Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
Some fat rats sneaked out from underground and directly ran towards the Hydra’s corpse. Different from dragons that contain treasures all over their bodies, hydras are valueless except for their toxic magic crystals. Han Jin didn’t believe this until he confirmed it by himself through research.
Both the skin and flesh of the Hydra were toxic. If the toxicity was strong enough to cause damage to humans within a short time, Han Jin might be able to make it into something small. If the toxicity was weak, he could still turn it into energy that he could consume. But the fact was, the Hydra’s skin and flash were neither strong nor weak, thus he could neither use it nor eat it.
The others also showed no interest in the Hydra. The young magicians had obsoleted it to some distant place, but for the forest rats, this Hydra corpse was a huge treasure. Thus, they often came out for food at fixed times.
As usual, the noise of twittering came from the distance. The young magicians had become accustomed to it and continued with their own affairs, but Yalina frowned and raised her magic wand. A dazzling ray of lightning poured down from the sky all of a sudden, hitting the Hydra precisely. With a thunderous sound, the rotten corpse of the Hydra spattered around, along with countless rats that fell like raindrops.
Upon seeing this, Moxinke shrunk his neck and said in a low voice, “How about singing a song for us, Cessacioun?”
As a bard, Cessacioun should be good at singing and chanting, but the fact was, he was a tone-deaf person. Moxinke had always laughed at him for this. Now, Moxinke was asking him to sing for them, so he was teasing Cessacioun.
“Sing a song?” Cessacioun was puzzled, not realizing Moxinke’s evil intentions at all. Driven by his professional instinct, Cessacioun cleared his throat and asked, “Which song do you want to listen to? The Story of Abraham?”
“Cessacioun, do you want to be struck by lightning?” Asked Reg in a strange tone.
Though Cessacioun was a clever man, he would never guard against his friends. This was entirely different from Moxinke – a mean guy who always played tricks on his friends. Thus, Cessacioun was often teased.
Now that the little trick had been uncovered, Moxinke showed no look of shame at all. On the contrary, he wagged his head with an air of complacency.
Cessacioun flushed with anger. How dare this guy humiliate him by comparing his songs to the noise made by rats!
“She’s in a bad mood.” Sunier looked at Yalina.
“Well… anyone who is not blind can see that.” Moxinke gave a smug as he started satirizing Sunier.
“Huh?” Sunier fixed her eyes on Moxinke and looked him up and down.
“I mean…” Moxinke immediately realized his own mistake and tried to explain with his hand scratching his ears and cheeks in embarrassment. “I mean… we all know this. You don’t need to…”
“Sunier, he was deliberately challenging you!” Cessacioun interrupted indignantly.
“I know.” Sunier nodded.
“Ha! Raphael, my god, what have you found?” Moxinke suddenly shouted with his eyes staring directly behind them.
But none of them looked back. All of their eyes were fixed on Moxinke with a half-smile on their faces.
“You are so lucky, Raphael!” Moxinke exclaimed again.
Still, the three of them continued staring at Moxinke as if they were looking at a clown.
“No, no!” Moxinke suddenly showed a look of fear. “Do not point that stuff at Sunier. It’s very dangerous!”
This time, they finally gave some reactions. Sunier bit her lips, Reg lowered head with his face full of grief, while Cessacioun gloated. Behind Moxinke, Han Jin was walking towards them. No matter how great Moxinke’s show was, he could not deceive them.
“Raphael, no…” Moxinke was completely engrossed in his show, and even his voice was hoarse.
“What are you doing?” Han Jin patted Moxinke’s shoulder and curiously asked. It was strange that this guy would keep calling his name while staring in the opposite direction where there was actually nothing.
Moxinke stopped shouting and even held his breath. Cessacioun and Reg could no longer control themselves. They burst into laughter with their hands pounding at their chests and their feet stomping the ground. Sunier also covered her mouth with the back of her hand while giggling.
“No!” Moxinke still wanted to continue the show. “I saw you over there just now… Illusion! It must be an illusion!”
“Nonsense!” Reg raised his leg to kick Moxinke while still laughing. “You’re so thick-skinned!”
Moxinke immediately dodged and gave a hollow laugh in embarrassment.
“What happened?” Han Jin was even more confused. He had been in the woods the whole morning for cultivation. He had unexpectedly managed to accomplish the final stage of the Dan Method, and now, his choices had also increased. Thus, he needed a quiet place to think about his priority, which was of vital importance and could even decide his life or death if dangers occurred in the future.
The thunderous noise from outside broke his thoughts. Han Jin immediately rushed back, only to find nothing abnormal. He let out a sigh of relief, wondering what had happened.
“The forest rats came foraging again. Someone in a bad mood raised her magic wand. Then… after a loud sound, the world turned quiet again,” Reg said smilingly.
“Oh?” Han Jin looked at Yalina. “Maybe we should leave. It may make her feel better if we kept adventuring.”
The things that had happened these past few days were hard for Yalina. Han Jin showed understanding and sympathy for her. She might have figured out why she was assassinated, but she could not accept the result that the murderer was not punished at all.
“Sunier is not fully recovered yet,” Cessacioun said.
“Yes, and I was also hurt yesterday!” Added Moxinke.
Han Jin cast a glance at Sunier, directly ignoring Moxinke.
“I can walk, but don’t expect me to fight,” Sunier stretched out her arms and said.
“I think we should rest for a few more days, Raphael,” suggested Reg.
“Okay.” Han Jin paused. “We forgot one thing yesterday.”
“What is it?” Asked Sunier.
“We should have asked the Reapers Mercenary Team to bring us a space scroll. We can pay them double the price. Those young magicians would not care about the money. On the contrary, they would be very happy to get even one space scroll.”
“You are right!” The others simultaneously exclaimed. For the members of the Reapers, this task was not difficult at all. All they needed to do was run errands. They would be willing to help since they still felt sorry for the trouble they had caused.
“Why didn’t you mention this yesterday?” Moxinke muttered. With a space scroll, they could go back whenever they wanted. At least, they would feel much safer.
“It just occurred to me.”
“Should I have a talk with her?” Sunier slowly suggested.
“You’d better not,” Reg replied. “She is an arrogant woman. What if she doesn’t appreciate your kindness at all and turns against you?”
“She won’t. Anyways, I won’t quarrel with her.” Sunier smiled and strode toward Yalina.
Reg shrugged and showed an indifferent look. To some extent, he was like Han Jin who would not be touched by appearance. Thus, he only cared about Sunier as she was a friend, whereas Yalina’s grief was none of his business.
Though in a bad mood, Yalina still forced a smile and started to chat with Sunier.
What Reg was worried about did not happen. He diverted his attention and asked, “Raphael, what were you doing just now? You left for quite a long time.”
“I was thinking about something,” replied Han Jin.
“Think about what? Perhaps, I can offer you advice,” Reg kept asking tentatively.
“Nothing much.” Han Jin smiled but still revealed some of his secrets for he didn’t want to let Reg down. “If I am able to make enough preparation, I can release some new magic now. Thus, I have to select some and give up the rest.”
“The magic you utilized to kill the Hydra… you could release it a long time ago?”
“Yes.” Han Jin nodded. “But my powers were not strong enough at that time. To release such magic would bring me mortal danger. Even now, I can’t randomly release it unless the situation is very urgent.”
Both Reg and Moxinke nodded. They had seen what had happened to Han Jin after he had released that magic, and they knew he was telling the truth. “Magic powers… I still can’t feel your magic power fluctuation,” Cessacioun suddenly interrupted.
“Because my way of practicing is different from yours.” Han Jin had to explain it in this manner.
They stopped asking when Han Jin’s core secret was involved. “What was the magic you released yesterday? Was it the Flame of Fire God? Can you release some higher grade magic now?” Reg changed the topic.
“It’s not the Flame of Fire God.” Han Jin paused. “And I suppose I can.”
They looked at each other. Han Jin’s progress had shocked them all. If even a small fireball could destroy a ninth-grade swordmaster, then what about higher grade magic?
“I’m going to meditate,” Cessacioun abruptly said before walking to his straw shed.
“All of us should work harder…” Reg also said with a wry smile.
