Chapter 558: Chapter 556: Seemingly with Ulterior Motives
Afterward, Richard followed Quentin, turning this way and that, until they arrived in front of a two-story wooden building at the edge of the gathering area.
Quentin pushed the door open and entered, not heading upstairs but going straight to a corner of the building, where he lifted a wooden board to reveal a passage leading downward and walked in.
Richard followed suit, and discovered that beneath the wooden building lay a cellar.
The cellar was vast, spanning so three to four hundred square ters—approximately the size of a basketball court. Nurous torches hung on the walls, casting bright light throughout, and near the walls stood several wooden racks holding a variety of items, their purpose unclear.
It was then that Quentin spoke to Richard the second sentence since they had t, still enigmatic, “You can call Master Puster.”
“Puster?” Richard was taken aback and looked at the other person, asking, “Shouldn’t it be Master Quentin?”
“Quentin?” Upon hearing Richard’s words, the person snorted coldly, “I don’t like that na. It sounds very foolish. From now on, you are only allowed to call Master Puster, understand!”
“Uh, yes,” Richard replied obediently but felt that sothing was decidedly off and that there might be more to the story.
At that mont, Quentin—or perhaps Master Puster—addressed Richard again, “Do you know what I brought you here for?”
“I don’t know,” Richard shook his head, telling the truth.
“Then you’d best brace yourself,” Puster said, “I brought you here to undertake a very, very difficult task.”
“A very, very difficult task? What exactly is it?” Richard asked, hoping for more information.
Puster didn’t hide anything, probably feeling that Richard, an average and frail student, posed no threat and couldn’t possibly escape his control. He spoke directly, “To put it simply, I didn’t summon you here to be my student, but for you to be a student to soone else.”
“To be a student to soone else?” Richard looked puzzled.
“You find it strange, right? I can give you a brief explanation,” Puster continued, “The person I want you to be a student to is the oldest wizard in this gathering place. Besides herself, no one knows exactly how old she is. Perhaps a hundred, maybe a hundred and twenty, or even a hundred and fifty?
Accordingly, her powers are very strong. Rumor has it that she was once a Third-level Witch, the top expert of the entire Jungle Hut, capable of utterly overpowering other top practitioners from wizard organizations.
However, because she is too old and has suffered many serious injuries, her strength has been declining in the recent years—bit by bit, from Third-level Witch to Second-level, and then from Second-level to First-level. If this continues, she could end up just like any ordinary person or even worse, and finally die of old age.
This had led to her being very peculiar and quick to anger, and, without very important matters, others seldom interact with her. The wizards of this gathering place have little contact with her; they try to forget her by this ans.
But she is not so easily forgotten. On one hand, she still possesses the skills of a Level One Witch and controls many profound spells, especially the unpredictable Spiritual Magic. If she truly becos angry, even Second-level Wizards dare not confront her and can only treat her gently.
Moreover, she is one of the Guardians of the Jungle Hut’s Holy Land, holding the key to the legendary Holy Land. While the Holy Land may only hold symbolic significance for the people of the Jungle Hut and most in this gathering place, for others it is different. If one can obtain the key… cough cough!”
Puster beca more excited as he spoke, his voice rising louder as if sharing a secret he had held onto for too long. But eventually, he caught himself and stopped in a tily manner.
Hearing this, sothing stirred in Richard’s heart: Holy Land? One of the Guardians? The Holy Land Key? Hmm, interesting.
“Cough cough.” After a few coughs, Puster quickly reverted to a poker-faced expression looked at Richard and said, “I’ve said too much, and you probably don’t understand. In any case, you just need to understand that there is an old witch nad Guluo. She is very powerful, and I want you to beco her student—that’s all.”
“Of course, becoming her student is no easy task,” Puster said, looking at Richard again, “especially with your ordinary talent, it’s incredibly difficult, and you must train. Only through training, once you beco excellent, can you gain recognition and beco her student, then you will benefit imnsely.”
Hearing this, Richard appeared to accept the lesson with gratitude on the surface, while internally he couldn’t help shaking his head. Puster’s words could only deceive an ignorant youth.
If his talent was insufficient, then why choose him? Becoming excellent through training was even more nonsensical. If talent could be easily altered through so training, then the world wouldn’t have any diocre wizards at all.
Combining the fact that the other party had two nas, and other behaviors, Richard deduced that the other party seed to have so sche for the so-called Holy Land Key.
And, quite coincidentally, he had so need for the Holy Land Key as well.
Since that was the case, he was willing to be patient and cooperate with the other party for a while, to see what their true purpose was.
With this thought in mind, Richard’s face showed a slightly excited expression, as he said to Puster, “Teacher Puster, I will do as you instruct and strive to do well.”
“That’s good, by the way, put this on,” Puster said while taking a heavy object from a wooden rack and tossing it over.
Richard caught it “with so effort” and unfolded it to find it was a vest. It was not, however, an ordinary vest. Around the vest were tied blocks of Crystal Plate, engraved with strange patterns, emitting faint, almost imperceptible, but very dangerous fluctuations.
Richard had studied Magic Runes quite a bit and, at a glance, could determine that these Crystal Plates were of very low-quality Magic Runes, used to imitate the effect of so Fire Magic. The power was a few notches above the White Jade Plate he had made a long ti ago, but not by much.
In other words, what Puster had thrown to him was a bomb vest.
Seeing the bomb vest, Richard beca even more certain of his previous conjectures and still played the part of an ignorant novice on the surface. He obediently put on the vest and walked over to Puster, saying, “Teacher Puster, I’ve put it on. What do I do next?”
Puster didn’t answer imdiately but gave Richard a thorough once-over, nodding in satisfaction, then handed a dagger to Richard’s hand.
The dagger also carried Magic Runes, and Richard deduced its function was to break through specific Magic Shields. The blade was pitch-black, emitting a faint stench that made one slightly dizzy—an easy confirmation that it had been poisoned.
“I’m now giving you a precious Magic Tool. Be careful not to cut yourself,” Puster said, “or you won’t survive.”
After speaking, Puster pulled Richard over to the side of a cellar.
There, on the floor, were drawn white lines and heaps of various objects, as if simulating sothing, and in a corner, there was a dummy with an ugly face.
Pointing at the dummy, Puster said, “Your training is to wear the vest and, with the dagger in hand, cross the white lines and obstacles from your current position and run to the dummy as fast as possible, and stab it in the body.”
“This—” Richard looked at Puster, “Teacher Puster, what kind of training is this?”
“Very important training!” Puster said without blinking an eye, “It’s training that Master Guluo values highly! Only by passing this training can you beco his student.
Right now, the stabbing is a simulation, but later you’ll be stabbing Master Guluo himself. Don’t panic; in reality, you absolutely cannot hurt Master Guluo, but if you can get close to her body, you will be considered excellent. Understand?”
“…” Richard was silently at a loss for words, but he went along with it and said, “Yes.”
“That’s good,” Puster spoke up, patting Richard’s shoulder encouragingly, “start now, let see your potential.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)