《The Arcanum Algorithm》

Chapter 128 : The Madwoman of Crimson Ash

Nearly a hundred bodies lay piled together.

Yatz, Aldas, and Lafey’s teams dragged the corpses into a deep pit and covered them with loose soil, sealing away the stench that would otherwise rot the air. The spoils of battle—dozens of low-grade Arcane Artifacts—glimmered dully among the debris, but neither Yatz nor Aldas cared to touch them. For those already standing at the peak of apprenticehood, such trinkets were as worthless as pebbles on the road.

Lafey’s group, however, still lingered on the lower rungs of the ladder. None among them had reached a Cognition Power of forty yet. They eagerly picked through the pile, taking whatever caught their fancy. Grimm selected a small ring—its effect simple but precious: it granted a bonus of two points to one’s mental strength, so long as it had not yet reached its natural limit.

As they rested amid the fading heat of battle, an uneasy thought began to gnaw at Lafey and her companions.

If the apprentices of the Twelfth District were like th