Book 3: Chapter Sixth Requirement of Rescuing a Princess: “The Road Every Adventure Must Travel - An Underground Cavern”

Book 3: Chapter Sixth Requirement of Rescuing a Princess: “The Road Every Adventure Must Travel – An Underground Cavern”

I slowly opened my eyes, and was not quite able to make out where I was. Afterward, the stabbing pain in my brain, like a drum being hit, reminded me… I had been drunk.

I actually got drunk? Just how much liquor did my teacher order later on? Looks like I totally didn’t have to risk my life to bargain for another one tenth of the reward with the strongest Sun Knight in history… Just by drinking liquor, I probably had already drunk away one tenth of the reward!

I tried to take a look around, wanting to figure out where I was. Who knew that with this one look, I would immediately open my mouth wide…

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Under my legs, there was nothing but air, and the distance between my legs and the ground was at least twenty meters! Why was I even taller than the tower of the Holy Temple?

I continued to wail, “Ahhh! God of Light! I don’t want to grow that tall, I will never dare to drink liquor in secret anymore…”

“What are you yelling about? Don’t scare people so early in the morning.” This was my teacher’s voice.

“Actually, it is already noon now.” That was Aldrizzt’s murmur.

When I turned my head to look, my teacher was also floating in mid-air. He had the appearance of having just woken up and was currently stretching… How I really admire my teacher! Even if we are now in mid-air, and there is absolutely no support under our feet, he, the old man, can still stretch in such an elegant manner. Indeed worthy of the former Sun Knight that had been elegant for twenty years.

After I took a closer look, I realized there were not just two people in the air. There was also another fellow whose whole body was hidden by a cloak. That must be Aldrizzt.

His body was currently radiating a very strong wind element.

“You can actually cast the Spell of Flight?!” I was stunned, for I thought that since Aldrizzt is a dark elemental creature, learning dark elemental magic should be extremely easy for him, but other elements probably shouldn’t be as easy.

“I didn’t know how to at first.” The cloaked person turned his head around, and as expected, it was Aldrizzt’s face that looked back at me. With a very helpless expression, he said, “However, Neo said that wind elemental magic is very helpful for travelling, and kept forcing me to learn it. Only after spending a lot of effort did I manage to learn two spells of wind elemental magic – Teleportation and Spell of Flight.”

I felt like I could identify with him. I comforted him, saying, “Yeah, my teacher always likes to force people to learn some very strange stuff. Once you’re used to it, it’ll be fine.”

“It’s been hard on you.” Aldrizzt looked at me, full of sympathy.

“Never mind, I have already escaped from the abyss of suffering. Subsequently, it’ll be hard on you…”

“The two of you, are you treating me as a dead person?” asked my teacher coldly.

Aldrizzt and I suppressed our laughs, and then shut our mouths.

However, I couldn’t help but immediately open my mouth again to ask, “Teacher, where are we going?”

My teacher glanced over and questioned back in suspicion, “Did you drink so much that you forgot about the mission that I mentioned to you before?”

“Of course not.”

My teacher nodded his head and explained, “Right now, we are going to carry out the mission. If we use the Spell of Flight, we can save a lot of time. Also, you would not return to your team too late.”

I thought about it for a moment, and indeed, if the mission didn’t take too much time, then this might even be faster than hurrying back to Leaf’s side on my own.

After settling the problem of transportation, I delved in deeper and asked, “What’s the briefing of the mission?”

My teacher gave me a faint smile. “You don’t have to worry. This is a very simple mission. For you, it will be especially easy.”

“Oh, hehe!” I gave a fake laugh along with my teacher. When my teacher had first started teaching me to how to fall down elegantly, he had also carried such a relaxed and gentle tone… I looked toward Aldrizzt, and his face looked like he had already thrown all caution to the wind.

I had already started considering the options. Between following my teacher, and jumping down from a twenty meter height and then being hunted down by the strongest Sun Knight in history, which one would have a higher rate of survival?

Hmm, neither seems to be very high…

After flying for a whole day and night, I was just about to give praise to Aldrizzt’s strength as to how he can actually fly for such a long time when he landed on the ground, and then very happily announced, “Now my strength has been exhausted, so what happens next is up to you guys.”

You despicable and shameless dark elf…

After silently cursing Aldrizzt for quite a while, I turned my body around to take a look. To my back was a dark cave around which not even a single blade of grass grew within a hundred feet. The whole cave was taking in and sending out large quantities of the dark element, rather like a living thing that was afraid that it was not dark enough. There was also a series of screams and howls coming from the inside, and even the sound of bones rubbing together…

My teacher drew his sword, and cheerily said, “The mission is to clear the undead creatures inside this cavern once and for all.”

Hearing that, I said with a blank face, “Teacher, this is a land of darkness.”

“I know that.”

“Teacher, the definition of a land of darkness is that for some unknown reason, this kind of land will endlessly spawn the dark element. Coincidentally, this place probably used to be a battlefield or cemetery, and that’s why the dead buried underneath number as many as the stars in the sky, and will arise as undead creatures endlessly.”

“I know that! What are you being so wordy about? In the three years that I haven’t seen you, the extent of your wordiness has increased yet again.” My teacher’s face filled with impatience.

Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. Even if I were to be angry, I wouldn’t be able to defeat him anyway… I tried hard to take several deep breaths, and squeezed out a smile, saying, “Since you know that, then you should know that even if the undead creatures inside this kind of land of darkness were cleared, after two days, it will still be packed full of undead creatures! Therefore, it’s impossible to clear it once and for all.”

My teacher revealed a smile, replying, “Of course I know that, otherwise, why would I bring you here?”

Just now, I should have chosen the option of jumping down the high altitude of twenty meters and then being hunted down by my teacher! I deeply regretted it, but I still forced myself to say, “…Teacher, no matter how powerful my holy light ability is, it’s still impossible to completely purify the dark element in this cavern.”

“With the addition of the Divine Sun Sword and me, put your all into it and give it a try!”

Though my teacher’s tone of speaking was not agitated and his expression was calm, I knew that the calmer my teacher was, the stronger his determination was. It must be done!

“Teacher, why must you purify this place?” I felt curiosity growing in my heart, and couldn’t help but open my mouth to ask, “There are so many lands of darkness in this world, why must it be this one?”

My teacher gave a faint smile and explained, “Do you know the reason this cavern spawns undead creatures endlessly, yet it doesn’t affect the surroundings?”

I shook my head. Indeed, I didn’t know.

“That’s because in the past, there was a regiment of powerful mages that used an extremely strong water element gem, ‘Eternal Tranquility,’ to set a boundary around the cave so as to prevent the undead creatures from walking out of a one hundred foot circumference from the cave.”

So I see. I nodded my head to indicate my understanding. The lands of darkness have always been a source of headache for all of the kingdoms, and each kingdom would employ every method to prevent the damage caused by the land of darkness. Of those methods, cooperating with a mage or a cleric to create a boundary that can seal away those dark creatures is the simplest and the fastest.

My teacher gave a faint smile, and with a calm expression, he gave a declaration that was rather like an explosion, “I want that ‘Eternal Tranquility.’”

I was stunned. So it was like this, my teacher wants that “Eternal Tranquility,” but once he takes the gem, the boundaries around the cave will immediately fall apart. At that time, undead creatures will swarm out from this cave to hurt other creatures, especially humans…

However, I believe that my teacher would definitely not allow this kind of outcome to happen. As such, he would first have to purify this cave, so that when he takes the gem, it would not cause any kind of damage.

Once I thought about this, my face fell as I looked at my teacher, carrying a strand of hope. “Must you have that gem? There aren’t any replacements?”

My teacher indifferently said, “Unless you can find a gem that is equally powerful. However, I have inquired around for a good time, and only ‘Eternal Tranquillity’ is the most suitable.”

I muttered to myself, “Even if there were a gem more powerful than the ‘Eternal Tranquillity,’ I’m afraid that the method to obtain it would only be more difficult, otherwise it would have already been taken away by others.”

It looked like no matter what, I would have to accompany my teacher this time. I turned my head to look at the dark cave, just hoping this wouldn’t end up being my burial spot…

However, I felt that just barging in would not be a sensible act, so I promptly asked the leader of the team, “Teacher, do you have a plan?”

My teacher instantly answered, “Yes.”

Looking at my teacher brimming with self-confidence, I was momentarily filled with boundless hope. I awaited expectantly as I asked, “Then, what are the details of the plan?”

My teacher mysteriously held up his forefinger, and then pointed toward the cavern, saying, “Fight all the way into the deepest, innermost part of the caverns, rest one day as we wait for your holy light ability to recover to the maximum, execute the purification, take away ‘Eternal Tranquility,’ and the mission is accomplished!”

In a flash, my face became expressionless. If this can be called a plan, then, “Find the enemy, defeat the enemy, rescue the princess, go back to the kingdom and get married” would be a knight’s complete adventure plan for rescuing a princess since ancient times, and even after a thousand years there wouldn’t be any need to change a single word.

“This is actually relatively good.” At this moment, Aldrizzt serenely started speaking. “You don’t know about last time, under what kind of circumstances we had to barge into a dragon’s lair to steal a crown…”

“What kind of circumstances?” I immediately asked, for right now I needed to know about more tragic circumstances. This way, I would be able to feel that the current circumstances were quite blissful, and then I could confront them happily.

With tears in his eyes, Aldrizzt lamented, “The cleric didn’t sleep the night before due to visiting a prostitute, and his amount of holy light was less than one quarter of his usual. The warrior’s sword was broken and was sent for repairs, but he had not retrieved it yet. While scouting, the rogue absconded with the money after opening a treasure chest. While the mage was cooking, he accidentally burned half of a magic scroll. The holy knight had drunk too much liquor, and was still hung over…”

At this point, I suddenly felt that something was wrong. I asked, “Wait a moment, who was the mage who was so stupid that he burnt a magic scroll?”

“That was me.” Aldrizzt lowered his head guiltily.

“And the hung over holy knight?” I felt anything but reassured.

“That was me.” My teacher finished his answer and glanced over. Full of threat, he said, “Forming a team with the strongest Sun Knight in history, you don’t have any problems with that, do you? Ah?”

“No, of course not!” Sincerely, I said, “However, teacher, your hangover…”

My teacher sighed and then waved his hand impatiently. “I didn’t drink that much last night.”

I’m relieved.

“So I’m only a little hung over.”

“…”

Oh God of Light! Mike, Austin, Ann and dearest Leaf, you guys are the world’s best adventuring comrades. I really have been wrong, please come and save me! Hurry up and come here to take me back into your team. It’s alright even if you want me to be a cleric!

Unfortunately, my relationship with Leaf wasn’t so great that our thoughts were inter-linked, and thus in the end he didn’t come to save me. I could only follow my teacher and step into a cave that was about as dark as my future…

Once we stepped into the cave, unexpectedly, there stood rows of densely packed white skeletons along each side. These skeletons were probably made from fresh corpses, which were provided by adventurers who had come here adventuring and accidentally settled down instead. As the corpses were relatively fresh, there was even quite a bit of “stuff” clinging onto the surface of the skeletons. Also, they had not become completely rotten, so the effect of scaring others was also enhanced. Other than the visual assault, I felt that my sense of smell had also received irreparable damage.

My teacher held his nose as he said, “Why don’t you hurry up and blow them away! I’m dying from the stench!”

I let out an “oh” sound, and casually sent out an explosion of holy light. Following that, what was heard were the sounds of bones scattering on the ground. Once the holy light had faded away, the skeletons that had been standing in rows had already turned into a fine powder that covered the whole floor, as if laid out as a “white carpet” to welcome our arrival.

After that, although my teacher said he was still a little hung over, when we encountered more skeletons, he cut out a path with one strike of his blade as usual. Sometimes, he even accidentally used too much strength, and helped to widen the cave. Although at that moment I was a little worried that the roof would cave in, after carefully thinking about it, even if it were to cave in, my teacher would still be able to carve a new cave from scratch, so there was nothing to worry about.

As for Aldrizzt, though he had joyously announced that he had no more strength left when he had landed, when the skeleton that I had “accidentally” missed and didn’t manage to stop came charging at him, he glanced at it with disdain. Then, in the manner of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, he used an advanced dark magic, “Hell’s Fire,” to roast him crisply.

As the range of Hell’s Fire was too wide, the fire accidentally spread, causing a large amount of skeletons to be consumed, as the fire could not be contained once it broke out.

At this moment, I used my Wind Blade…to help fan myself. How hot!

However, I had started to understand my teacher and Aldrizzt’s strength. There was a good reason they were able to barge into a dragon’s lair under such chaotic circumstances and still return alive.

At this instant, Aldrizzt gave me an especially supercilious look. He said unhappily, “Aren’t you a little lax?”

Before I could speak, my teacher explained, “Aldrizzt, you have to treat him as a cleric.”

“Oh!” Aldrizzt gave a gasp of sudden realization, and then spoke to me, full of apologies. “Sorry, in times like these clerics are indeed supposed to stay at the back and enjoy the cool air. However, could you give me a little bit of Wind Blade? It is indeed a little bit hot.”

“Sure.” I used a weak Wind Blade to chop him, and then reminded him, “Next time don’t use that kind of magic in an airtight space. Letting it harm others is fine, but don’t end up harming our own team too.”

“Yeah!” My teacher started fanning himself with his shoulder plate.

“Yes, yes. I’m really sorry to have made everyone feel hot.” Aldrizzt admitted his mistake with much bravery. This dark elf actually knew how to rectify his mistakes!

After that, the fire seemed to be impossible to extinguish within a short time…because the undead creatures in the depths of the cave kept charging into it non-stop to become fuel… So, with that, the three of us could only sit down and start preparing lunch, using the readily available “fire” to roast our meat.

“Using a fire that is fuelled by corpses to roast meat doesn’t seem very appropriate, does it?” Aldrizzt stared at the cooked meat with a bit of disgust. Worried, he said, “Not to mention that it’s even fire from dark magic, so it might even be harmful to the human body.”

“Even if it is harmful to the human body, it is also none of your concern!” I said confidently, “You’re not a human.”

Aldrizzt thought about it for a while, and said, “That’s true.” After that, he became relieved and also started eating the meat.

After we had eaten and drunk our fill, the fire had also become smaller. Like this, we casually walked across a pile of ashes, and then continued to head further inside. Due to the cave system being accessible from all directions, we had seriously no idea where to go. Thus, we adopted my teacher’s method – head in the direction where the monsters are stronger, and you can’t go wrong.

We fought from the lowest leveled skeletons to the even more foul-smelling ghouls. That is a kind of corpse that is half rotten, and has a lot of rotten meat clinging on to its body. Its movement is slow, but acute poison lies on its body. One would get poisoned with just a touch, and if there were no cleric on the team or no antidote to detoxify oneself, then one can just start digging his or her own grave.

However, getting poisoned by touching a ghoul is irrelevant because it’s so putrid that I’m about to be killed by their stench even standing ten meters away. If I were near enough to touch them, I would definitely cut off my own nose, let alone still care about getting poisoned!

“My goodness! You bunch of putrid dead people’s remains, hurry up and go to the God of Light to repent for not bathing!”

I held my nose with one hand, and with the other used Wind Blade to fan away the stench as though my life depended on it, and then my body shone with boundless radiance, illuminating the whole cavern as though the sun were rising. Once the holy light had faded away, the entire cave finally became clean, and even the air seemed have a fresh and cool smell.

I put down the hand that was holding my nose, and said in satisfaction, “Holy light is, as expected, the most effective method to sterilize and deodorize.”

Afterward, we continued to meet mutated corpses, decaying hellhounds, and corpses that could suck human blood. I have heard that the public has given this kind of monster a nice-sounding name called vampire. Also, we met eye demons that had the appearance of a giant eyeball, shadow ghosts that were black from head to toe…

In conclusion, if there were only one of the monsters with physical forms, it would be chopped into half by my teacher once it showed itself. If the monsters with physical forms were in a large group, then I could witness Aldrizzt’s various kinds of dark magic, and at the same time faintly felt that I had secretly learnt a few techniques. If it were a monster with no physical form, such as shadow ghosts, it would be sterilized by my holy light.

Mid-way, we had even encountered another team that was adventuring here… The five of them had been covered by a giant skeleton warrior, and it was only after my teacher had chopped that skeleton warrior to death with one strike and it had fallen to the ground with a “boom” did we see those five people.

They were a standard adventurer team, comprised of a warrior, an archer, a rogue, a warpriest, and one that was less commonly seen, a druid. This kind of person is an expert in morphing into various kinds of animals, and is a type of druid specializing in healing and detoxification.

The moment we saw them, Aldrizzt had immediately pulled up the hood of his cloak, and covered himself completely.

The five of them stared blankly at my teacher. My teacher was also a little stunned, and then he revealed the “Sun-Style” radiant smile, and with a gentle and elegant attitude that made people have a favorable impression of him in their hearts, he said, “My apologies, my eyes went bad momentarily, and I actually kill-stole your monster. Please treat this skeleton warrior as one that you have defeated, and all of the loot on his body belongs to you guys.”

The party of five all stared blankly at my teacher. The expression that the two females within the group, the archer and the warpriest, revealed was roughly called “love at first sight.” The warrior’s expression was called “crazed worshipping.” The rogue stared at the prized sword in my teacher’s hand and the extraordinary armor and accessories on his body, and his expression could roughly be described as “eyes glistening.” The druid was a lot more normal. He slightly frowned and showed a wary stance.

Looks like in this adventurer team, the druid should be the actual leader, while in name, it’s probably the warrior that is standing in the front!

“You guys are a team? A knight, an assassin and a mage?” The druid sized up the three of us with furrowed brows.

“No, he is a cleric,” said my teacher as he pointed at me, and continued. “I myself am a holy knight.”

“Cleric?” The druid said with a hint of suspicion, “But he’s wearing assassin clothes.”

My teacher had a trustworthy smile, and said, “Oh, that’s because his cleric clothes accidentally got burnt while roasting meat, so he could only change into assassin clothes.”

At this moment, I walked in front, and my hands released holy light to sterilize the skeleton warrior on the floor. It turned into a pile of white bone ashes, leaving only the pile of loot from his body, like armor, precious swords and such.

I nodded my head with satisfaction, but when I turned my head, what I saw was that all five of the other party were staring at me, stunned.

At this moment, Aldrizzt quickly gave a reminder into my ear, “You didn’t recite an incantation.”

Damn it! I forgot.

After seeing this move of mine, even the druid nodded his head blankly, totally giving no thought as to why a cleric would actually put on an assassin’s clothes in a team without an assassin.

However, what I was wearing wasn’t assassins’ clothing either, but the clothes that Aldrizzt had been wearing under his mage’s robes. Nevertheless, because it had two special traits of being black and a bit more skin-tight, it really did seem like an assassin’s garbs.

At this moment, the druid gave a glance at the skeleton warrior as though he couldn’t bear to part with it, and then told us, “This skeleton warrior belongs to you guys. In fact, if you guys hadn’t come, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to walk out of this cave.”

Hearing that, I sized up the other party. As expected, they had a battered and exhausted appearance.

I reminded out of good will, “Then you guys can walk out now. We have already disposed of the monsters behind us, so there’s not much danger along the way.”

The druid gave a bitter smile as he said, “This is impossible. The monsters here only take three days to completely respawn, so I’m afraid that the route would already be filled with monsters again. Moreover, we are not as prepared as when we first came in, so I’m afraid we won’t be able to get out.”

At this moment, the warrior was very upset as he said, “I’m sorry, it’s all because I brought you guys too far inside.”

His comrades started comforting him, “We don’t blame you. No one could have expected that we would suddenly encounter a skeleton warrior and hellhounds, otherwise we definitely would not have had any problems.”

Seeing their looks of wanting to die, I couldn’t help but interrupt them, saying, “But we have just finished slaying the monsters outside, so they haven’t had enough time to respawn yet.”

The other team was stunned. The warrior couldn’t help but open his mouth to ask, “You-you guys, how long did you take to reach this place?”

My teacher was silent without a word and Aldrizzt was pretending not to care, so I could only think hard about how much time it would take an average adventurer team to reach here. I tested cautiously, “About three…”

“What? Three days?” The other party was given a big shock, and exclaimed, “We have five people, but we spent a week.”

“…” Actually, I wanted to say three hours. However, in reality, we only spent thirty minutes. Thank goodness I didn’t say it clearly…

“If you guys had only spent three days, then the monsters along the way really might not have completely respawned yet!” The other party revealed an exhilarated expression.

“Yup! You guys should hurry and pick up the skeleton warrior’s loot on the floor, and then go out. Don’t worry, nothing will happen to us.” My teacher waved to them, and even reminded in “good will,” “Better run out, otherwise if the monsters respawn, that would be bad.”

I stared at my teacher’s indecent behavior speechlessly. As a matter of fact, the other party had three days’ time. Even if they crawled out, they’d still make it in time.

However, when the other party heard my teacher’s words, they immediately picked up the loot and after saying a few words of thanks to us, they left in a hurry.

Seeing the other party run swiftly in the direction of the entrance, as though they would never dare to come to this place ever again in their lifetime, I muttered to myself in disbelief, “We were actually this strong?”

Hearing that, my teacher gave a laugh, and a little teasingly said, “Who do you think you are? Who am I again? Aldrizzt is a mage of what age?”

“Though truthfully, this team of ours can’t be compared to your last team.”

Aldrizzt pondered as he listed, “The warriors are the Son of the God of War and Princess Ann, the hero among the women, who is equally famous in terms of fighting prowess. The archer is one of the Twelve Holy Knights, and in addition, there’s a warpriest who can buff warriors. The healing cleric is nicknamed the Sun Knight with the strongest holy magic in history… Even if you guys name the team ‘Dragon Slaying Adventurers’ Team,’ it would be true not just in name but also in ability.”

Hearing that, I suddenly felt relieved. At first, I was still a little worried as to the matter of my leaving the group, but once I heard that our team actually had the tyrannical strength to slay a dragon, then no matter what happens, there shouldn’t be any danger!

At this moment, my teacher’s face abruptly sank as he chided, “But affairs of life are never absolute, child, and you never know when a stronger group will appear in front of you.”

I bowed my head to receive his advice, but I didn’t quite agree within my heart. Don’t tell me that in this world, there is something that is even more frightening than a dragon?

My teacher probably also knew that he was thinking too much, but for some reason, he still furrowed his brows, saying, “Let’s go! We’ll hurry and finish our business here, so that you can go back to your group. I keep having this uneasy feeling… No matter what, it’s never good to leave the group for too long. Had we not definitely needed you for this, I would not have delayed your going back.”

I nodded my head, but in my heart, I wasn’t really anxious at all. That was because I already knew that Princess Ann was trying to delay time in order to let Princess Alice’s elopement become successful. Even if I went back, she would only lead me on a wild goose chase! Thus, I wasn’t really in a hurry to go back.

Furthermore, I actually felt that I didn’t want to break up an affectionate couple. When I had met the dark knight that was so handsome that people would want to beat him to death, he had after all not laid a hand on me, and was still a considerably reasonable fellow. Therefore, I wasn’t that keen on forcefully separating him and the princess.

At this time, my teacher sighed. “Let’s go! We’ll talk again after things are done.”

I nodded my head, and obediently followed my teacher.

Following that, we spent about three days’ time circling around in the cave, searching for “Eternal Tranquility.”

The three days went by pretty happily. Aldrizzt would always have an endless amount of stories to tell me. He talked about his homeland, the adventures he had after leaving his homeland. However, when it came to the story about himself, he wasn’t very keen on telling me, but that was okay, for everyone had their own secrets.

I, on the other hand, told him about the things that happened in the Holy Temple, and he would always listen enthusiastically. When we talked about the things that happened in the recent years, even my teacher couldn’t help but laugh heartily upon hearing them.

When I mentioned Roland, I cautiously observed my teacher’s expression, fearing that he would criticize me for fooling around and want me to barbeque Roland.

Who knew that when I finished my words, it was actually Aldrizzt who started laughing. “No wonder you hold not even the slightest prejudice toward an evil dark elf such as me. That’s because you had already made friends with a Death Knight, and what’s a trivial dark elf compared to that?”

My teacher, on the other hand, helplessly said, “You truly hold no regard for the law.”

“Teacher, you won’t reveal the matter of Roland, right?” I asked, a little nervous.

My teacher was silent for a while, and stared directly at me. “You need to promise me not to let him leave the Holy Temple. Also, before you retire at age forty, destroy him.”

I was just about to protest against the matter of having to destroy Roland, but my teacher said forcefully, “Living for another ten or so years should be enough for him. If you do not want to let him die at the hands of your student, then kill him before you lose the God of Light’s favor. Otherwise, when you pass the Divine Sun Sword to your successor, you might not have enough strength to kill him.”

I was silent for quite a while, but in the end, I still nodded my head. Though in my heart I had a secret feeling that at that time, I still might not be able to do it… However, something that would happen over ten years from now should be left to the future me of ten years later to worry about!

“This child, you are just too soft-hearted. As long as people don’t offend you, no matter how much of a potential threat the opponent is, you would not do a thing.”

My teacher gave a sigh, and as he patted my shoulder, he said, “This personality of yours can’t be considered to be bad, though. If it weren’t for this personality of yours, Aldrizzt wouldn’t treat you as a friend this quickly. However, this personality of yours is also very dangerous. I worry that there will be a day when you’ll pay the price because of this.”

I lowered my head, and pretended to listen to his advice seriously. My teacher indeed hasn’t changed at all; he still cannot resist tutoring me even after his retirement.

“Child.”

My teacher called me, and I lifted my head to look at him. However, he started stroking my head as though I were a little kid, and said, “No matter what happens, don’t forget that teacher is always here.”

“Count me in as well, then.” Aldrizzt said indifferently.

Hearing my teacher and Aldrizzt’s words, I felt warmth in my heart. However, I couldn’t help but complain, “You still dare to say that! Teacher, once you had retired, you disappeared without a trace. Before, when the king, princess, and I were having a dispute, if you had been there, they would definitely have obediently followed your words, and I wouldn’t have needed to be overwrought.”

Upon hearing my words, my teacher immediately whacked my head, scolding, “You brat, you’re this big already. Are you telling me to stay at your side to be your nanny? As for that kind of trivial matter, go settle it yourself!”

“If that kind of matter is considered trivial, then in what kind of situation could I look for my teacher? Don’t tell me that I can only look for you when we are going to slay a dragon…”

As I rubbed my head and complained softly, there came my teacher’s rolling of his eyes and Aldrizzt’s muffled laughter. Seeing the situation, I myself started laughing. If we really had to slay a dragon, then the Holy Temple would definitely mobilize a large amount of people. At that time, with the Twelve Holy Knights by my side, and with their strength, I wouldn’t need to look for my teacher anymore.

We continued on with our journey while we chatted. Right now, the primary person who sent the monsters flying away was my teacher. Aldrizzt and I were responsible for chatting at the back.

“Neo sure is strong! Even within my clansmen who specialize in fighting, there isn’t anyone who is this strong.”

Inside my heart, I had the same feeling as I said, “Yeah. My teacher is, after all, the strongest Sun Knight in history. He is already this strong now, so when my teacher still had the favor of the God of Light, you can imagine how rampant he was back then…”

“Whether or not he has the God of Light’s favor shouldn’t be that important, right?” Aldrizzt said with indifference. “Even with the favor of the God of Light, it’s not like Neo’s swordsmanship would become better, right?”

“Oh…” I looked at Aldrizzt. He doesn’t seem to like raising the topic of religion? “His swordsmanship definitely would not become any better. However, there are a few benefits to being the representative of the God of Light.”

This topic seemed to make Aldrizzt a little disgusted. He said, “The benefit of strengthening one’s holy element doesn’t seem enough to me for people to place their faith in God.”

I tilted my head and thought for a while, then raised what was, in my opinion, the strongest example. “I am the thirty-eighth generation Sun Knight, and none of the thirty-seven Sun Knights preceding me died during their period in office.”

Aldrizzt had an extremely strange expression on his face as he asked with disbelief, “The Sun Knight is undying?”

“Of course not.” I rolled my eyes at him. I told him unhappily, “It’s just that it’s very hard for a Sun Knight to die. That’s because the holy light inside our bodies is too abundant, and our resilience is simply too strong. As long as we do not receive a mortal wound, we practically couldn’t die.”

At this moment, my teacher, who was at the front, started laughing. As he killed the monsters, he said, “It is rumored that the tenth generation Sun Knight was pierced through the heart once by a sword, but he still managed to survive in the end.”

Aldrizzt started shaking his head in disbelief.

I smiled as I continued, “Thus, with my teacher’s current strength, if you add on that incredibly strong resilience, how strong do you think he would be…”

I suddenly cut off my words.

Aldrizzt looked at me a little strangely. “Grisia?”

I took in a deep breath and pointed in front, saying, “I think we have found our target. Over there, at the very end of the fork in the road, there’s an extremely strong water element!”

Hearing that, my teacher attacked the monster before him with a swing of his blade, sending it flying away in pieces. Afterward, he stood poised in a stance before he brandished his sword, and paused like that for three seconds. Then, with a swing of his sword…

My blond hair and Aldrizzt’s white hair were swept into a mad dance by the air currents cast by the sword. Both of us stared expressionlessly at that fork in the road that looked as though a magic scroll had detonated there. The whole road went “boom, boom, boom,” and then let out a loud “bang” that would give people tinnitus. Last of all came a burst of smoke that lingered long afterward…

My teacher was in a pleasant mood as he turned around and told us, “Okay, the monsters have all been cleared. Child, after we have gone in and you have rested enough, let’s conduct the purification. As your teacher, I will guard at the tunnel entrance and not allow any monsters to go in to disturb you.”

Aldrizzt turned his head to look at me, and in a harsh tone, said, “I really feel that Neo doesn’t need the God of Light’s favor, and there isn’t anything that can kill him.”

“You’re right.” I couldn’t have agreed with him more.