Translator: AtlasStudios Editor: AtlasStudios
Rhode of course wasn’t stupid enough to explain Gillian’s last words since he still didn’t want to die yet. Now, Rhode finally found out a very important piece of information. It was something Gillian had told him from before. Rhode noticed that she wasn’t so simple because from the way she talk and the words she used, it seemed like she wasn’t a part of this world. Or else, she wouldn’t use words that only people from his world would understand.
Not only that, from Gillian’s words, she also seemed to know the game system Rhode used. Rhode was certain that the strange summoned spirit didn’t just know that. She said that he finally reunited with her in this world. That meant that, in the game, he had met her before?
Rhode still couldn’t understand it.
As a spirit swordsman, Rhode was naturally familiar with his own summoned spirits. When talking about fire elemental creatures, the summoned spirit that he liked the most was the Heavenly Phoenix. However, Gillian didn’t seem to have flying unit summoned spirit characteristics, and she also didn’t look like the Efreet or Lava Lizard kind of monster. In any case, he thought about all of the fire spirits that he used before, but none matched with Gillian’s characteristics. Although other spirit swordsmen had also summoned female fire spirits before, from the picture they have shared online, they looked completely like elemental creatures and none had Gillian’s beast characteristic.
Usually, every summoned spirit was unique, and the spirits that were summoned by Spirit Swordsmen also varied. From the flying unit fire spirits, there were Fire Birds, Fire Eagles, Fire Serpents, and others. That was why, to a Spirit Swordsman, their every summon was a gamble because they never knew if the spirit they summoned was actually the one they wanted. For example, a Spirit Swordsman could want a flying unit creature, but actually get a water unit or earth unit spirit. Even if he was a little bit lucky and got a flying unit fire spirit, its race still had to be identified. The huge difference between a Fire Bird and a Phoenix couldn’t be easily bridged.
Because of that, there was no way for a Spirit Swordsman in their entire lives to summon the same spirit twice.
The same goes for the spirits that Rhode had summoned previously; none were spirits Rhode had used before. Their attributes might be similar, but they were still completely different. The same with Gillian; Rhode could be sure that he never owned such a strong spirit before, r else there was no way he didn’t have any impression toward it.
However, the fact that she knew him also didn’t seem to be a lie… or it could be said this kind of lie was meaningless. Rhode was very confident about his memories. If he had seen it, then he definitely had seen it. If he had never seen it, then he had definitely never seen it. He wasn’t like some men, who will lost themselves after being bewitched by a beautiful girl. They couldn’t even answer how much is 1+1 was; how could they remember whether they met her or not? But since the beautiful girl said so, they definitely had met before.
And from the previous conversation, Rhode could be sure that Gillian knew that he wasn’t the type that could be seduced easily. If she said such a blatant lie, then it meant that she was underestimating his intelligence.
But…
Rhode shook his head. Since he couldn’t figure it out, it was useless to think about it anymore. She was in his hand; he could just ask her later.
Of course, this didn’t mean that he had nothing to do.
Or it could be said that he was at a huge loss.
Although summoning a Commander Level Lord indeed easily solved all his problem, he couldn’t help sighing after looking at his status. There really was no free meal in any world.
The EXP points gained from killing a Master Level Lord and Level 50 Mage could level him up to Level 20 or even more. But what made him feel unhappy was that he got nothing beside the EXP points from killing those few Wind Serpents earlier. This meant that the biggest EXP points were all being eaten by Gillian!
She didn’t even leave a little to him!
Not only that, Rhode couldn’t even take any loots. Whether it was the black-cloaked mage or the Wind Serpents, they all turned into dust in the battle from before; there wasn’t even the tiniest bit of nail left, not to mention loots.
But, facing this kind of situation, Rhode could only helplessly accept the fact. The only thing he wanted was to keep living. As for EXP points and such, it was good if he had it, but if he didn’t, then there was no other choice. Since no matter what, it was enough as long as they lived.
After resting for a while, everyone continued their journey.
As a leader of a large mercenary group, Hiller smartly didn’t ask Rhode any questions regarding the previous battle. All of them saw the magnificent scene from before, and as mercenaries that faced the Wind Serpents, they of course knew just how strong they were. Hiller knew that every person had their own secrets, and since Rhode didn’t plan to say, he also wouldn’t ask. No matter what, Rhode saved them, and that was already enough. Not only that, he also told his subordinates not to continue investigating the matter regarding the Starlight mercenary group. This action of Hiller’s also left a good impression on Rhode.
The next journey went very smoothly.
Originally, Rhode planned to kill the remaining members of the Jade Tears mercenary group, but before he could, Old Walker hurriedly reported that the Jade Tears mercenary group members were all wiped out.
According to Old Walker, he had followed Rhode’s original plan to observe their movement. However, fireballs suddenly fell from the sky and the entire mercenary group was wiped out in that flame. This scene made Old Walker feel a chill down to his spine; he hid behind and looked as those mercenaries died tragically and didn’t know what he should do. After the fire dissipated, he walked closer to investigate, but everything already turned into ashes and there was nothing left.
Rhode, of course, knew what happened. Now he finally knew where those fireballs went.
From this, it could be clearly seen that a Commander Level Lord card deck was indeed different from other cards. Other cards were only conscious once they were summoned, and in the remaining time they usually just slept inside the card. However, Gillian was different; she knew what was happening outside. Or else, there was no way she would do such a thing. It had to be said that there was a thousand miles of distance between the battlefield where Rhode was and the place the Jade Tears mercenary group was located.
However, from this matter, Rhode started to understand Gillian’s personality. Her appearance looked innocent and harmless, but her actions were unambiguous, decisive, and well thought out. Of course… her personality still gave him quite some headache.
After summoning her, the remaining summoning time became zero. According to the system prompt, this card was currently in a cooldown period. If Rhode wanted to summon Gillian again, he had to wait until the cooldown period ended.
Or sacrifice his EXP points to summon it.
But after looking at the cooldown period, his entire face almost turned green.
Three months!
This card need to cool down for three months!
Not only that, Rhode just found out that the cooldown period would carry over if he was forced to summon it during the cooldown period. Not only did he have to sacrifice his EXP points to summon it, even after summoning it, the cooldown period would become six months from three months. If he continuously summoned her three times, the card would be sealed for one year.
After seeing the system prompt, Rhode somehow felt that he had fallen into a trap. It really was such a disappointment that he never saw this kind of summoned spirit before. However, considering her terrifying power as a Fire Element Commander Level Lord and his level, which was only about 15 or 16, Rhode could only helplessly shrug his shoulder and accept this fate. Originally, he planned to select her as part of his core card deck, but now it seemed that he wouldn’t be able to. There were complicated requirements to create a core card deck; not only did he have to get the summoned spirit’s approval, he would also need a large number of expensive magic materials to unlock the core card position. Rhode wanted to wait until he reached Level 20, since there was an opportunity to select a summoned spirit as the core card deck for free, but he needed to wait for some time in order to do this. After all, there was no way for him to select a summoned spirit that he couldn’t summon as the core card. Although it was also okay to force summon it once he reached level 20, but after falling into this card’s “trap,” Rhode became very clear that things weren’t as easy as he had thought. If at that time he did so, there might be other trouble that would await him.
That was why it was better for him to wait patiently and make the decision after seeing the situation afterwards.
When Rhode arrived back at Deep Stone City, the entire city was shaken.
The news regarding the Burning Blade mercenary group’s attack had already spread out, and the entire Mercenary Association was in shock. It had to be said that the Mercenary Association was badly battered because of continuous problems that happened recently. Originally, they still hoped that the three top mercenary groups could help them to stabilize the situation. Unfortunately, the Burning Blade mercenary group was suddenly attacked and they received very heavy casualties. For a while, everyone was worried. The Burning Blade mercenary group was the strongest mercenary group in Paphield area, but they actually also got attacked. So who would be spared?
The Old President and Sereck quickly investigated the situation with Rhode and Hiller. Both of them also explained the situation that happened. However, Rhode didn’t talk about the relationship between the black-cloaked mage and the Jade Tears mercenary group, only ambiguously saying that the black-cloaked mage controlled a very strong Wind Serpent Lord and might be connected to the trade passage attack that happened recently.
This point was enough to catch the Old President’s attention. Although Rhode had no evidence (since everything was burned by Gillian), Hiller’s support gave his words a little more credibility. After all, unlike Rhode, Hiller had been in Paphield area for so many years and during his time here, he had built up a good reputation. Since he also said so, it would definitely right. The Old President told them with serious expression that he would report to the administrative officer and leave this matter to him.
At this moment, in a luxurious room in Deep Stone City, there was a different scene.
Clang!!
An exquisite teapot was thrown to the floor, its fragments scattering on the floor. The entire room was in a mess, but the person that stood on the center of the room didn’t care about that matter.
“How did this happen!”
Frank’s expression was gloomy, and his fist heavily hit the desk. Not far from him, a mercenary silently stood there. He was one of the small group members that entered the Twilight Forest. He was responsible for contacting the black-cloaked mage and was the only survivor of this incident.
“Burning Blade wasn’t destroyed, Starlight still exists, but our people all died? How could this happen?!”
“E-everything that I told you is the truth, Master!”
After hearing Frank’s shouts, the mercenary hurriedly explained.
“We indeed have delivered your words, and that person also agreed to our request, but after that he never came back. Not only that, everyone also died, and according to the information from the Burning Blade, it seemed that person also…”
Bang!
Frank’s fist once again hit the desk, the extreme pain making his expression somewhat distorted. However, he wasn’t thinking about that right now. His body was trembling and fear was spread all over his body.
He messed up!
He messed up everything!!
Originally, he wanted to use this opportunity to destroy these two strong opponents, but he never thought that everything was occur completely beyond his expectations. How could this happen? According to his investigation, the strength of the two mercenary groups strength definitely rendered them unable to confront a Level 3 middle circle mage! How could they block his attack and kill him?
Thinking until here, Frank shivered.
He could already imagine his end.
Unauthorized commands that led them to suffer such a heavy loss, Frank was certain that once this matter reached the Hawk Nest’s ear, he would definitely die!
What should he do? What should he do to change all of this?
The current Frank had fallen into coldness and despair.
