve all of this, he needed to rest first.

Millie had already couldn't help pressing against his back, frantically inhaling the scent near his neck.