Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
They were feeling down after clearing the battlefield. It was time for them to have a serious introspection! They should have never looked down upon their enemies, especially in terms of tactics. There must be a reason that magicians had higher positions than fighters of the same level. Though Woodrow, a tenth-grade archimage, was not there himself, his influence could still decide the life and death of others. Berger’s magic wand, which had killed Moxinke in the blink of an eye, was from Woodrow. The magic scroll which had helped the female fighter escape was also from Woodrow!
The spies in their camp also distrusted them. They had to figure out an appropriate way to deal with this. Treating the soldiers too harshly was not good for morale, but being too lenient was also not good for keeping secrets.
Ronning was as busy as a bee these days. He had to prepare for battle, and keep in contact with the other generals of the Riptide Regiment at the same time. Reg was not idle either; he was busy organizing an independent team to specially deal with the potential spies in the camp. Reg was quite fond of such things, though he showed no interest in military affairs.
Compared to them, Han Jin and the others were having a much more leisurely time these days. Moxinke devoted himself to practicing his sword art, and Cessacioun indulged in meditation while Han Jin swallowed magic crystals to his heart’s content.
On this day, a soldier had come to report to Ronning that Winston, the castellan of West City, had come, together with a heavily armored knight. It was said that even the knight’s horses stayed far away when they saw the knight. This immediately reminded Han Jin of one person – Gerald. Thus, no matter how much they wished to join in on the fun, they just stayed away like the horses.
They were not afraid of Gerald, for no matter how strong he was, he could not kill thousands of knights alone. They only did this to avoid conflicts. In such an intricate and complex situation, it was not the right time to kill Gerald; killing Gerald would only bring benefit to Zaganide and Woodrow. Han Jin’s plan was to keep the balance between the two parties, and let them continue fighting against each other.
Plus, their attitudes toward this notorious knight had more or less changed since the last time when he had confronted the vampires by himself. His bravery astonished all of them. Sunier hated Gerald by instinct due to his infamous deeds, but regarded him with special respect after seeing him single-handedly propping up West City’s defensive line without a trace of fear.
It was a dreadful and drastic battle known to all. The cavalry had also received news about it. It was said that Gerald was not only cruel to his enemies, but also to himself. He was the one who had single-handed repelled the attacks of the large group of vampires, including King Caroline, and despite being heavily injured, still desperately resisted. It was him who had helped Lord Winston, the castellan of West City, set up a defensive line and finally defeat the vampires’ attack.
They had to admit that it was hard to find a person as strong as Gerald in this world. A merciless slaughterer like Gerald had his own shining point. It was said that after the vampires’ retreat, the whole West City had echoed with cheers and applause. All the soldiers, and even the civilians, in West City considered Gerald as their hero. Who could have expected this since he was such an awful man, even in Holy Crown City, his hometown? Things always turned out to be ridiculous. It was a pity that no one knew Gerald’s real thoughts at that time. Did he feel astonished of himself? Did he find it embarrassing? Was he touched?
Winston hastily came and left. He had just had a brief talk with Ronning, and had inspected the confiscated military supplies before leaving. Han Jin felt that it was strange at first, but soon realized that since Woodrow could assign spies to the Riptide Regiment, then so could Winston. He must have already known all about this, and had only come to verify it himself.
The sun rises and sets every day, while the moon waxes and wanes every night. With the passing of time, the Ninth Town became increasingly boisterous. More and more armies came and settled. But Han Jin didn’t randomly meddle in military affairs. The soldiers of the first group of cavalry had gotten familiar with him, as well as the other members of his team, but the soldiers of other troops, especially the officers, disliked them. They would obey orders from Reg or Ronning, but not from Han Jin. If Han Jin dared to make any remarks or criticisms against them, the ending would only be very unpleasant.
Therefore, Han Jin would never ask for information on military affairs. He trusted Ronning, and spent all his energy in cultivation.
When thinking back on the first few days, he felt sympathetic for himself for only being able to absorb dozens of Yuan’s energy each day. Now, the situation had been greatly improved. The energy he could absorb each day was counted in the unit of ‘Jia’, which was thousands of times more than that of the past.
During these days, he could absorb around at least a few hundred third-grade magic crystals with earth element, and the insignificant magic crystals from the black ravens had all been consumed, nearly emptying his space ring. However, Han Jin stopped making Five Wraiths Carrying charms. Just like his intention for accumulating all the fire elements to make more powerful charms such as the Three True Fire charm, he also wanted to release higher grade ‘magic of darkness’ in the future by accumulating dark elements.
Now, there were only two magic crystals from Earth of Bears, two from Treefolks who belonged to the earth series, three from Flash Leopards, two from Monitor Lizards, and over forty from Gale Wolves in his space ring. The first two kinds were from eighth-grade holy animals, and contained too much energy for him to absorb at present. Even if Han Jin had completed his final stage of basis construction and had entered the stage of ‘Xuan’, he still needed to cultivate for some more time before he could absorb the energy from them.
Those magic crystals reminded him of the ‘lovely’ Iron Bulls. Without their help, Han Jin would not have accumulated so many magic crystals.
The facts had proven that one could hardly be rich by self-reliance! The best way was either to do business, or to rob! Han Jin had done business before when he was in the underground city; a small piece of horse meat could be exchanged for one or more magic crystals. They hunted while risking their own lives in the forest, but how many magic crystals had they gotten in the end? Whereas, he had obtained over three hundred sixth-grade fire element magic crystals, and sixty or more water element magic crystals of the same grade in the underground city! The former required hard work, while the latter was obtained effortlessly. This was the difference between self-reliance and doing business.
Now, he was facing a problem. After the remaining two hundred third-grade earth element magic crystals were consumed, he would have none left to absorb at present. Those of a higher grade, among which the lowest were the fifth-grade magic crystals from Gale Wolves, were still beyond his absorbing ability.
He walked out from his room and turned left. Han Jin stopped in front of a door, lightly knocking at it several times, and directly pushing it open before anyone could answer him. This might be impolite, but even if he showed politeness to the one living in this room, the others would still look at him with a weird look.
Inside the room, Sunier and Ronning were sitting face to face, discussing something in low voices. Han Jin showed an apologetic smile. When he was about to turn around and leave, he was stopped by Sunier. “Raphael!” she called.
“You talk first. I will come by later.”
“We’re done, Lord Raphael,” Ronning said while smiling. “Actually, we have nothing serious to talk about. I just came to ask about Black Raven City, since we are leaving in a few days.”
“How did you get information about Black Raven City?” Han Jin asked with surprise. Even the wise ones are not always free from error. No matter how cautious Han Jin was, this question was abrupt, and he had confused the nonessential with the essential. What was more important was the fact that the army was leaving for Black Raven City, rather than the reason for Sunier knowing of the situation in Black Raven City.
“Where did we meet the first time?” Sunier asked back disdainfully.
Han Jin suddenly recalled the scene when Sunier was being chased by countless black ravens. She had also later explained to him that she had gone there to see a friend.
“Ah… I remember.”
“Excuse me, I’ll leave you two alone.” Ronning stood up with a smile, and nodded to Han Jin and Sunier before walking outside.
Sunier was a little annoyed when she saw Han Jin sitting down with a cheeky smile. She didn’t feel antipathy against him, nor did she like him very much. She just had some favorable impressions and was curious about him. Han Jin was good-looking as a human, but was ordinary when compared with elves.
Therefore, Sunier did not like him for his appearance, but for his cleverness, his frankness, and his honesty to friends. Han Jin was a righteous but not pedantic man who knew when to help, and when to kill. He trusted his friends, could take care of his friends, and would never betray them. This was quite rare in such a disordered world! That day, when they were being surrounded by the knights from Holy Crown City, it was Han Jin who had insisted on staying behind with the hostage, letting them go first. His lonely but tenacious back profile had carved an impression deep into her mind. Though she later found out that Han Jin had done this because he was certain that he could escape, she had been fond of him since that time.
As for curiosity, it was easy to understand. The various kinds of magic that Han Jin had released, were all miraculous and had never been heard of in this world. Sunier had asked Steelberg many times about Han Jin’s past, but Steelberg just giggled and never gave her any exact answers. If he was anxiously forced, he would let her ask Han Jin by herself. Sunier had cracked her brains, but had still gotten nothing.
Curiosity was the source of interest, and interest could create a different future between a man and a woman. If a woman was not curious about a man, it would be hard to believe that any story would happen between them. Unfortunately, Sunier didn’t know this.
But in this small team, their attitudes toward Han Jin and Sunier’s relationship was weird. For example, did Ronning need to explain why he was here? Thinking of this, Sunier felt a little bit angry.
She didn’t reject Han Jin because of her curiosity and favorable impression on him, but due to her personality and identity, she would never express her feelings to him or do things to please him on her own initiative. The one who should take the initiative must be Han Jin. However, he always seems halfhearted! If he has no such feelings toward her, why does he always do dubious things that make her feel embarrassed? If he really liked her, why didn’t he ask her to take a walk together, or gift her something to express his affection? Of course, she was not a material girl; she just wanted the feeling of being loved.
“What is it?” Sunier asked softly. She had decided that if only Han Jin revealed his affection toward her, either directly or implicitly, she would give him a chance. Han Jin was a relatively good man to her. He was responsible, though not good in terms of strength, but he always tried to protect others. He was ambitious – at least, Sunier herself had never hoped to become a territory owner – and he was intelligent. The situation that they were now facing, was, to some extent, created by Han Jin. Of course, he had many other advantages, but the most important among them all was that he had a very prosperous future! Sunier had realized this when she came to know Han Jin’s secret. As long as he had enough time, he would become unimaginably strong in the future! Of course, he had shortcomings as well, such as going to bars with Moxinke all the time, but every man did this, and it was easy to deal with.
Thinking of this, Sunier’s face suddenly blushed. “What am I thinking about?!” she thought to herself. Fortunately, no one could see her expression under the cover of her mask.
“Well.” Han Jin cracked a smile. “My magic crystals are used up. We…”
“Does this have anything to do with me?” she replied icily. A feeling of extreme disappointment occurred in her heart.
“Eh…” Han Jin was confused.
