Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong, leading Atira, burst out of the forest and saw Reed and his group waiting there.

The Lion People stood out conspicuously in the crowd, with a mane fiery red and imposing. Tianlan also spotted them, excitedly jumped up, and waved vigorously, naturally drawing the attention of everyone else, making all present aware of the two emerging from the forest.

As they drew closer, the little girl excitedly ran over, her cheeks flushed, slightly out of breath. Fang Hong, curious about her excitement, wondered, was their brief absence enough to cause such joy? He hadn’t expected Tianlan to blurt out without any reservation, ”I just took part in the combat too!”

Fang Hong rolled his eyes; it turned out this was all about boasting.

However, seeing the Magic Guided Piano in Tianlan’s hands, he felt somewhat reassured. This was his plan—to let trainees also participate in combat, and he hoped perhaps one day it might spread widely. Would the world remember him for this?

The student of the Great Alchemist Ade, the inheritor of Hain Famm’s unfinished work in this era, the improver of Type-One Crystal, once mature, would certainly bring revolutionary changes to this world. He increasingly realized this point. Type-One Crystal could potentially spark a second Stargate Era, but only if it could be widely propagated.

He felt somewhat optimistic, but Miss Tata wasn’t as light-hearted. A technique sealed away for over a thousand years surely faced unknown obstacles. Fang Hong understood this, but the conditions a millennium ago were not the same as now, not to mention that he would be careful and cautious.

”How about it?” Reed asked him.

Fang Hong shook his head to indicate it was nothing.

”No issues?” Miss Hilveld also approached to ask.

Fang Hong glanced at the noble young girl and shook his head, ”I’m fine, Miss Hilveld.”

”Too reckless,” Miss Hilveld, after assessing him, naturally brushed off the dry leaves sticking to his coat while speaking.

Fang Hong was slightly uncomfortable.

He knew he appeared somewhat disheveled at the moment, but actually, the blood on him was from others. It had indeed been a fierce battle, and he had almost failed to break free. But fortunately, his prediction was accurate as Toragotos activated the Peace Mirage Lock in the last moment, making it impossible for Jiefulite Red Cloak Team to detain him, allowing his escape from the forest.

Two of the Walkers were damaged, but luckily their structural integrity was intact. As long as they weren’t left in the forest, as an Alchemist, repairing the Flexible Constructs wouldn’t be difficult for him.

The only trouble was that only two Fire Giants remained, something that couldn’t be replenished before leaving the Trial Grounds.

He wiped the blood off his nose and asked, ”And you all?”

”We’re okay here,” Luo Yu interjected. ”The Blood Oath Alliance, realizing they were losing, didn’t defend as staunchly.”

Parker added, ”Those guys were trying to block the valley, haha, you should have seen the faces of Blood Oath Alliance’s warriors when your people broke through. They must have been really surprised, it was quite interesting, you guess what happened—they simply couldn’t stop it!”

He spread his hands, ”Since they couldn’t stop it, they just didn’t.”

Of everyone, only Xiangzi, hugging his sword, remained silent. However, Fang Hong caught a few instances where this chuunibyo youth appeared about to speak, and asked curiously, ”What do you want to say?”

Xiangzi’s face unexpectedly turned red, and he retorted, ”Mind your own business.”

”You’re not shy to speak, are you?” Fang Hong looked at him as if he had discovered a new continent.

Xiangzi sharply inhaled, annoyed, turned around, and walked away, leaving only the words behind, ”Crazy!”

Fang Hong looked at the others bewilderedly.

Reed burst into laughter, and Xiesta, watching the exchange between two seemingly imbecilic children, couldn’t help but shake her head.

The group moved on as Luo Yu mentioned, the Blood Oath Alliance had indeed surrendered— or rather, after Toragotos activated the Peace Mirage Lock, resistance was no longer meaningful. After a brief, intense skirmish, crowds converged and moved through the valley towards the lis beneath the Trial Grounds.

Honestly, there were a lot of people; groups of adventurers were everywhere. Those who were already in teams were heading directly for the Black Holy City, while some lone adventurers, who were just there to make a quick fortune, were now also looking for teams.

The scene was somewhat comical—

They were holding makeshift wooden boards with big characters written in ink: ’Second-rank Knight urgently seeks a temporary team, no requirements’; or ’Powerful team of Dolifen graduates seeking a healer, must have graduated from Dragon’s Trial’; or ’Our team only wants Dwarfs, Elves not welcome’; there was even profanity, ’Corrupt officials take money to kick people, NMSL!’

Fang Hong almost thought he had seen incorrectly, looked again, and confirmed that it indeed was Pinyin. He couldn’t help but marvel internally at how profound and vast his native language was, even so impressively evident in another world.

However, this scene did make him somewhat amused, as if transported back to some retro virtual games. However, it must be said that this archaic ’team formation’ method invented by players of yesteryears was surprisingly effective here.

After all, among the adventurers were not only the Chosen, but also Natives. Undoubtedly, textual communication was the most conspicuous and effective method. Of course, high-end decryption methods like ’I burn your beauty,’ would definitely be incomprehensible to the Natives.