Su Li was very important to Cyril, imnsely important. After all, when they were both beggars of the sa age, they were actually competitors.
Under such circumstances, it was quite extraordinary that just because they begged together, Su Li was willing to pull him out of the abyss.
Cyril had always been grateful for this.
He was soone with a rather bland personality. Not that he lacked the passion typical of young people, but he was reluctant to talk, preferring to stay quiet. After all, who would like a beggar who always acted cheerful and bright?
Such an existence would only beco the perfect target for other beggars’ frustrations when they were suffering from uncertainty about surviving another day.
Life as a beggar was truly difficult, with the fear of survival constantly weighing on one’s mind. After going hungry for several days, even asking nearby households for a bowl of water would result in harsh insults and cruel rejection. During those tis, Cyril, who kept all his sensitivities inside, felt it was probably the darkest mont of his life, with no end in sight.
But Cyril always felt that from the mont Su Li took his hand and Egbert took them both in, he was no longer just a human marked by the symbol of a beggar.
Yet how exactly to define what he had beco remained unclear.
Who would know how a beggar should live their future? Before, they didn’t even know if they would survive until tomorrow. Now, they couldn’t even figure out what they wanted.
Cyril had always envied how Egbert obsessively interpreted everything Su Li said as divine prophecy that could support his will to live.
Because Cyril always felt he could never be as pure as Egbert.
Later, which is now.
Hundreds of Order of the Knights of Light mbers, each appearing invincible in Cyril’s eyes, were sohow being tortured to near death while attacking Egbert and Lan Zhe…
Perhaps it was this persistent envy of such strength that had motivated him to try joining Dean Asa’s academy before.
But looking carefully now, maybe the envy wasn’t so strong after all. Su Li was the type of person whose re existence naturally felt miraculous in a different way.
Even when surrounded and trapped by nurous people who could kill him at any mont, he could still sit there calmly yawning. The only ti his eyes widened, making his slightly narrow green pupils look cat-like, was when the Crystal Winged Dragon’s tail swept past…
Thinking back to when he recently lost consciousness, Cyril could actually feel so mutations happening in his body.
Just like how girls can notice a pimple on their face without looking in the mirror, the owner of a body is very aware of their bodily changes.
After no longer being human… what similarities could he still share with Su Li?
Then, Su Li said: “Still need to rely on you to prepare snacks…”
Cyril ignored everything else Su Li said and only rembered this one line, only rembered that Su Li still needed him.
But Cyril also knew that Su Li wouldn’t normally say such things. When trying to ask him why, he would only say: “Language is the most active expression of emotion; other more passive things are more obvious in daily life.”
So, that sentence was said specifically for his sake.
Su Li didn’t know that his rare expression of emotion through words had stopped soone at the edge of the abyss.
And then, the exchange of gazes between the green-eyed youth and the dragon created the miracle of Cyril unhesitatingly abandoning the abyss and fleeing back to the world of humans…
As a beggar, Cyril would never be needed by anyone. But as Su Li’s family mber, he was naturally under Su Li’s protection.
It was true before, and it remained true now…
Cyril’s blue puppy eyes gained the clear, bright look that only appears when a dog finds its destined lifelong master.
Because this was unique.
Cyril tried to control his trembling voice, attempting to sound calm as he said in the most artificially casual tone. “How about when I can transform into a dragon later, I’ll take you flying in the sky?”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
Su Li’s attitude remained as natural as ever, his tone no different from usual.
However, he didn’t realize how beautiful his erald eyes were when filled with mirth.
Cyril covered his eyes with his left hand, the scales on his cheek scratching against his wrist, causing a slight itchy sensation, but still…
“What if I can’t beco a dragon and stay like this forever?”
“Then just practice jumping higher, aim for thirty centiters off the ground? Round it up, and you could say you’re standing shoulder to shoulder with the sun.” Though Su Li emphasized, “But you’ll need to look at from the right angle then.”
The night was deep.
In Cyril’s distant, now barely morable past, the silent Beast Forest had always been a forbidden zone that little beggars didn’t dare to think about or enter.
But now, Cyril felt that when comparing the stars visible through the trees to Su Li’s eyes… the latter were still more beautiful.
.....
As dawn broke, Su Li got up from the ground, casually rubbing his face.
Hmm, not aged, skin still as firm as ever.
Today would be another perfect day!
Su Li, whose thoughts were active and mood gradually improving, like those around him, was prepared to face all possibilities ahead.
Breakfast was provided by the Crystal Winged Dragon.
Looking at the several-hundred-pound pig, Su Li’s thoughts descended into hell…
Su Li carefully and very cautiously probed. “Is this what you consider a normal breakfast for us?”
He mainly wanted to know if the atavistic Cyril’s appetite had increased. If so, he’d need to reconsider the food budget ratio in future wages.
The Crystal Winged Dragon looked troubled. “This is already the smallest one from the nearby grunt beast herd. I don’t want to waste food either.”
Good, rounding it up, this ant saving a considerable amount on food expenses, bringing him one step closer to buying that small building Euphia was renting to him.
Su Li coughed and looked at Cyril, who was inexplicably staring at him with overly wet eyes. “I’m not really worried about you eating too much, I just thought if I didn’t ask in advance, you might suddenly go hungry next ti.”
Cyril… Cyril didn’t understand.
But did it matter?
He just needed to show a responsive smile and say, “It’s alright, I know Su Li cares about the most.”
Nearby, Egbert, who was “plotting” with Lan Zhe about how to reasonably kill the Bishop, perked up his ears and showed a confused expression mixed with inexplicable vigilance.
What’s this? There’s a scent of green tea here?!
Egbert took out so edible fruits he’d found in the forest early that morning and, driven by instinct, launched an attack that would surely put Cyril on guard.
“Lord Su Li, please eat these.” The forr Son of Light, whose mind was increasingly flooded with seawater, firmly believed that if he gave Su Li enough gifts, Su Li’s favorability towards him would steadily increase like character relationship chanics in a third-rate ga.
Fully aware that he only had Su Li, and that even a fanatic like Egbert would abandon everything for Su Li, Cyril could only try to make his position in Su Li’s heart more important…
So when Egbert showed an expectant look, he decisively took the fruit and bit into it.
Egbert and Cyril’s facial features contorted simultaneously.
The forr hadn’t expected “green tea” to refer to this, while the latter hadn’t expected that his intended pretense of the fruit tasting bad wouldn’t need to be pretended at all – it truly tasted so awful his soul nearly evaporated.
The fruit Egbert had taken out was the reddest one. At a glance, there were several half-ripe fruits in his pocket, and without thinking, this was clearly the best he could offer.
–Yet the result was Cyril’s twisted expression.
“You want to fight, punk?”
“Giving Su Li sothing so inedible – you with your iron stomach who can make half-raw Stargazy Pie and eat it without flinching, can’t you consider a normal person’s constitution!”
They spoke simultaneously.
Egbert wanted nothing more than to beat up Cyril, while Cyril thought striking first would help him avoid getting beaten.
Su Li: confused.jpg
What’s going on?
Lan Zhe looked speechlessly at Egbert, who had actually given the red fruit to Su Li.
“Though I knew your knowledge was limited, I didn’t expect it to be this bad,” Lan Zhe looked disgustedly at the fruit on the ground, which even insects fled from after a single sniff. “For this type of berry, red doesn’t an ripe. Red is when it tastes worst – only when it’s green is it barely edible.”
“That’s still no reason for Cyril to snatch the fruit.”
“I did it to prevent Su Li from losing consciousness!”
Su Li: “What?”
“Do you know that for a normal person with a regular stomach, eating sothing they shouldn’t could be fatal?” Cyril, wielding his kitchen authority, delivered the final blow to the already life-questioning Egbert.
The forr Son of Light collapsed, the Dark Son moved away in disgust, and the current Son of Light…
He looked down at the rope binding his wrist, with the other end held in the Crystal Winged Dragon’s claws… Diz calmly walked to Su Li’s side within the rope’s limit.
Su Li raised his guard before Diz could speak.
However, Diz always had ways to exercise Su Li’s three-room apartnt building skills.
“You needn’t grieve for others’ sorrows.”
“I believe you should focus your attention on yourself.”
“Others are outsiders, their conflicts are external matters. They don’t deserve your emotional investnt. Your emotions should hold higher aning. I don’t want to see any sorrow in your eyes, nor feel any lancholy from your heart.”
Su Li: “…Stop talking.”
By the third sentence, Su Li felt he wasn’t that embarrassed anymore.
As they say, with enough exposure, you get used to anything.
As long as he didn’t feel embarrassed, no matter how outrageous the words… right?
Therefore,
“Now, imdiately, let’s go find the Cardinal!”
This breakfast – he truly couldn’t eat another bite.
.....
Within Jisuo Town, the Bishop’s arrival greatly boosted all the Knights of Light’s confidence.
They didn’t believe that the Cardinal, second only to the Pope, would fail to defeat the traitors or fail to retrieve the Son of Light who had 100% Light elent affinity.
So the Knights of Light who had led the siege imdiately knelt before the Cardinal, respectfully saying, “My lord will surely bring us victory.”
Having reached the Bishop’s age, he would be sarcastic when facing the stronger but aging Pope, but when facing those weaker than himself, his chin lifted arrogantly.
For a mont, he actually seed quite fitting for the Cardinal’s position.
“Of course. re traitors will surely die under the God of Light’s gaze.”
In this world, divine authority prevailed, but for those wielding it who had never seen true divine miracles, gods were essentially just tools.
The upper class’s certainty openly boosted the Knights of Light’s confidence.
Openly.
While the Bishop went to prepare his weapons for the upcoming attack on the Beast Forest, a Knight of Light’s brows were furrowed enough to kill flies.
Other knights who had arrived with the Bishop had passed him a ssage.
The Pope wanted the Bishop to stay here.
The aning was clear – in a world so vast, with Church of Light branches in every city, even in the outskirts of the rcenary City, how could the second-in-command Bishop possibly stay in a third-rate town?
Asking him to stay here ant only one thing.
They wanted him to die here.
In this world’s power hierarchy, there were seven major levels, each divided into initial, interdiate, advanced, and the breakthrough state of perfection.
This Knight of Light’s strength only reached the interdiate stage of the fourth level, compared to the Bishop at the perfect stage of the sixth level – typical cannon fodder who could be killed with a single slap.
As for the other Knights of Light, they were either at his level or even weaker… so how could they make a Bishop at the perfect sixth level “stay” here?
This was a question without any correct answer.
The Knight of Light pondered deeply, then suddenly realized sothing.
Would the Bishop not know the Pope wanted him dead?
Turning a few knights wasn’t difficult. Knights of Light competed among themselves – the stronger dominated the weaker, the sociable overshadowed the lonely, and those with noble backgrounds crushed those of common birth.
Under these circumstances, the Bishop might have already learned he was being targeted while the ssage was being passed around.
If in this process, he as a knight chose to move against the Bishop, who would die first – the Cardinal as the Pope planned, or himself, a re knight whose death would barely cause a ripple?
Thinking of this, the Knight of Light suddenly felt a chill.
Pretend he never received the ssage?
That would only lead to a quick death.
After all, fence-sitters were the easiest to burn.
In the end, his only option was to tell the Bishop about this ssage, feigning submission while positioning himself to make so insignificant moves at crucial monts…
Back in the Beast Forest.
After thoroughly grooming himself and forcing down an unpleasant breakfast, Su Li quietly waited for the Crystal Winged Dragon to leave its nest again.
After breakfast, the dragon had said, “I need to make so pre-battle preparations,” before returning to its nest.
This was destined to be an unhappy day.
Su Li could sowhat guess that the dragon’s so-called preparations were more like a farewell with no return.
The Crystal Winged Dragon was first a mother, and only second a monster beast of another race.
Deep in the nest, the crystal-colored dragon egg, appearing intact but long devoid of life signs, was being gently caressed by the dragon’s wings.
Na’an certainly knew her child was long dead; she was just reminiscing.
Rembering the days of incubating eggs alone, and later when Lan Zhe would follow them around like a puppy.
But what she missed most was actually the ti when the other Crystal Winged Dragon was still alive…
Like a throat clogged with sand, her ethereal voice disappeared, replaced by indistinct sobs echoing in the depths of the nest.
It- no, she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be joining you soon.”
Jisuo Town would be Na’an’s final destination.
This ti, the Crystal Winged Dragon that erged from the nest gave Su Li a completely different impression.
The ferocity and bloodthirst of a monster beast, previously subdued due to the strength of the three holy sons, had never been fully displayed.
But now, the overwhelming killing intent and bloodthirst made Su Li’s skin phantom-ache, as if countless fine needles were densely piercing his flesh.
It was terrifying enough that even those naturally unable to read expressions or sense auras could instinctively feel it.
Su Li exhaled deeply before being carried on Egbert’s back again.
But this ti, Cyril no longer needed Mark’s assistance and ran by himself.
The thundering footsteps of the giant beast behind them matched Su Li’s heartbeat.
Along the way, countless beasts, as if guided, followed behind the Crystal Winged Dragon, charging forward toward an unknown fate.
At Jisuo Town.
The Knight of Light eventually told the Bishop about the Pope’s plan.
Under his voluntary submission, the latter laughed heartily.
The Cardinal was convinced he would achieve victory in this battle and replace the Pope afterward.
The prestige from killing traitors, saving the Son of Light, slaying beasts invading human territory…
All these would beco stepping stones to his ascension to the highest position!
Nurous white-robed figures drove Jisuo Town’s residents into remote corners, erging from various places and gathering one after another.
The occasional hunters and rcenaries among them stood out like ink spots in a sea of white.
Roy, the two-star rcenary who hadn’t advanced to three stars, mixed among them, feeling both anticipation and fear for the upcoming battle.
His complicated thoughts left him only a brief mont to think of Su Li. “I hope the little master survives this battle.”
Roy still believed Su Li was gathering information within the town.
Until the two sides faced off directly.
No human contested the absolute protagonist on the monster beast side this ti. As the Crystal Winged Dragon roared from the front line, Egbert’s hands covered Su Li’s ears.
How elents are used depends entirely on those who possess them, whether human or beast.
The Crystal Winged Dragon was a water elent monster beast. As Na’an roared, vast amounts of water elent particles gathered and surged toward Jisuo Town with her cry.
The eighth-grade beast’s first attack scattered many Knights of Light who lacked stability and strength. As for Jisuo Town’s buildings, they dissolved instantly in the water flow, leaving no trace.
Su Li’s eyes widened at the tsunami-like waves, experiencing for the first ti how devastating power could be when controlled by intelligent beings.
But beyond that, his widening eyes also held the desire to engrave every detail of the scene before him into his mory.
Death was inevitable in this world.
But death because of him was definitely not inevitable.
He knew Na’an and Egbert wouldn’t spare their enemies, but he also knew this revenge battle would claim many innocent lives.
So he had to rember.
Rember how fragile he was in this world, like paper. Rember that he had no power to influence this world. Rember that Su Li was just an ordinary person, as ordinary as could be.
Only this way would he avoid judging this world as sothing separate from himself.
This life was born here, this will is clear in this world.
Water elents constantly vibrated in the air. Besides the massive wave attacks, Na’an also used water elents to envelop human heads in small areas. Though not lethal to other elent users, lack of oxygen would quickly incapacitate them.
However, with too many targets to control, most people broke free from the water spheres.
Those who occasionally couldn’t handle it fell unconscious.
When the monster beast horde launched their full attack, the unconscious were trampled by both retreating allies and attacking monster beasts into sothing unrecognizable…
Cyril tried to cover Su Li’s eyes, but Su Li grabbed his wrist.
Having lived thirty years, Su Li wasn’t so fragile as to ignore the deaths caused by this revenge battle, whether influenced by him or not.
“The weight of life isn’t sothing you can ignore just by covering your eyes.”
So he needed to see everything clearly.
See the Bishop charging with his weapon, his heavy sword striking the Crystal Winged Dragon’s body while Na’an’s crystal-colored wing pierced his thigh.
Light elents, when abundant enough, seed to always have explosive applications.
Before losing sight completely, Su Li saw the Bishop’s heavy sword pointing at Na’an’s head, while in Na’an’s mouth, a giant water bullet larger than Su Li’s height was forming.
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