Versatile Mage (Web Novel)

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

At night, the sea breeze and the wind from the river clashed, like a woman sobbing.

The whole place was surrounded by green grazing lands. There were not many lights around, like a real countryside. It was perfectly silent, unlike the bustling city.

Mo Fan’s group of three were invited along by Zhao Pinlin, Rong Sheng, and the others to join them at a campfire around a kilometer away from the hotel.

There was a little wooden shed close to the campfire. The roof was made of steel glass, allowing the people inside to see the beautiful night sky.

The night was quite cloudy. A huge part of the sky was lit up by stars, while the other parts were covered in clouds. The clouds were moving slowly, trying to compete with the stars for territory.

The wind was strong, and the night was chilly, but the bunch of young adults was enjoying themselves in the wooden shed. It had a fridge full of alcohol. The students also brought snacks and cooked food. In the center was a campfire made of cobbles. Everyone could easily add dried branches to the fire. It was the only source of light and warmth within a kilometer, resulting in an uneasy yet thrilling atmosphere.

Many people liked to go camping in the wild and setting up campfires. However, there were also bugs, mosquitoes, cold wind, and the darkness that made them feel uneasy. It was not as romantic as everyone imagined, but the atmosphere was perfectly suited to their needs. It was thrilling, clean, and comfortable enough. The students were easily lost in wild and fanciful thoughts. The light of the fire lit up everyone’s face as they were sharing some exciting and scary stories. The place was soon filled with laughter, driving away the uneasy atmosphere…

The students could not help but agree that Zhao Pinlin’s arrangement was perfect. He had successfully won the affection of a few girls in the group. They never knew he had come from such a wealthy background at school, and he was aware of what girls wanted.

“Come, let’s take turns sharing some scary stories. If more than half of the group think it isn’t scary enough, they must take that path to the top of the hill!” suggested Rong Sheng.

“I’ll go first, you are all going to wet your pants,” Mo Fan soon joined in. He was excited as soon as someone mentioned the term scary stories.

Mo Fan soon finished telling his story. The group of young men and women fell silent. One of the girls even suggested they go back to the hotel in a soft voice.

Mu Ningxue secretly stepped on Mo Fan’s foot. This guy was trying to destroy the atmosphere!

Mo Fan was actually telling them his own experience at Yanming Temple. His encounter with Miyata was quite spooky, yet he purposely added more details to the story. He described Miyata as a ghost with only half her face left. He even described how the monks were tortured in full detail…

The scary stories that most people told were fake, thus the listeners could easily figure out the unreasonable bits. However, Mo Fan was simply telling them his own experience. The details were on point, it felt like they were right inside the story. Even Mu Ningxue felt a shiver as she recalled the incident!

“Humph, how childish!” Lingling was not impressed by Mo Fan’s scary story.

“Well, I guess I’ll go next… it’s not really a ghost story, but some rumors I was told in Wuzhen,” Rong Sheng immediately spoke out to cut the atmosphere.

“Quick, tell us.”

Everyone desperately needed another story to clear their thoughts of Mo Fan’s spooky tale.

“My brother is a Magician. To be more precise, he is a City Hunter in charge of the safety in Wuzhen… around two months ago, Wuzhen had a strange mist, and some locals went missing. My brother was placed in charge of the incident, so he went to investigate. Guess what happened there?” said Rong Sheng with a serious face.

“What is it?” Everyone knew about Wuzhen. Many of them had visited the place before. As such, they were all attracted by the story as soon as Rong Sheng started telling it.

“A moth woman!” Rong Sheng was quite an expert at telling stories. He purposely lowered his voice to make it sound spookier.

“Moth…moth woman?”

“Yeah, my brother told me that some locals actually saw her in person, and the mist wasn’t really just a normal mist. It consisted of flying moths so densely packed together that it looked like a mist. Rumors said they were actually man-eating moths. Think about it, with moths as dense as a mist, even an elephant will be eaten within seconds, let alone a human…” said Rong Sheng.

“Please…please tell me it isn’t true, I was planning to bring my girlfriend to Wuzhen!” yelled a young man.

“It’s only some rumors. Maybe it’s something the locals came up with, to attract tourists looking for an adventure,” sighed Zhao Pinlin smilingly. His eyes under the golden-framed glasses seemed rather intelligent.

Rong Sheng chuckled. He did not continue the story.

“What he said was real, too,” Mo Fan interrupted.

“Damn, not you again!” the young man jumped to his feet.

Rong Sheng was stunned. He looked at Mo Fan in astonishment.

“Unfortunately, I was there, too. When I was about to leave the town, I saw people like City Hunters entering the town. The mist was real, but the moth woman wasn’t proven to be real yet. They weren’t sure if the missing people were related to the moth woman either, they are just speculations,” said Mo Fan.

Rong Sheng was a bit surprised that Mo Fan actually knew the details. He quickly added, “My brother agreed with the speculations, too!”

“But the case wasn’t settled; they still haven’t caught the moth woman,” Lingling subconsciously added.

As a Hunter Master, Lingling did hear the rumors about the incident, too. It was one of the more bizarre cases recently. Since no one had posted a quest about it, the City Hunters were placed in charge. However, they still had not found out the truth. As a result, more rumors started spreading, and there were quite a few different versions.

“Wait, what did you mean… it was real, too?” A girl’s eyes widened when she suddenly recalled Mo Fan’s words.

“Holy crap, do you mean what you told us was real too?!”

“I want to go back!”

Mo Fan was left speechless.

—-

Everyone took turns telling their stories. Soon, it was a girl called Guo Wenyi’s turn. She was actually from Chongming Island, so she was basically a local.

“Wenyi, tell us something, otherwise you’ll have to walk to the top of the hill yourself!” urged Rong Sheng.

Guo Wenyi seemed to be quite timid. She hesitated for a while before she finally spoke, “I did encounter something strange here, but I think it was only my imagination. One night, I went to visit my classmate in the neighboring town. My brother said he would come pick me up with his scooter, but he was too drunk. He didn’t even pick up my call, yet I couldn’t stay at my classmate’s house, so I had no choice but to walk back to my town. It was only two kilometers away…it was fine at the start, but I suddenly picked up a foul stench, like the smell of a swamp.”

Guo Wenyi came to a pause. The others were dying to know what happened next. However, Mo Fan’s gaze sharpened as soon as he heard the description of the scent!