Pillar of Yita

”Do you a favor?”

The two continued to walk for a while, and Fang Hong, with a furrowed brow, asked. Grant had given him an answer, but it wasn’t satisfying. He was reluctant to delve too deeply into the conflict between the Rain Listener and the Blood Oath Alliance, and what he truly cared about was how his party was going to leave this place.

Fang Hong stopped in front of the giant gate, raised his head, and studied the patterns on it. His gaze was distant, as if he could see beyond the lifeless stone to something more.

After a long while, he turned back and looked towards the forest, saying, ”Grant is over there.”

Fang Hong followed his gaze, but only saw the intertwined branches in the dark and deep forest, barely illuminated by faint glimmers. However, the moon, like a thin veil, hung down from the night sky, vaguely revealing the outline of an airship atop the distant treetops.

Fang Hong waited for him to look for a moment, then said:

”He’s explaining to the others. He had everyone in the dark before, and though there was a reason, not everyone supports him. Even though he has now exposed the traitors, giving others a sense of shared enmity, people are still wary, and aside from a few diehards, no one is optimistic about the future of the guild.”

Having said this, Fang Hong took another look at Fang Hong. It was the latter who had helped Grant find those traitors, and without that, the Rain Listener would likely have already become a thing of the past.

But even so, it seemed to be of little significance.

He sighed.

”Grant believes there’s still a chance for the guild, and as the captain of the Storm Adventurers, it’s my duty to do my part and leave the rest to fate. However, I don’t agree with Grant’s view. He has a special affection for the Rain Listener, which I understand, but the experience of the new recruits in the training camp has just begun—”

He paused, his voice filled with remembrance, and said, ”About ten years ago when V.E.M disbanded, I went through something similar, so I don’t want to see history repeat itself in these young people. If it really comes to a hopeless situation, I hope that there’s an escape route for the people in my troop.”

Fang Hong involuntarily stopped.

He looked at the rust-covered dagger in the hands of Fang Hong, feeling a mix of emotions.

It was like a heritage of time, entrusting the tolerance of the previous generation of summoners to their successors. It wasn’t a declaration or agreement, but it felt like a voluntary covenant, passing the torch from one to another.

The flair of that era subtly infused into it. Other than the Guild, they didn’t have much close connection, but the dreams and ideals of this generation of summoners were already encapsulated in these few words.

It was like a simple exhortation:

Don’t stop, keep moving forward.

For a moment, Fang Hong wasn’t sure whether he should reach out, though he had come to this world just for this feeling.

”Is this the favor you want me to help with?” Fang Hong asked, somewhat astonished. ”But our small adventure group is not a grand guild. I’m really not a member of the Elite’s Youth Training Team. What future can I offer them?”

But Fang Hong didn’t take back the dagger, and simply answered, ”I know.”

His tone shifted, ”Grant asked me to apologize to you all, saying he shouldn’t have dragged you into this unrelated matter. He wanted me to assure you that the Rain Listener never lets allies down, and he will certainly arrange everything so that you can safely leave this place.”

Fang Hong was momentarily taken aback, and couldn’t help asking, ”What does he plan to do?”

”Grant actually has some leverage. Did you see those smaller guilds outside? Initially, Fenris was only a two-party system. The Rain Listener was slightly weaker than the Blood Oath Alliance, but by allying with other guilds, they can just manage to counterbalance them. If the Rain Listener ceases to exist, the other guilds will also lose their space for survival, so they will join us.”

”He plans to use that map to force the Blood Oath Alliance to agree to let us participate fairly in the trial. Once the trial begins, that will be your opportunity to leave.”

”How will we leave?”

”The Black Holy City beneath Peru Holy Valley is bigger than you imagine. The Serpent People had established extensive tunnels in Fenris’s underground in the ancient times, some of which even lead to the plains in the south.”

”You mean to say, let us go through these tunnels?”

”As contestants, Green Dragon Meijeli will provide protection for you. You know of Milaila’s Holy Relic, right?”

Fang Hong frowned, ”But I heard that this trial is a test for the trainees; it must have some limitations, right?”

If a trial aimed at trainees included summoners of level 2 and level 3, he couldn’t see the point of the trial. Even though no one would actually die in the trial, official summoners would still be like slaughtering the trainees.

But Fang Hong shook his head, ”You’re mistaken, this trial actually has two routes. How could Grant stake his hopes on trainees alone, even if he agreed, the people from the Blood Oath Alliance might not accept it. This trial also has a project limited to characters under level 15. Grant plans to settle things with the Blood Oath Alliance through this project, and you can participate in it as well. I will give you a map, showing you how to escape that underground maze.”

Fang Hong still frowned, ”But we have members in our adventure group who are not below level 15, what about the others? We also have a beast of burden; surely it can’t enter the underground, can it?”

”It doesn’t matter, as long as someone from your team participates in the competition, the rest of you will be protected by the Green Dragon Meijeli. You can have the others go ahead to meet you there, and after the trial ends, the people from Blood Oath Alliance probably won’t notice you,” Lonely White Field replied.

”Do you really have that map?” Fang Hong couldn’t help asking.

Lonely White Field shook his head.

”Grant never told me. The Guild’s elite disappeared with many things before, and I am not clear whether that map is still in his possession. But if we succeed, all will be well; if we lose, whether or not we have the map won’t really matter.”

He paused, ”The important thing is whether the Blood Oath Alliance dares to bet on this point.”

Fang Hong thought the best scenario would be if the Blood Oath Alliance dared to bet, otherwise they would be in trouble, as the opponents surely wouldn’t let them leave easily, since anyone here might have taken the map.

He was very clear about the way those Grand Guilds operated.

At this point, Lonely White Field finally turned the dagger around and handed it over, ”It was you who reminded me that due to unavoidable reasons during that battle, we have reached this point today. Actually, there is nothing much that cannot be discussed, but some things, I think, are better experienced by yourself.”

”Just because you mentioned R, I got a whimsical idea. There’s a young man who just joined the Storm this year. I think you might like him; he is much like R back then—talented and not yet deep into the worlds. Assuming the Rain Listener would indeed be swallowed by the Blood Oath Alliance, I don’t think it would be good for him to stay here because the dissolution of V.E.M taught me a lot.”

”So,” Fang Hong finally understood the other’s intentions, ”you want us to take him with us?”

Lonely White Field nodded.

”Why? What future do you think we can offer him?”

”Intuition,” Lonely White Field looked at him and quietly answered, ”If I have forgotten many things over the past ten years, it’s only intuition that can vaguely bring back the feelings from those days. Ade, you are quite extraordinary. In you, I see the potential of a top Invoker.”

Fang Hong’s face grew slightly warm; he hadn’t expected Lonely White Field to hold him in such high esteem.

”But—” he was still somewhat hesitant.

”Don’t worry,” but Lonely White Field replied, ”This is a mutual choice. I will arrange a meeting between him and you. However, I am confident that you will appreciate each other, because truly outstanding Invokers will understand what kind of team suits them best.”

He placed the dagger in Fang Hong’s hands.

Fang Hong hesitated for a moment, yet he did not refuse.

”This dagger is what R sent back to me all those years ago. Along with the dagger, there was actually an alchemy schematic, which must be a construct he invented. Back then, I didn’t understand his intentions, and thus missed an opportunity. Now, I entrust it and that schematic to you, hoping you can make use of them. Consider it a small token of appreciation for the favor you’re doing me—”

”This schematic…”

As soon as Fang Hong touched the dagger, the schematic automatically appeared within his Summoners System. He recognized at a glance that it was a Seal Ring Type Configuration. Upon closer examination of its attributes, he couldn’t help but gasp.

Seal Ring Type Configuration (Skills/Schematic, A-grade Quality)

Enables the magic circuit to close the last command interface and enter a state of command self-recycling.

Weight: +30%/20%/10%/6.5% (Small/Medium/Large/Gigantic), Power Consumption: +11%, Volume Ratio: 1

Basic Materials: Blink Crystal, Copper, Silver, Magic Power Generation Device, Light’s Essence

Learning Requirements: Magic Guided Theory Level D or above, Ether Knowledge Level E or above, Magic Flow Prediction Level E or above

The instant Fang Hong saw the schematic, he thought of the operation technique ’Margin,’ which then reminded him of the new training system given to him by Shana. Speaking of which, he had yet to make any progress in that training system, still stuck at the first level, which dealt a heavy blow to his confidence, making him doubt if he was incompetent.

This closed-loop construct, without a doubt, was specifically designed for the thought process behind ’Margin.’

But what was its significance?

Repeatedly closing a loop around a command, the only meaningful application Fang Hong could think of was for continuous flight and movement techniques, which indeed could save some calculation effort in real combat.

But a construct plugin that occupies internal structure, extra weight, and power consumption in a Flexible Construct, just to save that bit of operation effort, would be less efficient than installing a specifically optimized computing plugin, which would consume much less power.

Yet, this was an A-grade quality schematic, and as is well known, A-grade and above belong to the category of refined products—this was actually a high-quality construct schematic. Fang Hong was slightly taken aback; regardless of its usefulness to him, a high-quality construct schematic could command a sky-high price on the market.

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