Tonight there was a moon, a silver moon engulfed in a purple mist, resembling a disc.
Under the moonlight, Ivan arrived at Old Orio’s home, and what caught his eye was a gruesome battlefield. A great portion of the estate bore traces of scorching and destruction—clearly not the work of a knight. No wonder Old Orio’s bones were nowhere to be found.
He took a deep breath, imprinting the scene before him into his heart, both respecting and envying the sorcerer’s methods.
Minutes later, he arrived in front of Bat’s Eye Medical Hall.
The doors of the medical hall were left casually open, and the space where the signboard should have hung above was now empty.
Ivan looked around and found the signboard lying on the steps beside the door, the place where he often ate his packed lunch. The signboard was bent, nearly snapped in half.
Inside the medical hall, only the medicine shelves remained, along with glass shards and fragments of medicines scattered across the floor—everything else had been cleared out.
Looking at these familiar rooms, he recalled how he had struggled to learn apothecary from Old Orio and the rivalry with Justine, with every scene vividly before him. Since coming to this world, he had spent more time with Old Orio than with Leider. People are not grass or trees.
“Damn it!”
Ivan cursed irritably, not even sure at whom, just unable to calm himself.
After one last glance, he rushed out of the empty medical hall and, after a moment’s thought, took the nearly broken signboard with him on his way home.
A new day.
In the morning, Ivan came to Cassia Swordsmanship Hall.
Strength: 2.9, Agility: 2.2, Constitution: 3.1, Spirit: 1.4
Over the past three days, the effects of the two potions he had taken had worn off, adding 0.1 degrees of strength and constitution, no change in the others.
It wasn’t hard to conclude: the fifth Ocean Blue Potion must have lost its effectiveness.
His constitution had surpassed the 3 degrees standard for a squire, but he still hadn’t sensed the existence of the Life Seed. He didn’t know the reason—perhaps 3.1 degrees wasn’t the limit for constitution, perhaps the Breath of Life refined through the basic Breathing Method wasn’t pure enough, or perhaps it was a side effect of the Breathing Secret Medicine, among other possibilities.
“Brother Ivan, I haven’t seen you in several days.”
“Hey Donnie.”
Donnie came over to greet him the moment he entered the martial arts arena. Everyone knew he was close to Ivan, and after Ivan had shown off his formidable strength, more people approached him than before, which made him a bit proud.
Ivan asked, “How did your test go?”
“No aptitude,” Donnie replied, not disappointed but rather saying, “It’s a good thing, really. I’ve come to realize that training in that area is far too dangerous. It’s better to earnestly cultivate Combat Energy.”
Ivan looked surprised, “Why do you say that?”
Donnie said, “You don’t know yet, do you? Among those people from before, quite a few have died. I suspect not many are left. Look, that black ship has arrived and is docked at the port we visited.”
A thought struck Ivan—it must have been the people from that ship who killed Old Orio.
His main reason for coming to the Swordsmanship Hall was to see if Donnie had any news. As for accepting Cassia’s invitation, he hadn’t decided yet, so he didn’t stay long.
Afterward, he made a point of going near the docks and climbed up the same rampart he and Donnie had watched from before. Sure enough, the black ship with mysterious patterns was there, occupying the eastern area of the dock by itself.
“Its name is ‘Dark Lahr’, built from black spade wood buried in the swamp for thousands of years. Quite beautiful, isn’t it?”
Just as Ivan was observing the distant black ship, a voice suddenly sounded right beside him, yet he hadn’t noticed anyone approach from behind.
He quickly turned around, his face changing color in an instant.
Unexpectedly, behind him was not a person but a slender green snake flying in mid-air with a pair of pristine white wings. The words had come from its mouth.
Ivan instinctively replied, “Yes.”
The little green winged snake continued, “Actually, it also has another name—Swamp Spade. Which do you think is better, ‘Dark Lahr’ or ‘Swamp Spade’?”
It was an obvious preference, and Ivan, unsure about the snake’s temperament, tried to say, “Dark Lahr.”
The little green winged snake sounded more cheerful, “Human kid, you’ve got an eye for things, really. I’d like to recommend you as an apprentice. What’s your name?”
Ivan: “Rosyth.”
“Mr. Rosyth, you really do have an eye for things. See you next time.”
The little green winged snake nodded as if to demonstrate, then flapped its pristine wings and flew forward swiftly, straight toward the black ship.
Is this a sorcerer’s familiar?
A Knight must learn riding skills from the very foundation, but having a special wild beast as a mount is rarely seen; most are horses, at most varying in breed, like the Dragon-maned Horse, reputed to carry the Earth Dragon bloodline, or the Scale-Covered Horse with sea beast blood.
Without exception, these mounts do not speak.
“No wonder they say sorcerers are mysterious.”
After the false alarm, Ivan did not dare to linger any longer, to avoid being seen by something else.
As for taking revenge for Old Orio, he had thought it through clearly the night before, you only take on as much as you can handle; it would be better to preserve his life and pay tribute to Old Orio during the holidays. He was very clear about this.
Afterward, he went from South City to West City.
“Isn’t this Mr. Ivan?”
“I’ve missed you for many days, dear Mrs. Harayer.”
Mrs. Harayer did not give Ivan a warm welcome because he had left in a hurry before, forgetting to come over and say a word, making her wait in vain for a class that no one attended.
Mrs. Harayer seriously said, “Mr. Ivan, imparting knowledge is a very serious matter, you can’t just disappear without saying a word. Do you understand?”
Ivan replied, “I apologize. My father’s Mercenary Group received an urgent task, and due to the pressing time, I couldn’t inform more people, so I had to go with them and didn’t manage to come over to inform you.”
In fact, he had truly forgotten.
However, for women, no matter their size or where they are, a little sweet talk can resolve many conflicts without cost.
He immediately recounted the mission of the Mercenary Group and picked out some interesting bits to tell Mrs. Harayer, to ease her mood.
“To help your own father out of a bind in the Black Fog Forest at night, you’ve truly earned a new level of respect; you are a fearless warrior.”
“Your praise makes me feel embarrassed.”
“Mr. Ivan, if your father has any tasks left, you might want to help him again, and it would be best to take a trip away as soon as possible. Recently, things are quite unsettled at Flying Fish Port.”
After leaving the villa, Ivan was still pondering that cryptic last sentence from Mrs. Harayer, as if she was warning him about something.
Thinking back to the last test and the black ship docked at the harbor.
He had a vague guess about a possibility, could it be that she was suggesting him to become an apprentice to a sorcerer? But that was exactly what he wanted – Donnie’s words echoed in his mind, death or death, which just shows how dangerous it was.
Ivan felt vaguely uneasy and decided to visit his father at the Mercenary Group’s base to ask.
Just as he was about to leave West City, a small squad of guards came running up from behind, quickly. He thought they were on a mission and quickly moved aside, but the guards stopped beside him.
The leading guard captain, Burkhart, asked, “You are Ivan Marichardon, correct?”
Ivan noticed the captain holding a portrait of himself and nodded.
The guard captain said, “Baron Karl requests your presence.”
Ivan had a bad feeling and couldn’t help saying, “I’ve just broken out in a sweat, may I have permission to return and change into more appropriate attire?”
The guard captain replied, “Mr. Ivan, don’t forget all your family are in Flying Fish Port.”
What a threat!
Ivan looked deep into the captain’s eyes and then signaled for him to lead the way.