“`
“I don’t like it when people are late for the agreed time,” Heidi’s delicate brows furrowed slightly at his casual remark.
“Neither do I, but when you’re not very powerful and yet are handpicked for an urgent mission, you’ve got to make some preparations. After all, you only live once,” Ivan said in an indifferent tone.
Actually, he was quite annoyed. Ever since he received the mission notification, he had been busy non-stop. He hadn’t slept all night, and in the midst of it all, he’d used a Level 2 Light of Wisdom.
In his view, if it weren’t for the tight schedule, he wouldn’t have needed the Light of Wisdom at all to craft the Green Tree Star with his Enchantment skills—a waste of a Level 2 Light of Wisdom, and he was someone who hated to waste.
Next to him, Gina kept making eye signals, urging him not to antagonize Heidi.
“You’re right, your strength is indeed low. Let’s hope your preparations don’t hold us back,” Heidi glanced around, then seemed to think better of it and dropped the issue of lateness.
Before long, the four of them arrived at the Task Hall.
The Hunting Team was already there, with five apprentices led by Wolban, who greeted Heidi from afar and nodded to the others. His gaze finally landed on Ivan.
“You’re Ivan Marichardon, the disciple of Sorcerer Toyennes?”
“So what if I am?”
Ivan admitted without changing his expression—after all, that’s what everyone thought.
By then, he was already a 3rd Class apprentice and a senior Knight with two low-level magicalized items to his name. His power wasn’t necessarily lower than that of a deeply experienced 3rd Class apprentice, so there was no need to be overly modest.
“Brave words; we’ll see once we’re out of the academy,” a cold glint flashed in Wolban’s eyes.
Thereafter, the nine of them registered their information in the Task Hall and headed towards the academy’s entrance.
Not far from the academy’s entrance was a beast pen specifically for keeping animals. They collected their eight-legged beasts there—one for each person, with a rental fee and a deposit of five magic stones each.
The eight-legged beast was a sturdy type of horse with a pair of bull horns on its head and thick fur. With its eights legs, it showed some similarities to the Knight Class six-legged horses and was clearly a product of a laboratory, especially bred for long-distance travel.
“Let’s go.”
Leading the way, Heidi and the nine riders departed from Mongna Ant Land Cottage on their eight-legged beasts through the dense forest around the academy’s barrier.
Not long after they left, someone hurried to the outskirts of the academy’s barrier.
“Hey, kid, what are you gawking at? Register your information now, or I’ll hoist you up,” the Eight-legged Black Spider said, clearly displeased as it eyed the apprentice who was looking around.
“Lord Harlund, has my sister Heidi left yet? How long has it been?” The person who arrived was Carmel, who had just realized that his sister had secretly involved Ivan in a dangerous mission without his knowledge.
“You’re quite bold, aren’t you? What makes you think you have the right to ask about these things?” The spider’s large, unfriendly eyes stared at him as it moved a step closer, only to catch a whiff of the green snake fruit from Carmel—a food their species enjoyed the most.
The spider’s long claws shook slightly, and the bag in Carmel’s hand disappeared.
“Heidi is really your sister?”
“Yes, that’s right. Please tell me, Lord Harlund, how long have they been gone?”
“Since she’s your sister, I don’t mind telling you—you’re late, young man. They’ve been gone for about fifteen minutes already, riding on eight-legged beasts. They’ve long since run off without a trace, so go back to your business,” replied Harlund.
As the Guardian of the academy, Harlund had stood at the gates for years and had become adept at human social niceties, knowing well what to say and what not to.
“About fifteen minutes, huh.” Carmel looked disappointed upon hearing this.
Yesterday, after losing to Ivan, Carmel had been somewhat disgraced in front of his sister Heidi. Under her questioning, he had expressed his frustration, little expecting that it would lead his sister to do something like this.
“`
It shouldn’t have been like this.
In his view, the Enchantment competition with Ivan involved competition, encouragement, and growth. Wasn’t that what friendships were about? It was a testament to the friendship that the two had formed, but now he had ruined it.
Thinking about what Heidi had done, he felt deeply ashamed and did not know how he would face Ivan in the future.
…
The Mongna Ant Land Cottage was located in a unique environment not suitable for ordinary people to live in, with few human settlements nearby.
The eight-legged beast galloped as if treading on the wind, and after a long journey of two days, they had already completed most of the distance. They would reach their destination, the western border of the Edarasay Kingdom, tomorrow.
“Please forgive us, but the situation is urgent, we’ll have to trouble everyone for one more night,” Wolban said to the group.
That night, they needed to camp in the wilderness.
For the apprentices present, as long as their mental power remained abundant, going without sleep for two or three nights was nothing, so no one objected to his request.
The camping site was chosen on a small hill near the road, not far from a jungle.
Wolban arrived at the hill first and lightly stomped his foot. Immediately, Lightning element particles and Fire element particles around him were attracted and turned into clusters of faint thunderfire. The thunderfire passed through the surrounding grass along the ground.
In an instant, the weeds, dampness, and insects were all cleared away.
Whether intentionally or not, a cluster of thunderfire was a bit too forceful, shooting out unintentionally and landing in front of Ivan, who was approaching, continuing its rapid attack towards him.
“How dull.”
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Such petty tricks played on newcomers couldn’t possibly harm Ivan.
At the critical moment, a wisp of Water-type particles formed into a mist of frost that appeared in front of the thunderfire. The two collided, emitting a “pfft” sound, and their energies neutralized each other.
“Seems like you’ve got some strength. You shouldn’t hold us back,” Wolban nodded slightly, as if his action was not meant to intimidate but to test the strength of the team members.
Soon, a bonfire roared to life, and several people sat down around it.
At Wolban’s suggestion, both groups introduced themselves to each other since they still had to work together to complete the mission.
“The people from Swamp Forest City have sent a message saying that a strange disease has appeared there. It’s highly contagious. Initially, the disease only spread among wild beasts, making them aggressive, but now many ordinary people have started showing similar symptoms. The situation is not optimistic.
In addition, there’re frequent attacks on merchant caravans by beasts, which has affected the transport of supplies for the academy. If we’re lucky enough, we might encounter them tonight.”
Wolban simply stated the mission information. Usually, such situations are caused by energy leaks from hidden laboratories or by uncovered experimental waste that contaminates nearby wild beasts, which they had dealt with many times before.
However, this time the situation was a bit different, which is why the Enchantment Group was also pulled in.
He continued, “The infected beasts will have a peculiar pattern on their heads, which appears to be some kind of runes. We need the help of your Enchantment Group.”
“We’ll take action,”
Heidi was there for this very reason and naturally would not refuse.
Meanwhile, Ivan watched the two discussing and couldn’t help but mock inwardly. With thousands of runes in the world, and each rune subject to countless interpretations based on different people’s understanding, they had come all this way just because they found a pattern that vaguely resembled a rune. That seemed foolish.
These two were definitely hiding some important information.
The night grew deeper when suddenly noises erupted from the jungle, and the sound from above and below indicated a significant number of beasts were rapidly approaching their camp.