The Power of the Minimap

The forest path was uneven, and the horses inevitably wobbled along it.

This put Ye Wei'an in a difficult position.

He could feel the soft, warm body swaying gently in rhythm with the movement in his arms, and the fragrant strands of hair occasionally brushed against his chin, making him momentarily lose his focus and almost drop the reins.

The squad rode swiftly along.

To avoid potential enemy surveillance, Kane led them away from the trade route and instead took a more secluded path.

The team sped along the forest path for about an hour.

While riding his horse, Ye Wei'an enjoyed the soft body in his arms, and habitually kept an eye on the small map in the upper right corner of his field of vision.

Suddenly, several red markers lit up in the area ahead that indicated a road bend.

"Kane, stop!" He immediately pulled on the reins and pointed to the denser woods ahead. "Something's not right up there. There might be an ambush."

Upon hearing this, Kane raised his hand to signal the group to halt. He looked in the direction Ye Weian pointed and saw only a silent thicket of bushes and crooked old trees, noticing nothing amiss. A hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, but remembering the extraordinary methods this young master had previously displayed, he chose to believe him.

"Harold," he said in a low voice, "touch it and see, be careful."

"Yes!" Harold dismounted, drew his short sword, and, along with a nimble cat, crouched low and stealthily crept forward under the cover of the bushes.

Less than fifteen minutes later, he returned with a look of disgust and relief on his face: "It's goblins, young master. It's a small group of goblins, about ten or so, hiding behind that earthen mound ahead. They look like they're planning to ambush anyone passing by."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that it was a goblin.

These small, green-skinned creatures are among the weakest humanoid monsters in Faerûn, short in stature, cowardly, and greedy.

A single goblin might not even be able to defeat a farmer wielding a pitchfork; they only pose a slight threat when they are in large groups.

"Young Master, what do you think?" Kane asked Ye Weian inquiringly.

"Let's just take care of them while we're at it," Ye Wei'an said decisively. They were just goblins; it would be a waste not to kill them, and he could at least gain some experience.

Kane nodded and immediately formulated a battle plan.

The plan was quite simple: Kane and Raine would flank from the left, Harold would maneuver from the right, and Yevian would simply lead Elaine to cast spells from a distance.

After several soldiers had taken cover, Ye Weian waved his hand and fired the first shot with a magic trick.

"Cursed Flame".

A burst of blue-white arcane flame suddenly appeared above the head of a goblin who was bending over and setting up tripwires.

"Gah!—"

The goblin didn't even have time to scream before its head was instantly ignited by the intense heat of the cursed fire, and it quickly died.

"Yaku! Yaku! (Enemy attack!)" The goblin horde erupted in chaos, screaming and running in all directions.

"Go!" Kane shouted, charging out alongside Harold and Ryan.

Kane's longsword drew a semi-circle in the air, its heavy blade whistling through the air as it sliced ​​through the necks of two goblins.

Harold's shield easily knocked a goblin away, followed by a follow-up sword strike.

Raine was even more swift, charging directly into the densest area of ​​goblins and taking down two with a single sweep of his axe.

The battle was extremely fast; the goblins were as fragile as straws in the face of professional warriors.

Ye Wei'an sat on his horse with his little maid An in his arms. Whenever a goblin tried to shoot a sneak arrow or escape, he would follow up with a "Cursed Flame".

Each flash of the blue and white flame represents the passing of a life.

A few minutes later, the forest returned to silence, with only the remaining cursed fire emitting a faint hissing sound on the corpses.

A series of experience prompts appeared in his field of vision, and Ye Wei'an's experience points rose directly to LV.3 (764/1800), which can be considered as a gain.

The only downside is that these goblins are penniless to the core.

Their tattered leather armor reeked of urine, unworthy of being considered spoils of war, and their rusty short swords were so bad that they would be too impurities to be melted down into scrap metal.

"Pah, what a waste of energy." Renn kicked away a goblin corpse and cursed under his breath.

Kane shook the blood off his longsword, sheathed it, and returned to his horse.

When he looked at Ye Weian again, the respect in his eyes deepened.

During his service with the Purple Dragon Knights, he did work with battle mages.

In his memory, the destructive power of those mid-to-low-level battle mages was no less than that of Ye Weian.

But apart from that, they knew absolutely nothing.

This young master Ye Wei'an... is a complete anomaly.

He was young but terrifyingly versatile: he could use powerful offensive spells, cast healing spells that only priests could master, and even had interrogation methods that were incomprehensible to others.

Now, he can even sense ambushes with uncanny foresight...

Of all the mages he had ever met, those who could achieve this level were all established and powerful figures.

Young Master Ye Wei'an has only studied at the War Mage Academy for four years and is still a magic apprentice. Some people even say that he has "mediocre talent"?!

Give me a dozen of these mediocre magic apprentices.

"Young Master's magic is truly amazing," Kane said sincerely, his attitude even more respectful than before. "I look forward to your guidance on the path ahead."

The power structure within the organization has quietly changed.

If before Ye Weian was merely accompanying the team and had to follow Kane's instructions along the way, now he has truly become the team's commander.

The rest of the journey went by in a way that seemed almost unbelievably smooth to Kane and the two warriors.

Ye Wei'an rode at the head of the group, handing the reins to Ai Lian in front of him, while focusing most of his attention on the minimap, occasionally pointing out directions aloud:

"Avoid the swamp to the left and head towards the hills to the west."

"The canyon ahead is too narrow and there may be a risk of falling rocks, so we will take the gentle slope to the south instead."

……

Many of the paths he chose deviated completely from the relatively "safe" routes in Kane's memory.

Initially, Kane was not without concerns.

What happened next completely dispelled all his doubts.

On one occasion, Ye Weian insisted on bypassing a seemingly flat clearing in the woods.

When Harold looked back afterward, he saw that in the sunlight, the shadows of the clearing were vaguely covered with a sticky sheen—it was the web of a giant spider.

On another occasion, the team abandoned a shortcut and instead spent an extra fifteen minutes climbing a scree slope.

Just as they were taking a short rest at the top of the hill, a chilling roar and the sound of trees snapping came from below. A huge, furry figure could be vaguely seen charging furiously through the woods. It looked like an owl bear—a powerful magical beast with the massive body of a bear and the sharp beak and claws of an owl, and an extremely strong sense of territory.

The minimap can display not only enemies, but also terrain.

For example, a depression that appears to be just overgrown with shrubs is actually a muddy swamp where a horse's legs could sink; a slope covered with fallen leaves that looks solid hides loose and slippery pebbles underneath.

These terrain features are difficult to see with the naked eye, but they are clearly visible on the minimap.

What Kane found most baffling was that every time Young Master Ye Wei'an seemed to have taken a longer route, when they finally emerged from the dense forest and retraced their steps onto a familiar path, Kane would discover that they had not only perfectly avoided all potential dangers, but their journey was also significantly faster than if they had simply followed the "safe" paths he knew!

"My lord," Harold couldn't help but ask Kane during a rest stop, "how...how did the young master manage that? Have you traveled these roads before?"

Kane slowly shook his head, his gaze falling on the young master who was joking with the maid in front of him.

"No. I'm familiar with a few fixed forest paths. To completely deviate from existing routes and precisely avoid all trouble in unfamiliar territory like this..." He paused, his voice filled with deep emotion, "Even the most experienced scouts or rangers need to repeatedly scout and probe; it's impossible to do it like this... as if you're walking with a map marked with everything."

He recalled his experiences with the Purple Dragon Knights.

Those battle mages could also use spells to scout specific areas, but they could never plan the optimal path so persistently and efficiently.

"This isn't something magic can do," Kane finally whispered. "It's... a talent we can't comprehend. Obeying the young master's orders is the greatest guarantee of our safety."

Ryan took a sip of water and muttered, "I'm very confident now... Young Master can really find the mastermind hiding in the town."