After Herag deduced this point, the next target became clear.

While absorbing the demon aura to enhance his own power, he would search for the wizard from the expedition team.

As long as he could find the traces of the expedition team, there would be a chance to return to the Wizard Plane.

After dealing with the hidden threat of Medel, Herag wasn't in such a rush to return, as this place was quite nice for him.

Herag walked out of the mountains and back onto the main road, heading towards Amy City to the east.

There were currently no carriages or pedestrians on this road, most likely due to the rampant mountain monsters in that area, so no one was heading towards Greenfield City for the time being.

Herag continued along the road without using space travel to avoid being seen by any potential hidden people.

Three days later.

After traveling for three days, the number of carriages on the road gradually increased, with merchants and travelers coming from all directions.

"Uncle, can I hitch a ride?" Herag quickly ran up to a merchant caravan and asked.

The caravan had seven carriages, carrying a lot of goods, along with many people.

Herag planned to pay a bit to hitch a ride, as it was much easier than walking by himself.

The leader of the caravan was a burly uncle with a beard, who looked Herag up and down and said, "Sure, as long as you don't mind. The last carriage still has room, it's for loading horse feed."

"I don't mind that, how much?" Herag asked.

The uncle waved his hand, "No need for money, we're all people on the run."

He noticed the mud on Herag's shoes and the road dust on his clothing, indicating he'd been walking for quite some time.

If there was another way, how would he have ended up resorting to such a long trek on foot, so he decided not to take Herag's money.

Herag thanked him immediately, "Thank you, thank you. My name is Norman, and I'm an exorcist."

"Oh, so you're an exorcist, sir. I'm called Jaman, and it's an honor to have an exorcist join our caravan," Jaman said with a smile.

Jaman hadn't expected this young-looking fellow to actually be an exorcist.

Their caravan also had an exorcist on hire, and the cost was quite steep.

But they had no choice but to hire an exorcist, for otherwise, the safety along the way wasn't guaranteed.

Losing the goods was a minor issue, but losing their lives would be too costly.

Just then, a man with a longbow on his back came over. He looked to be in his thirties, with a scar on his face, and he said to Herag, "Exorcist?"

Herag smiled and nodded, without saying much.

"I'm Jim, the hired guard for this caravan. By your aura, you seem to be an exorcist apprentice—interested in joining our group? There's still seven or eight days' journey to Amy City, and you could earn some money in the process."

Jim sensed that the demon aura on Herag wasn't very intense, leading him to assume Herag was probably just an exorcist apprentice.

He didn't have Arnt's keen perception abilities and didn't sense Herag's true strength.

Herag replied, "My strength is still quite weak, so I'd feel bad charging for guarding duties."

Jaman laughed heartily, "No worries, no worries. It's good to have company on the road, especially since Amy City isn't too far away."

After chatting for a while, the caravan resumed its journey.

Herag moved to the last carriage in the caravan and climbed inside, where there was a lot of dry grass making it quite comfortable to lie down.

The thick dry grass helped cushion the bumps from the carriage, which felt better than sitting inside it.

Lying in the carriage, Herag closed his eyes and entered a state of meditation, swaying with the oscillations of the carriage.

Meditation practice was something he never skipped, as it required consistent and steady effort.

...

Five days later, at dusk, the sun began to set.

After entering a small town, the caravan stopped to rest for the night.

This town was called Thousand Lakes Town, named for a very wide lake nearby.

Thousand Lakes Town was located near a major thoroughfare, only about a kilometer away.

Merchant caravans and travelers from all over chose to stop and rest here.

The town originally started as a small settlement but gradually grew larger due to the increasing number of visitors, becoming much bigger than ordinary towns.

The town had everything; most everyday goods could be replenished here.

Herag settled down with the caravan at an inn, where he paid for his own room.

The inn was bustling with people, most rooms filled to capacity.

Upon entering his allocated room, Herag found out it had been modified.

Originally meant to be half a room, the innkeeper had created a partition.

This allowed the innkeeper to sell an extra room, accommodating more guests.

Upon his arrival, Herag noticed the high volume of people in the town.

These inns were likely always at full capacity, prompting the division of rooms into partitions.

Otherwise, the inns might not accommodate everyone given the crowd.

Herag didn't mind the simplicity; as long as there was a place to sleep, it didn't matter.

As night fell, the temperature dropped sharply.

Herag lay under a blanket on the bed, closing his eyes to meditate.

The town's proximity to a large lake was likely the reason for the especially cold nights.

No wonder merchants chose to sleep indoors; outdoors, the cold was unbearable for most.

Late at night, Herag slowly opened his eyes, sensing something unusual.

"It's getting foggy."

He glanced out the window, noticing a dense white mist enveloping the town, reducing visibility to almost nothing.

Frost had formed on the window, with cold seeping through into the room.

Herag frowned, sensing something suspicious about the white mist.

A prompt from Shenlan suddenly came: "Detected special substances within the white mist, presumed to cause drowsiness or anesthesia."

Herag had already inhaled quite a bit of the mist, yet felt nothing.

He quickly realized his constitution was too strong, rendering the mist ineffective on him.

However, this wasn't the case for others; Shenlan's environmental scan could cover the whole town.

Currently, most people in the town had already fallen asleep.

Some lay in bed, while others simply lay down in hallways, on stairs, or in the lobby and fell asleep.

Given the cold weather, no one would choose to lie down in such places to sleep, and they didn't appear drunk either.

Apart from Herag, a few others remained aware of the abnormalities in the town.

Most of these people were exorcists or powerful adventurers, though some began moving sluggishly, clearly affected by the anesthetic effect of the mist.

Herag turned his gaze outside the town, where everything seemed shrouded in white, obscuring all sight.

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