by Unknown
With Bebe on his shoulders, Linley embarked on his return trip back home.
*
Book 3, Mountain Range of Magical Beasts – Chapter 23, Her Name Was Alice (part 1)
On the return journey, the magical beasts which Linley encountered grew progressively weaker. By the time Linley stepped into the outer regions, all of the monsters he encountered were of the third and fourth ranks. They posed no threat to him at all. But despite this, Linley didn’t dare to relax his vigilance.
Doehring Cowart travelled alongside Linley, but in his mind, Doehring Cowart was worrying. Right now, Linley carried within him a steady, stable presence, but when he made his move, he showed no mercy at all. His eyes also carried within them a cold, forbidding aura.
Doehring Cowart still remembered how, when he first entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Linley’s eyes were filled with sincerity. He was a very trusting person.
After hesitating for a while, Doehring Cowart mentally spoke to Linley. “Linley.”
Making his way through the mountains, Linley turned his head to look questioningly at Doehring Cowart. “Grandpa Doehring, what is it?”
Doehring Cowart nodded as he spoke seriously. “Linley, before entering the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, I had warned you that people were not to be easily trusted, as people’s intentions are not easily understood. I told you to be wary of others, to have a cautious mind.”
Linley nodded. “Grandpa Doehring, your words were very correct. One really cannot easily trust others. If I had listened to Grandpa Doehring’s words early on, my chest most likely wouldn’t have this knife scar.”
Doehring Cowart shook his head. “Although one cannot easily trust others, one also cannot be over-cautious. The way you are currently, how will you be able to interact with people in the future? Remember, you can’t be too cold and callous towards others, even if you can’t be overly trusting either. Trust is something which is built up through a long period of time. Do not easily trust the words of others.”
Linley was very smart. Both at home and at the Ernst Institute, he had read many books. Upon hearing Doehring Cowart’s words, he somewhat understood. But the merciless life he had experienced over these past two months, the human cruelty he had witnessed and experienced, was something he had seen so clearly. For him to trust people again would be very hard.
“Doehring Cowart, I understand.” Linley nodded.
Doehring Cowart secretly sighed, but at the same time, he was also happy. “It’s a good thing that Linley has this little Shadowmouse, Bebe, for a companion, as well as those friends of his at the Ernst Institute. At least he shouldn’t become excessively unfeeling.”
Doehring Cowart could still remember how, thousands of years ago, when the Pouant Empire was still around, another Saint-level combatant of the Pouant Empire who also dressed in white. That white-robed man was a famous Sword Saint, and he was also an extremely proud, reclusive person.
“Grandpa Doehring, when father sees all of these magicite cores, what do you think his reaction will be?” Linley suddenly looked at Doehring Cowart, smiling as he asked the question. At this moment, Linley’s eyes were filled with eagerness for his father’s praise.
He looked just like a kid who had just performed stellarly on a test and was awaiting his father’s praise.
“Linley, are you planning to give all of this money to your father?” Doehring Cowart asked with a smile.
Linley nodded. “Of course. These magicite cores are worth around 70,000 gold coins. All I need is enough to feed myself. A few dozen coins each year is enough. But father needs to manage all of our clan’s affairs, and also provide for Wharton’s tuition. Of course I’ll give these magicite cores to father.”
Linley didn’t want to personally sell these magicite cores. After all, in terms of buying and selling, he had no experience at all. He probably wouldn’t even know if he got cheated.
“Haha, I trust your father will be so excited that he’ll be jumping up and down,” Doehring Cowart said, laughing loudly.
Linley couldn’t help but grin as well. He immediately sped up the pace on his journey back.
By now, Linley couldn’t even be bothered to kill magical beasts of the third and fourth ranks. He quickly made his way through the mountains. When he arrived next to a small creek, he paused as he heard the furious bellows of a magical beast, intermixed with the shouts of humans engaged in battle with it.
“Hrm? If they dare come to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, they must be at least combatants of the fifth rank. But in the surrounding areas, the local beasts are of the third or fourth ranks at most. How could the battle sound so prolonged and frenetic?” Linley was rather curious.
Within the inner areas of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, where beasts of the fifth, sixth, and sometimes even the seventh rank would appear, there would often be many frantic battles. But in the outer areas, this was quite rare. Battles would generally end extremely quickly.
With a jump, Linley leapt 7-8 meters up. Landing on a tree, he began tree-walking his way towards the scene of the battle.
Upon arriving, Linley surveyed the battle from his position on the tree.
He saw that there were two young men and two young women engaged in a bloody battle with a Bloodthirsty Warpig. One of the youths, wearing a white armor, was shouting out loudly while directing the course of battle. “Second bro, don’t run around so wildly! Protect Alice [Ai’li’si]! I’ll draw this stupid pig’s attention away. Niya [Ni’ya], don’t panic, aim your arrows at its vitals!”
These four people clearly were very inexperienced. Upon encountering danger, they had panicked. Only the leader wearing the white armor seemed a bit more capable.”
“These four really have some guts. That youngster in white armor should be a warrior of the fifth rank, while the other three are just combatants of the fourth rank at best.” Linley shook his head. Those other three really were daring, to come here without even having reached the fifth rank.
A red-haired youngster began to shout frantically, “Big brother Kalan [Ka’lan], didn’t you say that the outer regions only had magical beasts of the third or fourth ranks? This is a magical beast of the fifth rank!”
The leader of the group of four, the fifth ranked warrior Kalan, also felt helpless. As a warrior of the fifth rank, it shouldn’t have been a dangerous affair for him to bring a number of friends to the outer regions of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. But he didn’t expect to run into a magical beast of the fifth rank.
“Whoosh!” More than ten earthen spears suddenly erupted from the ground beneath the Warpig, and three of them even pierced into the Warpig’s body, but they were all broken and shattered by the Warpig’s tough hide.
“Roar!”
The Bloodthirsty Warpig immediately turned its enraged attention upon the only magus in the group, before charging forward at the magus rapidly. The Warpig’s charge was truly too fearsome, and what’s more, flicks of flame could be seen coming from its nostrils. Immediately, it caused the remaining youngster to panic.
“Run! Alice, quick, dodge!” Kalan shouted loudly.
The girl named Alice had a head full of long, golden hair and a pair of hazy eyes. Seeing the danger, Alice too tried to flee in panic, but the Bloodthirsty Warpig was a magical beast of the fifth rank, after all. Although it was not very intelligent, it was much smarter than a normal animal.
The Bloodthirsty Warpig chased after Alice.
Seeing the Warpig charge after her, Alice was going to flee, but as she did, she slipped and tripped on a vine and fell face-forward into the ground. Turning her head, she saw the furious eyes of the Warpig draw closer and closer to her. Based on Alice’s weak physical conditioning, the Bloodthirsty Warpig probably was capable of killing her with just one stomp.
Alice was struck dumb with terror.
The other two boys and the girl were also stupefied, not knowing what to do. There was no way they could rescue her
in time.
“Alice!” The youngster called Kalan shouted loudly with anguish. Although he was a warrior of the fifth rank, he simply didn’t have enough experience.”
“Rumble!”
Seven or eight sharp earthen spears suddenly jutted out of the ground. Although the Bloodthirsty Warpig, a magical beast of the fifth rank, did have thick skin, two of the spears still managed to penetrate its thick skin and into its flesh, causing fresh blood to flow from the wound.
But alas…
The earthen spears only pierced its flesh. They didn’t actually cause any injury to its vitals or organs.
“Grrrrrrrrr!” The Bloodthirsty Warpig lifted its head up and bellowed in pain.
“Swish!” A black dagger suddenly fell down from above, piercing into the Warpig’s eye like a bolt of lightning. The Warpig’s eyeball exploded, and the black dagger penetrated directly into the Warpig’s brain. Agonized, the Warpig’s entire body shuddered as it collapsed. Shortly afterwards, it no longer moved.
Kalan, Niya, and Alice were all so terrified, their hearts almost leapt out of their bodies.
They watched as a powerfully built young warrior dressed in blue used the knife to extract the magicite core of the Warpig in a very practiced manner, and then turn to leave. But Kalan was the first amongst the four to recover, and he immediately shouted out, “Friend, please stay!”
*
Book 3, Mountain Range of Magical Beasts – Chapter 24, Her Name Was Alice (part 2)
“Hrm?” Linley turned around, frowning.
Kalan immediately walked over to thank Linley. “My name is Kalan. I very much would like to thank you for your support. If it wasn’t for you, Alice most likely would’ve died just then.”
That girl named Alice ran over as well. Clearly, she was still panicked, and she was panting so heavily her chest rose and fell with each breath. But her soft, hazy eyes were fixed on Linley. “Thank you for saving my life. I’m Alice. My full name is Alice Straf [Si’da’fu]. I’m also a magus of the earth-style.”
Linley’s gaze paused for a moment on Alice.
He had to admit, Alice was a very refined-looking young lady. She had an aura which would naturally make men want to cherish and protect her. She was the sort of girl who didn’t need to use her voice or cosmetics to improve herself.
“Linley, when you see people in danger in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, you usually don’t assist, right? What’s going on today?” Doehring Cowart’s jesting voice rang out in Linley’s head. “Oh, I get it, you must have taken a fancy to that Alice girl.”
Linley frowned.
“Grandpa Doehring, in the past, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to help them. It was that within the inner regions of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, the monsters which people were dealing with were at least magical beasts of the sixth rank, sometimes even the seventh rank. I didn’t have the ability to help them. Killing a beast of the fifth rank isn’t too hard, which is why I went ahead and helped.” Linley immediately explained to Doehring Cowart.
Doehring Cowart chuckled and no longer spoke.
“My name is Tony [Tuo’ni]. Milord magus, what is your name?” The other male youth also spoke.
Linley calmly glanced at this group of people. “How long have you been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts?”
“This is the first day,” Kalan admitted helplessly. “I didn’t expect that on our very first day, we would encounter a magical beast of the fifth rank. We really were too unlucky. Based on what the books said, the outer region should only have magical beasts of the third and fourth ranks. The four of us shouldn’t have been in any danger.”
“Foolish.” Linley shook his head and spoke.
That female archer named Niya immediately got angry. “Hey, why are you being so cocky? You saved Alice, but that doesn’t give you the right to insult people!”
“Niya!” Kalan immediately shouted.
Linley directly explained, “I really very much admire your courage, that all of you dare to barge into the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts like this. But at the same time, I have to say that you are very lucky. You didn’t run into any bandits on your way to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.”
“Bandits?” Kalan and the others looked at each other. They really hadn’t encountered any bandits.
The Mountain Range of Magical Beasts was over ten thousand kilometers long, after all. There were many routes by which one could enter. To not encounter any bandits was very normal.
“Let me tell you this. If you don’t want to die, then immediately depart these mountains.” Linley directly said.
“Why? Are there a lot of magical beasts of the fifth rank in the outer regions as well?” The younger named Tony said curiously.
Linley calmly explained, “In these mountains, especially in the outer areas, the most danger comes not from magical beasts, but from other humans. The four of you are both weak and inexperienced. I trust that certain greedy people will not let you slip away. I expect that the only reason why you haven’t been discovered yet is because today is your first day in these mountains. Otherwise, the four of you would be killed by now.”
“The most danger comes from other humans?” Kalan frowned, but shortly afterwards, his face changed.
Kalan respectfully said to Linley, “Milord magus, we just entered these mountains and only know a little bit about this area. We made a private decision to come here. I hope you can assist us, milord magus, and escort us out of these mountains.”
Linley couldn’t help but frown.
He hated trouble. But if these people were to encounter bandits on their way home, they really would be in for it.
“Milord magus, we beseech your aid.” Alice also begged.
Linley glanced at Alice. Seeing the look of appeal in her eyes, and imagining her being killed by bandits, Linley’s heart softened. Nodding, he said, “Fine. I’m headed back anyways. I’ll take you along with me. But if we really do encounter bandits on the way back, I can only promise to try my best. If you end up getting killed, there’s nothing I can do.”
Kalan immediately joyfully nodded. “For you to be willing to aid us, milord magus, we are extremely grateful already.”
Linley nodded, then immediately headed forwards. His back towards the four of them, he said, “Follow me.” Kalan and the other four began following Linley. Under Linley’s protection, they departed the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts and headed in the direction of the city.
… ..
On the road back, Kalan and the others learned Linley’s name. That Alice, also an earth-style magus, was filled with admiration for Linley. She, too, was only fifteen years old, and she was considered the number one genius at the Wellen [Wei’lin] Institute.
But despite this, Alice was only a magus of the fourth rank. This sort of accomplishment, at the Ernst Institute, would only be considered average.
A break in the journey. Linley, Kalan, Alice, and the others were all eating. Linley and Alice were seated together.
“Big brother Linley, you really are too amazing. You became a magus of the fifth rank when you were fourteen. I probably will be twenty when I reach the fifth rank.” Alice stared worshipfully at Linley.
“I’m nothing. The number one genius at our institute, Dixie, became a magus of the fourth rank when he was nine, and a magus of the fifth rank when he turned twelve.” Linley said casually. He didn’t disclose… that when he was thirteen, he had also been a magus of the fourth rank. But by age fourteen, he had become a magus of the fifth rank.”
In just one short year, he had advanced as much as Dixie had in three.
“A magus of the fourth rank at age nine? I’m fifteen, but I just became a magus of the fourth rank. And I’m considered the top genius at my school. Our Wellen Institute really can’t compare at all to your Ernst Institute.” Alice sighed.
“Big brother Linley, it felt like to me that your Earthen Spear Array was very powerful and formidable, eve
n more so than the other magi of the fifth rank at my school. Why is that?” Alice was also an earth-style magus. Naturally, she noticed the differences in Linley’s spell.
Linley smiled faintly. It wasn’t just power. The speed at which it erupted was also very fast.
“Earth-style magic’s origin lies in the essence of the world… ” Linley began explaining to Alice. To be honest, in terms of understanding earth magic, Linley had a much deeper grasp and understanding than even the earth-style instructors of the Ernst Institute. After all, he had a Saint-level Grand Magus as his personal tutor.
Alice stared at Linley, totally focusing and concentrating on him.
One listened while the other spoke. As they talked, the two of them drew closer and closer to each other. Totally absorbed in magical theory, Linley only noticed after taking a break that their faces were now so close that only a fist’s worth of distance separated them.
Linley was startled. This was his first time being so close to a girl. Being so close, he could clearly see Alice’s two hazy, soft eyes, her pert nose… Linley even thought that he could feel her breath on him and smell the fragrance of her body.
“Big brother Linley, why’d you stop talking?” Alice asked curiously. But moments later, Alice realized what happened. She immediately pulled back, and her face immediately flushed as red as an apple.
Linley forced himself to calm down, and then stood up to face the others. Pretending that nothing was amiss, he said, “Alright, everybody eat up. We’re going to continue to travel soon. Let’s do our best to arrive at the city early.”
*
Book 3, Mountain Range of Magical Beasts – Chapter 25, Violet in the Night Wind (part 1)
On the Greenleaf Road of Fenlai City, the capital of the Kingdom of Fenlai, a member of the Holy Union, there were many noble manors clustered together. In front of one particular manor, over ten people were clustered together.
“The Debs [De’bu’si] clan would like to thank you, Linley, for your assistance. If it wasn’t for you, this child of ours, Kalan, probably would’ve suffered greatly.” A distinguished looking old man with flowing silver hair smiled towards Linley. By this old man’s side was Kalan, Alice, Tony, and Niya. Behind them were the servants of the Debs clan.”