Chapter 140 - 8 - 14

Alliance

"So the method of distinguishing time is very similar to the past!

Leylin thought inwardly to himself as he messed around with the crystal pocket watch in his hand.

The surface of the crystal pocket watch had fine workmanship, with twenty-four small frames inside. Each frame represented an hour.

Not only did he extort a weapon from Ourin's lackeys, but also spoils of war worth thousands of gold coin. This pocket watch was contributed by a small fatty.

As for the revenge from their family, the Dorlan family that Ourin belonged to was from the Bourbon Kingdom, which was a few kingdoms away from Viscount John's territory. Furthermore, the relationships between the two kingdoms were already in a state of hostility.

Not to mention that time it took to become a Magus was at least a few years, and even sending letters back and forth would also take at least a few years.

Leylin only gave it a little thought before throwing the matters between him and Ourin's family to the back of his head.

"This time, I've really made a profit! Furthermore, the magic crystals are the currency among Magi, so they are very useful for acolytes!"

Leylin took out a magic crystal and flipped it around in his palm. It emitted a steady, cold feeling.

According to the calculation of the A.I Chip, although this magic crystal had some slight radiation, the effect it had towards the body seemed to be positive. It could enhance the body's vitality.

"But! Ever since the news about me defeating Ourin spread, everyone's attitude towards me has changed. Should I say that this is a world that respects the strong?"

It had already been two days since the previous incident, and the battle results with Ourin had spread among the nobility teenagers.

Especially the scene of him breaking Ourin's arm while smiling, it had become the nightmare of those teenagers present. When Ourin returned, he immediately hid in his carriage and tended to his injuries. As for those nobility teenagers, they trembled the moment they saw Leylin and quickly ran away.

"Hi! Leylin, do you want to play together?

A nobility girl from the same carriage came over and asked. She wore nobility attire, wearing something similar to stockings in Leylin's previous life on her long legs, giving off an alluring charm.

The custom of this world was to respect the strong. Now, Leylin felt that the atmosphere in the carriage was much better, and the others didn't try to go against him either.

Moreover, several other nobility girls also extended invitations to him.

This girl was in the same carriage with him, her name is Lilith.

"Thanks! But, I have friends coming!" Leylin said apologetically.

"Ooh! I must have been interrupting! I'll invite you, later on, Jasmine and a few others are also interested in you!"

The long-legged girl tenderly smiled, raised her skirt, and made a noble's greeting, extending a tempting invitation.

"Girls nowadays are really maturing early!"

Leylin bitterly smiled in his heart.

"Haha...what did I just see? How many times has our young master Leylin been invited by girls?" An exaggerated voice came.

"How can I be compared to you? 'Satin Gold Mane Lion', your great name has spread among the female circles in the entire carriage!" Leylin rolled his eyes.

"Didn't you want to avoid me so as to not be isolated from everyone, are you no longer afraid of that?" Leylin looked at George who was the approaching .

"You're the hot topic in the camp now! Many girls have interest towards you. That Lilith earlier wasn't bad either. I can guarantee you that if you just put your heart into it, you'll be able to take her down in three days!"

George laughed, "Furthermore, I have to congratulate you on your successful revenge!" With a wave of his hand, a glass bottle drew an arc in the air and was caught by Leylin.

Opening the oaken stopper, a fruity aroma mixed with a tinge of alcohol drifted out, causing Leylin to subconsciously take a deep breath.

"Apple wine! I haven't drank much of this in these few months!"

"Correct! Furthermore, it's a speciality from our federation. It wasn't easy for me to have kept it hidden till now!" George opened the wine bottle in his hand.

"To our Leylin! Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Leylin smiled. Wine bottles knocked onto each other and emitted a clear sound.

"Also, thank you!" Leylin said sincerely.

George had the strength of a preparatory Knight, and with his leadership status amongst this bunch of nobility youths, if he had taken any slight action earlier on, he could have easily settled Ourin.

However, he cared about Leylin's emotions and only helped Leylin increase his strength secretly. Besides that, he had hidden their relationship so that Ourin would provoke Leylin without any second thoughts. Finally, he helped Leylin complete his revenge.

This protected his pride as a noble very well.

From this, Leylin could see his meticulousness and his ability to take care of others' feelings.

"This is no longer about winning the hearts of people, but about using sincerity to move them. I should say that it's really worthy of Satin Gold Mane Lion's family, leader of the Furze Alliance!" Leylin thought inwardly.

"No need for thanks! We're all members of the Furze Alliance, how could I have turned a blind eye at you being bullied by those northerners!" George laughed, downing all of his apple wine in one gulp.

"Pity! Now that we're deeper and deeper into the wilderness, we haven't been passing by any large cities for a long time now. Even supplies are hard to find!"

George seemed to have recalled the taste of the apple wine and had some regret.

"Right! We're going to organize a barbeque banquet; it'll be for our Furze Alliance. Do you want to join?"

George extended an invitation.

"Of course! It'd be my pleasure!" Leylin smiled and responded. With his identity as a noble from the Furze Alliance, he could only join this circle.

At times when one's strength was still weak, joining circles was also a method to protect one's safety.

It was deep in the night. The sky was filled with shining stars, pulling a silver veil over the ground.

Inside the camp, groups of young men and girls all sat together, circling the campfire as they laughed and messed around. It was very lively.

After a few months of living together, they had gotten closer to one another.

"Come, Leylin, I'll introduce the both of you to each other. This is Yarfuan, Viscount Normier's descendent!"

"Nice to meet you! I've heard lots about you trashing Ourin!" Yarfuan stretched his hand out as he smiled.

"Nice to meet you!" A genuine smile was drawn on Leylin's face as he shakes Yarfuan's hand.

"These are the sisters, Gwen, and Gwylith, they are your admirers!" George led Leylin in a circle around the campfire, introducing him.

"Nice to meet you! Mister Leylin!" The sisters looked exactly the same. They each had a pair of glittering aquamarine eyes, identical voices, and some red blush on their faces.

"Nice to meet you, beautiful ladies! It's an honor to meet you!" Leylin placed his hand on his chest and did a noble's greeting.

Seeing the two girls blushing as they ran, George looked like he was about to faint.

"Brat! You're blessed! The two of them seem to be interested in you! They are twins! Twins!" George's hands were dancing around as he said this, with some heartache.

"Okay! I believe that in a time when supplies are starting to decline, you should have another purpose to organizing this banquet, and not just simply to search for lovers!"

Leylin said.

As for his personal needs, he was still able to restrain them. Although he didn't mind letting them out, that also depended on the location.

"It's good that you're able to see this point!" George said. The smiling expression on his face disappeared and was replaced with a leader's presence.

He strode to the center of the area and banged the silver spoon in his hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Sorry to bother you for awhile, but please shift your gazes over here!"

George's prestige was still rather high among this group of people. The surrounding crowd all stopped what they were doing and shifted their gazes to the center.

"Firstly! I would like to welcome a new comrade joining us! He's Leylin!" George announced in a loud voice and clapped.

"Pa Pa Pa!" An intense, wave-like clapping sound could be heard from the surroundings.

Leylin got up and made a greeting towards the surroundings.

"Okay!" George waved his hand, stopping the clappings and continued, "I set up this small alliance to guarantee that every single acolyte from our Furze Alliance would safely reach the academy and become a well-respected Lord Magus. And now, fellow comrades, trouble has arisen and it is time for us to work together!"

George's expression turned a little solemn, and even his tone was grave. Being infected by him, the surrounding atmosphere also became a little quiet. Only George's voice still echoed in the air.

"We are nearly out of the wilderness and are about to enter the Great Plains of Death. This is the last stage of our journey, and also the most dangerous part!"

"Great Plains of Death?" Leylin was surprised, and immediately searched through his original memories.

According to the memories in the A.I Chip, the current continent that Leylin was in was very vast, filled with many kingdoms and without a united name.

Originally, the Furze Alliance that Leylin joined belonged to the southeast corner of the continent. They seemed to be one of the first batches of students. The travelling party had headed North, passing through many dukedoms and kingdoms, and now already reached the north side of the continent.

After passing through the wilderness, there was a long patch of narrow plains. Opposite the plains was rumored to be an ocean.

And this piece of plains was filled with all sorts of dangers, and had always been a restricted zone for humans! Rumor was that the plains were filled with all sorts of beasts; even the most ferocious bandits didn't dare to enter the plains. Every part of the plains was filled with corpses of mercenaries, adventurers, and travelers!

Right now, the Magus acolyte-filled travelling party was about to pass through this Great Plains of Death, to the coastline.

"With the protection of the black robed and white-robed Lords, we'll definitely be able to pass through it!" A fat boy said as the crowd went into an uproar.

"Correct! With the protection of the Lord Magi and Knights, our possibility of passing through here is rather high! But when those Lords are unable to manage, we will encounter death. It could be me, it could be you, do you want to experience such an outcome?"

George asked.

"Definitely not!" The fat boy shouted as his face turned red and sat back down.

"Correct! Our motive is to reach the Magus Academy opposite the ocean and to become well respected Magi. But the cruel screening will begin now. According to the information that my father obtained, there will be large amounts of death in the Great Plains of Death in every single Magus travelling party!"

George went on, revealing a small part of cruelty.

"What...What should be done?" Lots of young men and women panicked, and they looked at George with ashen faces, hoping that he would have a plan.

Chapter 9 Entering the Plains

"Of course, the reason we formed this alliance was for that purpose!"

George stated loudly.

"We've already discussed this with the other traveling parties. We will swap positions with them so that our Furze Alliance can occupy a few carriages that are close to each other! We've also gotten the permission from the black robes!"

"Furthermore, us noble males will take turns being guards to protect the carriages! Of course, this is with the caveat that we are merely assisting the black robe Knights. As for the beautiful ladies, the logistics and cleaning duties will be up to you!"

"As for the weapons, you guys also do not have to worry. We've already made our preparations and even got hold of a crossbow!"

George called out his plans.

The youths of the alliance all began talking amongst themselves, and after some discussion, most were in favour of this plan.

"Okay, we agree!"

As for the position of the captain of the guards, it was inevitable that George would take that position. Striking while the iron was hot, George began to hand out some missions.

The feast continued afterward, but it was clear to see that most of the enthusiasm in the crowd had long since been lost.

"Originally I had planned on giving you a cross blade, but it seems there is no longer any need now!"

George held up his cup as he walked towards Leylin, pointing at the sword hilt fastened at his waist.

"Is it true that every single time a Magus troop enters the Great Plains, there are many deaths?" Leylin asked.

"Of course, the best case scenario is that only one or two will die, but there have been times where at least ten have perished!" George shrugged his shoulders. "Otherwise why else would I spend so much money and energy in order to establish an alliance that would be dissolved when we reach the coastline?"

"Wherever you plant a seed, there will be some form of profit to be had!" Leylin laughed.

No matter what, as long as everyone grouped together, then their odds of survival would increase. And any of the surviving acolytes would definitely hold some goodwill towards George and his family. As long as one of these acolytes were to become a Magus, then the returns would be great.

But even if there were no survivors, it wasn't a big loss to him, either way, right?

"Aside from your swordsmanship, your intelligence has really impressed me!" George's eyes sparkled. "The things I did were all things that my father told me to."

"Well then, are you willing to help me?" George extended his hand.

"As you wish!" Leylin laughed, linking his hand to George's.

...

Leylin's reply to George's request wasn't an impulsive one. In fact, he had made this decision after careful deliberation.

With regards to the hidden dangers in the plains, he wasn't very knowledgeable about it. So joining hands by cooperating would be a decent proposal.

Huuuuu

The cold wind descended upon the group and hit them in the face like knife blades. With each breath drawn, Leylin could smell the fragrant smell of grass.

"It's already been 15 days since we've entered the Great Plains of Death!"

Looking back at the carriages, Leylin could see some traces of damage on it, causing him to feel quite gloomy.

The marks on the carriages were three different lines linked into one as if it was created by a single claw.

"The Great Plains of Death have dangers that even normal humans or even Preparatory Knights would have trouble with!"

After entering the plains, although the black and white robed lords had increased the number of patrols, and for the acolytes to band together, there had still been some casualties.

The marks on the carriages had been caused by a pack of plain direwolves. The very moment they had arrived, the carriages had suffered a siege.

Although there hadn't been any deaths, the pack of plain direwolves had nearly pushed over the carriages and damaged it, giving Leylin a deep impression of them.

From that moment onwards, the students didn't dare to camp outside and all tried to sleep in the carriages! But even with that, there had still been some casualties.

Leylin's face grew dark.

Although the black-robed Knights were guarding them, some of the youngsters still needed to go out to take care of their bodily needs. Alas, within the danger-filled Great Plains of Death, that meant danger.

One youth had been bitten by a poisonous insect the very moment he stepped off the carriage and died.

"According to the calculations of the A.I Chip, the poison of the insect would corrode the brain within 13 seconds. There was not enough time for medical help, and even the few white-robed Magus could only watch the youngster die..."

After that incident, the students would get off the carriage only when absolutely necessary. However, due to the small size of the carriage and the sheer number of people squeezed inside, the smell within was certainly unpleasant.

For the price of helping the black-robed Knights drive a carriage, Leylin was given the chance t get some fresh air.

Although being on the outside of the carriage seemed to be more dangerous, with the black robed Knight right next to him, it was actually much safer.

As for the carriage driving skill? Leylin only had to listen to the black robed Knight for a short amount of time while the A.I chip recorded everything.

"It's getting dark! Everyone gather within the carriages to rest!"

A voice called out from the front, causing every single carriage to stop.

Not only was traveling at night dangerous, but it meant the horses did not have time to rest, which could lead to their deaths, and cause even more troubles.

"Your carriage driving skills are quite good!" The black robed Knight looked at Leylin and spoke softly.

"Thank you for your praise!" Leylin nodded.

Returning to the inside of the carriage, a fierce smell hit his nose the moment he opened the door. Leylin's eyebrows creased together, but seeing the stupefied looks on the students faces, he could only sigh to himself secretly.

Ever since the first casualty, none of the youths had a happy look, instead, there was a mournful atmosphere. This was another reason why Leylin did not like staying inside the carriage at all.

"Leylin, you're back!" A small freckled youngster forced out a smile as he greeted him.

"Yeah!" Leylin sat down and looked around before taking a piece of flatbread to gnaw on.

The dry piece of flatbread was chewed up inside his mouth, feeling as if he was chewing on sand. Despite its taste, Leylin managed to swallow the bread with great difficulty, but in doing so, he felt a sudden pain in his throat, prompting him to hurriedly take out his canteen and chug down a large amount of water. After he finally finished the entire piece of bread, he heaved a sigh of relief.

After entering the Great Plains of Death, supplies were hard to come by. Even though the students had some gold coins, there were no merchants around. So in this situation, the gold coins were not much better than mere stones.

"Ley....Leylin, what's the situation like? Just how many more days until we're out of this damned plains?"

After Leylin had finished eating, the freckled youth asked him a question.

His words were clearly what everyone wanted to know the answer, and drew everyone's attention as they turned to look towards Leylin.

"While driving the carriage, I talked with the black robed Knight. We've already traveled half the distance, so if everything goes well from here, we'll reach the coastlines in another half a month."

"Eh! Good god, there's still half a month more?! What terrible days these are, I can't even stand another single day in this place!"

The freckled youth began to pull at his hair as he complained.

"Hey, cheer up, Kassa. As long as you can take these 15 days, then you'll reach the coastlines. Delicious fruits, fluffy bread, not to mention a comfortable bed and a warm bathroom, all of it is waiting for you!"

Even as a youngster tried to cheer Kassa up, the words seemed to be trying to cheer himself up even more than Kassa.

Dong! Dong!

A rhythmic pattern could be heard as the doors to the carriage opened, revealing George. In his armor and carrying his long sword, George looked like a handsome Knight. "Hey, gentleman! Ladies! Break time is here! If you need to loosen up a bit, just come outside. If you don't, then please stay inside, after all, the outside is quite dangerous....

The carriage grew restless before a few red-faced girls looked at each other in the eye and walked out of the carriage.

Leylin shrugged his shoulders before grabbing his cross blade, "Let's go!"

As a member of the guards, he needed to protect these ladies. Even though all he could do was to maintain his vigilance and call out for the black robed Knight to come help them if any trouble arose.

"I...I won't go down this time!" Kassa spoke out from the side as he shivered.

"Fine then!" Leylin gestured to the rest to follow him out the carriage.

Landing softly on the grass, Leylin couldn't help but to stretch comfortably outside. A beautiful scenery stretched far beyond what his eye could see. If it weren't for the amount of danger in here, Leylin would have loved this sight.

"How beautiful!" George spoke out as he watched the setting sun.

"How beautiful indeed, but also dangerous!" Leylin muttered.

"There's danger everywhere my friend! Sickness, famine, war, the world is filled with dangers like these. To us, this area is a threat to our lives, but to the white-robed Magus, this is nothing more than like the garden back home!" George clenched at his sword.

"Are you trying to say that as long as you have strength, then you can obtain both freedom and safety?"

"Exactly! Take a look at Kassa, he has already lost his courage. On this road to power, he is lacking the spirit to face danger. Even if he were to safely arrive at the Magus academy, it is unlikely that he can become a Magus. After all, studying magic is a treacherous path that is a hundred times more difficult than this plain!"

George threw a rock far into the plains, "It's time to protect our beautiful treasures now!"

Seeing George walk away, Leylin had a smile on his face, "Courage? But for those chasing the truth, prudence is also a necessity!"

"A.I Chip! Initialize scanning!" Leylin thought.

Following the order, a three-dimensional scenery began to visualize within Leylin's head, showing off the vicinity of the nearby area.

Within the light blue geographical image, a cluster of white stars. These stars symbolized the students; not a single one of them seemed to be hurt.

As for the black robed Knight, he was a flashing red light. After the A.I Chip's analysis, it had recognized him as an existence that could threaten his host.

The final few carriages had the white-robed Magus within. Leylin didn't dare to try to use his A.I Chip to scan it in case its energy was detected and cause troubles for him.

Not too long after, every single nearby source of danger appeared within Leylin's mind.

"Even if it's a poisonous insect, they won't be able to escape the A.I Chip's scan! As of right now, this area is safe!"

This was a guarantee that Leylin could make.

Although he was a member of the guard, he would never do anything to put himself in harm's way.

With the A.I Chip, he had a firm grasp of everything happening in a 20 li radius, and this would be the biggest guarantee to their safety.

Direwolf Pack

"Perfect! I've used up all the Flowerless Snake Fruits again, and I can take this chance to gather some more. But I'm not sure if the plains even have this type of plant…"

Leylin thought to himself as he gradually walked further from the party.

"A.I. Chip! Check my body's stats!"

[Beep! Leylin Farlier. Strength: 1.6, Agility: 1.7, Vitality: 1.5, Status: Healthy.]

A.I. Chip transmitted back the information.

"There isn't much improvement, only around 0.1!" Leylin furrowed his brows, "Ever since everyone started resting in the carriage, I can no longer find a suitable place to cultivate the breathing techniques. Furthermore, the effects of the medicines are decreasing. According to the calculations, the optimized cross blade breathing technique should allow me to increase my basic physical stats to 1.9 before hitting the limit. After that, I can only improve after stimulating my inner life energy and becoming a Knight…"

Leylin kept watch on the girl from the Furze Alliance from afar, as he also kept an eye out for useful herbs and materials.

After a long time, he finally looked up in disappointment.

"It is as I had feared! The conditions are too different, and the Flowerless Snake Fruits are not able to survive on these grassy plains. I can't even find any suitable substitute herbs!"

"Hey! Leylin! It's time to get on the carriage!" George's loud shout came from the distance.

"Got it!" Wandering afar by himself was not only attention drawing but also very dangerous. As such, Leylin could only give up on his plan, and return to the horse carriage.

[Warning! Warning! Dangerous creatures are approaching!]

Just at that moment, the A.I Chip's mechanical voice sounded out, and red warning words appeared in front of Leylin's eyes, attracting his attention instantly.

"Quick! Show the map now!"

Leylin's facial expression did not change, but he hastened his movement, reaching the limits of his body, and his right hand grasped his cross blade firmly.

On the virtual map that was projected in front of his eyes, there was a large group of red dots closing in on their group of carriages. The dots were slowly encircling and surrounding them.

[Beep! According to the databanks, these dangerous lifeforms have a 97.8% similarity to Direwolves!]

"Direwolves!" Leylin's eyes narrowed as he recalled the data that had been collected earlier. "Direwolf: A kind of wolf inhabiting the Great Plains of Death. Savage and cruel, they mostly hunt in packs. Their strength is estimated to be around 2-3, agility around 3-4, and vitality around 3-4."

"Such strength, they are definitely not creatures that I, a mere Knight-in-training, can handle!"

Leylin's footsteps hastened once more, and he rushed towards George, saying in a low tone: "We have company. Trouble is afoot!"

George looked around at the surrounding crowd and saw that most of the students were still minding their own business. He quickly retrieved his water bottle in order to hide their actions: "What's the situation?"

"A pack of direwolves! I noticed their tracks!" Leylin said quickly and urgently.

"I got it!" George drank a few gulps of water, then gave out a few simple hand signals.

The youths from their team who had been chosen as escorts were momentarily startled, but they still remembered their predesignated hand signals. Instantly, they all got moving, pushing the younger girls ahead, and whispering into their ears. The entire process was done swiftly and silently. Although some of the other Magus apprentices also noticed something was wrong and followed their retreat, most of them were still oblivious.

Sometimes, when danger arose, the only thing you needed to do was to ensure that you ran faster than your companions!

"Let's go!" Seeing that most of the members of their alliance had successfully retreated, George and Leylin quickly followed suit.

"Leylin, you're unexpectedly even good at scouting!" George said in a low voice to Leylin. After all, they had spent quite some time and were familiar with each other, and he knew that Leylin would not lie to him about something like that.

Although the members of the Furze Alliance were quiet and retreating in an orderly manner to refrain from alarming the rest, some of the other acolytes were very discerning, and they quickly joined in the retreat.

*Bang* *Bang*!

A loud piercing gong sounded out, "The Lord Magus has sensed danger! All acolytes are to retreat back to the horse carriages!"

One of the black robed men's voice sounded out, thundering in all the acolytes' ears.

The acolytes who were resting on the grass were all stunned into silence, before they all swarmed into motion, fleeing crazily for the horse carriages.

"No need for hiding anymore! Let's run!" George shouted as he drew his sword.

By now, all the members of the Furze Alliance had been alerted, and were already quite a distance, and the fastest amongst them had already reached the horse carriages.

"Aaawoooooo!"

At this moment, a long and drawn out howl sounded out, filled with ruthless bloodlust.

All around, the wolf howls sounded; since the prey had discovered their stealth attack, they would just charge forth!

Streak after streak of black shadowy wolves charged after the fleeing acolytes; they were about 2-3 metres long, and their speeds were such that a shimmering black afterimage followed them.

"A direwolf pack!" One of the acolytes at the back cried out in despair.

Just as he cried out, a black shadow pounced onto her, the large impact causing this young girl to fall to the ground. In the next instant, the merciless huge jaw filled with sharp teeth bit down viciously, tearing out her throat as she died with a despairing look on her face.

Some of the fleeing acolytes were attracted by the cries and turned their heads to look before they cried out in alarm as they witnessed the grisly sight and hastened their pace.

Another young girl whose face was full of tears was running and shouting: "Mummy! Mummy! I want my mummy…!"

"These pitiful youngsters, they are already beginning to lose it?" By now, Leylin had already reached the horse carriages, and could see the entire scene in front of him.

*Swoosh* *Swoosh*

Right at this point in time, seven dark shadows dashed out from the horse carriages, each wielding a huge sword the size of a man, which slashed through the air as they charged towards the direwolf pack.

"It's the black-robed Knights! They're attacking!" Leylin thought to himself.

These direwolves' stats are about 3 each on average and are very similar to the Knights. However, humans have the ability to use weapons, along with their intelligence; furthermore, the Knights should have secret skills which can greatly raise their potential and allow them to burst forth with greater power when necessary! If it's one versus one or even one versus three, these direwolves will definitely not be a match for the Knights. However, with the current numbers…"

Leylin had a worried look on his face as he looked at the several hundred red dots encircling them. "Previously, even with just nearly a hundred direwolves, they managed to get to the horse carriages, and even damage some of the carriages. With these several hundred direwolves… Perhaps today we will finally see those mysterious Magi show their abilities!"

*Psh* ! One of the black-robed Knights waved his immense blade, weaving a bright silver light in the air as he cleaved a direwolf right into two!

"Heh heh!" The Knight licked the blood from his lips, looking extremely ferocious: "Come on, my little precious!"

"Thank…Thank you, Sir!" The little girl who was saved kept thanking him repeatedly, the tears still on her cheeks. This was the girl who had been calling out for her mother earlier.

"Are you an idiot? Get back now!" The Knight's head did not even turn as he charged forth towards the direwolves.

Only then did the little girl seem to reawaken to the reality of the situation, and ran back to the horse carriage.

"Hurry! Arrange the horse carriages in a circle to use as a defensive formation, the girls should stay behind while the boys, take up your swords and set up a defensive perimeter!"

The black robed Knight who remained at the campsite shouted out.

"Alright!" George was the first to shout out a reply, jumping up onto one of the carriages to direct the alliance members.

"It's time to fight for our lives!" Leylin grasped the cross blade in his hands and muttered to himself.

Looking at the scene before him, he noticed that the members of the Furze Alliance had the least losses due to his timely warning; besides a few who had tripped while running and sustained minor injuries, there were no deaths or major injuries.

In contrast, many of the other acolytes had been killed or injured, for example, he had discovered that Ourin's little party was now missing two youths, while the remaining few had all sustained some form of injuries. It seemed like they had been just lucky enough to escape with their lives.

"Alright! We've rescued all the ones who can be rescued!"

Angelo's body was covered with blood as he returned to the defensive formation, and he immediately saw Leylin, who was grasping a cross blade with both hands and was in a battle-ready stance.

"Aren't you afraid?" the black robed Knight asked.

"At this time, being afraid won't be of any help right?" Leylin replied. His hands tightened around his sword; after all, even in his past life, such a bloody scene was not common.

"Heh heh! These direwolves are cunning and intelligent, as long as we let them know that we're not an easy target and that they will sustain many losses to kill us, they will definitely run away!" Angelo said passively.

Although he did not know if the Knight was just trying to comfort him, Leylin breathed an obvious sigh of relief.

"Aowuuu!" The few acolytes that had fallen earlier had perished by now, and with the scent of blood in the air, the direwolves went berserk and charged savagely towards the horse carriages.

"Here they come! Everyone be careful! We will try our best to protect you, but there are only so many of us and we will definitely miss some. At that point, you will have to fight for your lives!" Angelo's loud voice rang out, as he waved his huge sword, standing in the front lines together with the other Knights.

"Kill!" The Knights shouted out loud, and Leylin could see a faint light shining around their large swords.

As the huge blade cleaved down, the direwolf charging in front had a hole torn in its chest, causing it to roll back as blood sprayed into the air.

For a time, the dozen or so black figures stood like an immovable fortress, blocking the direwolves.

"We should fight as well! We need to help the Knights and reduce their load!" George walked up to Leylin and said.

"Yes, if this continues for long, the Knights will grow too exhausted to fight, and all of us will be in trouble!" Leylin nodded in agreement.

Under George's leadership, all the men took up their swords and followed behind the Knights, attacking the ferocious direwolf pack from the side!

"Aowuuu!" The direwolf howls were unceasing, and Leylin was currently facing a 2-metre long huge direwolf.

As the direwolf continued snarling, Leylin could smell the stench from it.

"A.I Chip! Scan the battlefield and determine the most efficient method of killing!"

[Task established. Begin simulation! Begin assist mode!] A light flashed in front of Leylin's eyes, and a panoramic, 3D image appeared before him.

The direwolf facing him finally launched an attack, and a gleaming claw specked with blood slashed towards Leylin, bringing along a hot wave of air.

[Host is under attack! Most efficient method of dealing with it: use the cross blade to block it with a 50-degree angle to the right, then pierce!]

"Ha!" Leylin shouted out as he circulated the breathing technique, concentrating his strength in his arm muscles as he followed the instructions, sweeping his sword to the right and striking the claw away.

*BANG* Leylin felt a shock travel up his arm from the immense impact, making him feel as though he had struck a thick piece of metal.

"This direwolf's strength is much higher than mine, if I keep doing that, I will be exhausted too quickly. I'll need to finish this fight quickly!"

Cross Slash

Leylin was shocked by its strength after using his sword to strike away the direwolf's claw.

The cross blade drew a brilliant arc. Immediately afterwards, following the path calculated by the A.I. Chip, he pierced out towards the direwolf opposing him.

Piercing attack!

The cross blade technique was a secret technique passed down through the Farlier family, and the key point was to use a powerful centrifugal force to strike at the enemy.

At that moment, Leylin used his waist to exert power. The cross blade in his hands whistled as it pierced through the air and slammed towards the direwolf.

Psh!

Leylin felt the cross blade pierce through its flesh, and it seemed as though the cross blade in his hands was firmly stuck in the direwolf. The sheer impact of the blow caused him to tremble, and he tried to retract the cross blade.

"He!" Leylin yanked his hands backwards. The cross blade was pulled out violently, causing fresh blood to gush out wildly!

The direwolf opposing him screamed miserably. It turned out that Leylin's sword attack earlier had just happened to pierce into the direwolf's foreleg, its weakness. The direwolf hopped backwards in retreat, and one claw seemed to have already been rendered useless.

Seeing the direwolf escaping, Leylin's eyes flashed once, but he didn't pursue it.

"Most of the pressure has been taken on by the black-robed Knights. If I run out of the defensive perimeter to chase it, that would be tantamount to me committing suicide. Anyways, an injured direwolf will not be able to attack us again. It'll probably die after a while, or… end up as its companion's meal!"

"Well done!" George praised loudly from closeby. At this moment, George also had traces of blood on his body. His attack posture was confident and elegant, and it looked as if he was performing rather than killing. However, he still carried an unparalleled level of strength! He was actually going up against two direwolves and was still not at a disadvantage.

"The secret sword techniques passed down through noble families really aren't ordinary!" Leylin thought casually before he once again directed his gaze towards the direwolf pack in front of him.

The tragic fighting between man and direwolf continued on for half an hour. The sun slowly set, and darkness descended upon the grass plains.

At the moment, the eyes of the direwolves were giving off an aquamarine glow. The entire campground had an eerie feel as it seemed to be surrounded by a crowd of aquamarine eyes.

"Hah… hah" Leylin gasped for breath. He now looked as if he had been fished out of a pool of blood. His face was still covered with it, but he lacked the time to even wipe it off.

Even with the A.I. Chip allowing him to use the most efficient methods to kill or injure the direwolves, he still felt heavily drained from the effort.

"If even I'm like this, there's no need to speak about the other acolytes. Only the black-robed Knights still have energy to spare, but even they will probably be unable to last much longer. In this situation, why haven't the white robe Magi acted yet?"

Leylin glanced over and saw that there was an empty space amidst the female acolytes at the center of the campsite. Three white robed people were sitting there, giving off chilling auras. None of the surrounding acolytes dared to be within three metres of them.

As for the direwolves surrounding the defensive ring, they had already lost one-third of their number. However, the number of defending acolytes at the front line had also greatly decreased; most had been injured and were under the care of the girls behind.

"If I was the direwolf king, the current losses would be enough to make me give up! There should be one final wave of vicious attacks remaining!"

Leylin's sword flickered as it cut the leg of a direwolf. At the same time, he took the opportunity to pull out several berries. He tossed them into his mouth and chewed twice before swallowing.

These were the useful plants he had collected along the journey. They could quickly replenish the body's energy, but he was running out of them.

"Aowuuuuuu!" Shrill wolf calls sounded, but this time, they carried a different meaning.

The direwolf pack became more frenzied as it heard the wolf calls. It charged forward without any regard for their lives.

"It's here, the final wave!" Leylin's eyes shifted. He brandished the cross blade in his hand as he advanced.

Bang! Leylin felt a great force run through his hand, and the cross blade almost flew out of his hands.

"The direwolves before us seem to be two times bigger than the others!" Leylin relaxed the muscles in his numbed arm, "A.I. Chip, scan the direwolves in front of me!"

[Direwolves. Strength: 2.3 Agility: 4.1 Vitality: 3.1. Description: In a direwolf pack, there will always be those whose bodies are significantly larger than those of the same race. These will be chosen to be the bodyguards for the head of the wolves. They usually have greater strength than the others of the same race, and at the same time, undying loyalty to the head of the wolves!]

This was a paragraph that the previous bratty Leylin had read from a random atlas at some point, and it was now retrieved by the A.I. Chip.

"How amazing, looks like the head of the direwolves is also making a big investment this time!" Leylin thought, before going forward to tussle with the huge direwolves again.

He had been a scientist in the previous world, and had thought that he was no longer hot-blooded. But now, being in this primitive society and killing the direwolf pack made Leylin feel as if something had aroused in his body, making his blood boil.

"This is unlike the peace in my previous world; these beast-like instincts are needed for a being's survival!" Leylin realised.

"Haha! Come! Come!" Leylin had already trained the breathing technique passed down in his family to a very profound level. Now, he only needed the enlightenment gained from killing in order to stimulate his life force and become a true Knight!

"Kill!" Leylin's eyes had a hint of red to them as he began to fight madly with the direwolf.

At this moment in time, he finally let go completely. In every sword stroke, he vented the dread of his death in the previous world and the unease of entering a foreign world.

"Hah!" Leylin's eyes flashed as he fought the direwolf, seemingly having comprehended something.

The cross blade in his hands hacked downwards, bringing a silver light with it.

As it slashed towards the ground, Leylin's body twisted, and strength was exerted from his powerful waist muscles. With the great centrifugal force of the cross blade, he made another horizontal slash!

The cross blade itself seemed to be releasing a dim light. The two slashes seemed to fuse together, forming a radiant cross!

Cross blade technique: secret killing move-Cross Slash!

A Killing Move was something that had the essence of several killing techniques inside, using a profound skill level to raise one's killing ability.

Although it couldn't compare to the Knight secret skills that increased all stats, preparatory Knights who possessed a killing move could still threaten a true Knight with life force!

The cross blade viciously slashed the direwolf's body and opened a large wound in the shape of a cross. The direwolf whined as fresh blood sprayed out continuously.

"Now!" Leylin's eyes shone as he charged forward.

Advance! Jump slash!

The cross blade swung past, and the direwolf's huge head was sent flying!

The surrounding direwolves jumped in fright, and the attack slowed down. Even the surrounding black-robed Knights looked over in shock.

Leylin felt a sense of contentment as he stepped on the giant direwolf's head, and he couldn't help but roar.

"Huuu... I've already vented, so it's time to retreat!"

After roaring, Leylin didn't choose to go forward to kill again but instead turned around to return to the defensive perimeter. This allowed a well-rested defender to take over his position.

"I'm not an idiot. The Killing Move just now was too exhausting, and I've already vented out all the negative emotions in my heart. I should save some strength for self-protection."

Leylin received a bottle from a girl with trembling hands and began to drink with big gulps.

By drinking water, he managed to conceal his eyes which were exuding intelligence. "I have killed the highest number of direwolves besides the black robes. With this, no one can force me to enter the battlefield again. Next, I must maintain my strength, and witness the white robes' actions at the same time!"

Based on the collected figures, the A.I. Chip calculated that there was a 98% chance of a slip up by the black robes. The direwolf pack would thus break through the perimeter, and casualties would appear among the acolytes. At that point, no matter how much the white-robed Magi wanted to stay out of this, they would have to act.

"Aowuuuu!" With the non-stop howling from the head direwolf hidden amidst the direwolf pack, the direwolf pack's charge became more aggressive. The ones that appeared now were the giant bodyguard direwolves. The throat of the frontmost acolyte was torn out, and he toppled over.

"We can't wait any longer! Activate your secret skills!" The black robe Angelo shouted.

At that moment, the black robes released crackling sounds as their muscles continuously expanded. At first glance, their overgrown muscles made them look like small giants.

"It's appeared! The secret skills of the Knights!" Leylin's eyes didn't blink. "A.I. Chip, collect data!"

[Beep! Task Established, Data Collection in progress!] [Knight secret skill (strength type?): After activation, vitality, strength and defense increase, agility decreases! In the middle of data collection for circulation path of life energy, 43% recorded. Remaining information insufficient, unable to analyse!]

Looking at the screen in front of his eyes, Leylin felt some regret, "I still can't understand how the life force of Knights is activated! But if I have a Knight-level guinea pig to dissect, then I might just be able to understand....."

As for the black-robed Knights who had activated their secret skills, not only did their muscle strengths increase, their defenses seemed to have increased as well. The giant bodyguard direwolves still needed to be avoided, but the Knights used the giant sword to hack at the forehead of the normal direwolves despite being cut by their claws.

But with the increase in giant bodyguard direwolves, a direwolf had finally managed to slip through a gap and charge into the crowd of acolytes.

"Ah! Save me!" "Daddy! Mummy!" "I don't want to die yet!"

The sound of various cries and screams resounded through the air and the campsite turned into utter chaos.

"In the end, they're just a bunch of thirteen and fourteen-year-old kids!" Leylin sighed.

"Aowuuuu!" As if by chain reaction, another giant direwolf broke through their defenses, landing within the area occupied by the Furze Alliance.

"Leylin! Come and kill it with me!" George's neck was wrapped up in gauze. It wasn't known which noble family's young lady wrapped it. Not only was it thickly wrapped up, it was even knotted in a bow, the sight making Leylin want to laugh out loud.

"No need! Give me the crossbow!"

"This?" George removed the crossbow from his back, and passed it to Leylin, "I'm afraid there's no use! These mongrels have thick skin and flesh. If you can't hit their weak points.....Oh! God! Dammit!"

Taking Action

[Calculation of wind speed and temperature in progress! Calculation of trajectory complete!]

Following the A.I Chip's calculated trajectory, Leylin pulled the trigger of the crossbow.

"Whoosh!" The powerful crossbow bolt flew out, and the strong recoil caused Leylin's arm to feel slightly numb.

"Pu!" The crossbow arrow entered through the left eye of the direwolf and exited out of its right eye. The direwolf howled twice, crumpling to the floor.

"The advantage I have with the A.I Chip in this kind of high-accuracy work is really too great! A crossbow isn't like a bow; all you have to do is aim and pull the trigger. It's so convenient!"

Leylin compared the differences between him swinging around the Cross Blade before, and using the crossbow. "It looks like I'm more suited towards long distance attacks. This is also much safer. It's just that I still have no idea how to activate the Life Force of Knights. Could it be that experiencing a really tough battle is required?"

Leylin hadn't used a crossbow earlier. The first reason for this was to vent. The second was to make an attempt at activating the Life Force of Knights. Unfortunately, he possessed the A.I Chip as one of his cards and had never been forced into a desperate life or death situation. Naturally, he was unable to experience the feeling of the Life Force that was activated in a desperate situation.

"Leylin! Good job!" George only responded now, and he patted Leylin on the shoulder.

"From today onwards, this crossbow is yours!"

"Thanks then!" Leylin smiled. Even if George hadn't said anything, he would still have tried to obtain the crossbow.

"Oh! Leylin! Leylin has killed direwolves, lord Leylin! Lord Leylin! Quickly save us!"

At this point, more direwolves charged into the campsite, and students cried out towards Leylin.

With the benefit of George's prior preparations, the losses on their side had been the least. With George and Leylin, these two experts who were preparatory Knights, it was considered the safest place apart from the area around the white robes.

"Hu!" Ourin sucked in huge breaths as he used a sword to block a direwolf that was leaping forward. A huge force was transmitted over, causing the Cross Blade in his hands to fly away.

"I am the successor of my house! I still haven't enjoyed a lot of things! How could I die here?"

Ourin roared. Of his surrounding comrades two had already died. Among the remaining people, if they weren't dead, then they had already escaped.

At this moment, shouts of "Lord Leylin!" could be heard, causing his eyes to shine.

"That's right! The Furze Alliance still has strength, and Leylin was so impressive just now. He can definitely save me!"

Ourin didn't hesitate anymore and began to run in that direction.

"Leylin! Lord Leylin! Save me!"

"Well!" Leylin readied the crossbow, hearing the sound and taking a look, "It's Ourin after all!"

The current Ourin looked embarrassing. Not only had the Cross Blade been dropped, his whole body carried wounds and he was being closely pursued by a direwolf.

"It's a pity! You've looked for the wrong person! Did you really think I would be so magnanimous?" Leylin's mouth formed a grin.

"With the white-robed Magi here, I don't dare to take my chances and secretly kill someone! But if it's only not being able to save them in time, no one will have a reason to find trouble over that!"

Leylin looked at Ourin, showing a brilliant smile.

"He'll save me! Definitely!" Ourin saw Leylin's smile, and his heart relaxed. He continuously encouraged himself, increasing his running speed.

"Ohhhh! Noooo!" At that moment, Ourin despairingly saw Leylin shoot the crossbow, dealing with a direwolf on another side.

"How could you, how could you do this???" Ourin's mind went blank for a moment and he tripped on a rock, falling onto the ground.

The direwolf behind him shot forward. Its teeth bit down and blood began to flow non-stop...

"Thanks!" On the other side, the girl saved by Leylin ran to him to thank him, "Thank you!"

"No need for thanks!" Leylin smiled. On the other side, Lilith looked at Leylin with her face red and lowered her head.

There was a whistling sound, and George looked at Lilith, directing a 'you understand' gaze towards Leylin.

"The situation is already like this, but your personality hasn't changed, George!"

"Even if I fall into the abyss of death, you can't stop the yearning I have for beautiful romances!" George used the tone of a martyr, speaking as if he was unafraid of death.

"You won't die, the white robes are about to make their move!" Leylin rolled his eyes.

Even though the field was in chaos, the giant direwolves seemed to have an amazing sixth sense. They had never bothered the three white-robed Magi, forming a strange circle.

And amidst the noise, Leylin could still use the five senses that were strengthened by the A.I Chip to catch the conversation between the white-robed Magi. Perhaps they themselves had not even concealed it.

"Crow! Are we still not making our move? The acolytes have too many casualties, and that will lower our rating!" A woman's voice sounded.

"Relax! Relax! I've been counting. Up until now, ten have died so far. The limit hasn't been passed yet!"

A slightly cynical voice travelled over; it was a man's voice.

"But it's still reaching the limit, act quickly. I still need to determine the stability model for this technique! Dammit! The negative energy here is simply too high. It's simply impossible to complete the construction of the 'Tokerwuree!'"

"Then I'll do it!" The white-robed man who hadn't spoken before stood up.

"These mysterious Magi! The mysterious people rumored to be able to manipulate the forces of nature!" Leylin's eyes stared at the white-robed man.

"All of you stupid and lowly beasts, you actually dare to bother the rest of the venerated lord Magi! Only death can be your eternal home!"

"Mazzerda —Karachi!"

With the chanting sounds of the white-robed man, Leylin's ears heard the A.I Chip madly sounding out. [ALERT! ALERT! Discovered radiation source! Discovered negative energy field! Suggestion for Host to immediately evacuate far away!]

The bright red words were so obvious, but Leylin wasn't frightened into retreating at all. He only repeatedly recalled the chanting of the white robed man.

"This doesn't seem to be the language used on the continent, but an ancient one instead. It seems like quite the tongue twister, do Magi use this kind of language to chant?"

And as the white-robed man stood up, the surrounding direwolves retreated, as if they had met some kind of natural enemy.

"Secondary Energy Fireball!"

After the chant was completed, a floating fireball appeared in the man's hand out of nowhere. According to the calculations of Leylin's A.I Chip, this fireball was at least one thousand degrees and was actually causing the surrounding space to distort faintly.

The fireball left a blazing trail and landed on the direwolf's heart.

Boom!

"Not good! Quickly crouch down!" Leylin shouted loudly. Unfortunately, it was already too late. It didn't matter whether it was the acolytes or the direwolves in the surroundings, everyone was sent toppling over.

A loud explosion resounded, bringing with it a wave of heat.

"Puff! Pui Pui!" Leylin got up from the ground, hurriedly spitting out the soil and grass in his mouth.

At this moment, he was covered in dirt, and looked like a person who had just crawled out of a muddy pit.

"According to the A.I Chip's calculations, that area should have been where the head of the direwolves was positioned, sssss...." Leylin climbed onto the horse carriage. He looked in the direction of the area attacked by the Magus just now and couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.

He could only see that where the fireball landed, there was now an additional pit of fire that was three metres in length and width, and two metres deep. As for the direwolves in that area, they had already become burnt charcoal.

The direwolves whimpered, before quickly escaping.

"He has the body of a human, and is able to attack to this extent! This, this is the strength of a Magus?" Leylin looked at the white-robed Magus, eyes burning with passion, "The strength of a Magus! I must obtain it!"

"Quickly! Clean up the battlefield!" The white-robed man said, ignoring the fervent gazes of the surrounding acolytes. He returned to his original place, where the two other Magi were.

When he passed by Ourin's corpse, he stopped. He took a small golden pouch from Ourin's bosom and placed it in his own bosom.

"This…..seems to be the bag Ourin used to store magic crystals!" Leylin pupils shrank.

"Evaluation! Boundary! magic crystals!" Leylin's mind raced. "It looks like these Magi received a task, which was why they helped escort us, acolytes. It seems there was a death count quota that would've lowered their evaluation and decreased their rewards if they had passed it!"

"And it seems that I had slightly underestimated the value of magic crystals before. These white robe Magi let the acolytes die, most likely because they had planned to take away the magic crystals of the dead acolytes!"

"Luckily, now that the dead acolytes have reached the danger limit already, we'll be safer from here on!"

After thinking it through clearly, Leylin's face turned ashen, "This is the world of Magi? Logical to the point of cold-bloodedness! Cold to the point of apathy!"

"Everyone, quickly pack up so we can continue our journey. The smell of blood here will attract other predators!"

The black robed Knight Angelo took off the outer clothes that had been torn due to the activation of the secret skill. The sweat on his face flowed nonstop, and he was gasping for air, looking slightly weakened.

Leylin's eyes flashed with light, "It looks like a price needs to be paid to activate the secret skill for Knights…"

"Hey! Leylin, look!" Just as Leylin was about to enter the carriage, George snuck over and surreptitiously pointed to the side.

On another black-coloured horse carriage, Bessita was hugging her legs as she sat. Her shoulder had bloody marks on it, and she looked like she had just gone through a crying session.

"Ourin has always been Bessita's number one 'flower guardian'. Now that that group is almost completely dead, Bessita's situation isn't looking very good!"

George said next to Leylin's ear, with an expression that implied that Leylin's chance had come.

"I've already lost interest in her! Anyway, we're in such danger, can't you control your lower half a little?"

Leylin didn't really know what to say. He pointed to George's collar, and on those clothes were marks from a girl's lipstick. He really didn't know when this beast had been able to fool around.

"Hehe….my brother, it's only in this kind of dangerous moment that we preparatory Knights can show our might! And girls will always show goodwill towards the man who saved them. This is the most basic of techniques!"

George took out something that was similar to a handkerchief from his bosom, smugly showing his harvest. "Can you see? Just today, I've already won the goodwill of three ladies….."

"Yeah…." Leylin had nothing to say.

When thinking of his playboy past, "It seems that the previous Leylin always used force when he met a girl he liked, seriously..."

"Alright, it's time to set off!" Leylin saw the black-robed Knights gather the acolyte corpses together. They took out several magic crystals and passed them to the white-robed Magi, before hurriedly changing the topic.

Arrival

"The Great Plains of Death is indeed a place no ordinary person can cross!"

Leylin sat in the carriage as his body constantly jolted up and down. The tiny window opened as a golden ray of sunshine peeked in, giving the interior of the carriage a trace of liveliness.

It had already been over ten days since the attack of the plains direwolves pack. During these ten days, the travelling party encountered an increasing amount of danger as they ventured deeper into the plains.

Only now did Leylin find out that the plains' direwolves were merely at the bottom of the food chain. There were still many more cunning and vicious predators above them.

On the way, Leylin saw several animal colonies whose numbers were not inferior to that of the direwolf pack from before.

Besides the plains' direwolves, there were flocks of huge black birds that were several meters tall and even enormous monsters, dozens of meters long, which looked like sabre-tooth tigers, except their bodies were like tiny mountains. Just their aura alone caused Leylin to feel suffocated.

Fortunately, the deaths of the apprentices seemed to have reached the limit and the white-robed Magi had started to act. Not only did they set up magical defensive arrays on the carriages, they also directly stepped forward to disperse the animal groups that attacked. Through these measures, a large number of casualties was prevented.

The most dangerous time was when they confronted the monster that was dozens of meters long.

Thankfully, that small mountain-like monster seemed to possess some intelligence and knew that the white robed Magi were not to be trifled with. It quickly left after a short confrontation and did not unleash any attacks, causing everyone in the travelling party to sigh in relief.

"It's time!" Leylin took out his pocket watch and looked at the clock hand. It had already reached the 3 o'clock position.

He stood up and opened the front door of the carriage. A moist breeze blew towards him, bringing a salty smell with it. It smelt very fresh and clean and Leylin could not help but deeply breath in a few times before seating himself besides Angelo.

"Good afternoon! Sir Angelo!"

"Good afternoon! Such a courteous noble gentleman!" Angelo did not turn as he directly handed over the horsewhip and reins to Leylin, "Good timing, I need to rest for a while!"

Leylin chuckled as he received the horsewhip and skilfully urged on the carriage.

Angelo leaned to one side as he unclasped a bottle at his waist. When he opened it, a strong alcohol smell floated out, and as he lowered his head to take a gulp, his eyes narrowed in joy.

"We are about to reach our destination. Based on the fact that you've helped me drive the carriage for a month, I can answer two of your questions!"

Leylin was just enjoying the view on both sides when he heard Angelo's voice sound out.

"Alright!" Leylin lightly smiled. He had specially tried to get into Angelo's good books and this was one of the reasons why he had done so.

"Then my first question is, what will there be at our destination?"

"Some temporary tents set up by the various Magus academies. Over there, all of you can freely choose an academy to join based on your interests and also undergo an even more accurate aptitude test!"

Angelo looked a little impatient as he answered, "These things will be explained by the great Magi when we arrive, don't waste your opportunity!"

"An accurate aptitude test?" Leylin was stunned. Soon after, he recalled that they had only managed to identify his talent in magic initially before being sent onto the carriage by the viscount. As for how good his talent was in comparison to others, he did not have the slightest inkling.

"Temporary tents set up by the Magus academies? Looks like this is similar to the school recruitments of my previous world. I wonder what the requirements are." Leylin silently thought to himself.

"Alright then! My second question! In your heart, what is a Magus!"

Leylin asked his second question.

"A Magus? They control enormous power and pursue the truth, with an equivalent exchange as their doctrine. Brat, don't daydream of obtaining any free benefits from a Magus, or else the flames of desire will gush out from the abyss and punish your soul!"

Angelo's face twitched as if he had thought of an unfortunate event, while his voice became extremely low.

"Pursuit of truth, equivalent exchange? I like it!" The corners of Leylin's mouth formed a smile.

After answering, Angelo seemed to have lost all interest in talking. He ferociously chugged down two mouthfuls of the potent alcohol as he lowered his head and closed his eyes. Ten minutes later, the sounds of snoring could be heard.

Leylin dully gazed at the scenery to his front. Although the plains were very beautiful, after a whole month of looking at the same things, he now felt like throwing up at the sight of it.

"This is..."

As the carriage continued to advance, the green in the distance became less and less. In place of it was a vast blue, and wave after wave of strong winds.

"We've finally arrived, the Death Beach!"

The sleeping Angelo opened his eyes and looked at Leylin, "We've reached our destination!"

As they neared the sea, a small town-like place appeared at the end of his line of sight.

Numerous tents of various shapes and sizes stood together, and they formed a huge camp. Surrounding them were dozens of carriages similar to the one Leylin was driving.

And what numbered the most were acolytes of similar ages as them, around thirteen to fourteen years old, each and every one of them carrying looks of curiosity on their faces. Leylin did a rough estimate and counted that there were at least hundreds of them, filling up the entire camp. From time to time, some acolytes walked out from the tents, many different expressions adorning their faces.

"Alright! Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the intermediate stop of our travelling destination, the Death Beach! You will all decide on your future academy here, and then return back to your respective academies with your teachers to practice magic!"

The horse carriage halted, and three white robes came out and gathered the acolytes, then the leader Crow began speaking.

"Now, follow me into the campgrounds, and choose an academy. Remember, you may check on all the various academies, but once you have signed a contract to join one, you must not renege! Anyone who disobeys will be hung to death at the gate of the camp!"

Crow's frosty words made the acolytes hearts turn cold.

"Haha! Crow! You guys are pretty late today!" A voice sounded, and a fatty walked out from the camp grounds. He too was wearing a white robe, and he greeted: "Don't scare these adorable newbies!"

"There were some difficulties along the way!" Crow explained.

"Alright! Newbies! Now follow me into the camp!" Fatty spoke with Crow and the others for a while more, then turned his head and shouted to Leylin and the rest.

"You guys can call me Jevon, of the beautiful Ennea Ivory Ring Tower. Trust me, if you are to choose an academy, the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower is definitely your best choice!"

Jevon said as he brought the acolytes into the camp.

Once they entered, various sounds travelled into their ears, reminding Leylin of the marketplaces in his previous world. As for Crow and the other two white robes, they seemed to have something else to do, and they soon left the group.

The surroundings were bustling with activity, mostly due to acolytes just like them. Some of them had gathered in a circle, while there were others who were entering or exiting the tents.

Jevon brought Leylin and the rest, a total of 40 odd people, into the middle of the camp grounds.

Here, was a large tent of pure white colour, and there were still strange flower patterns on the outside of it They seemed like both ornaments, and yet resembled writing as well.

Leylin could not help but look at it closely, "A.I Chip! Begin Scan!"

[Beep! Forming Image!] The A.I Chip sent the information, but in the constructed image, there was nothing on the white tent, as if the pattern had never existed before.

"How could this be?" Leylin stared at the tent once again with disbelief.

With every passing minute and second, the patterns on the tent seemed lifelike, constantly twisting itself.

"Hehe!" "Haha!" "Ji Ji!"

Various noises travelled to Leylin's ears. The surrounding lights seemed to distort itself, and Leylin looked at his own hands. At this point, his arm seemed to have been pulled into a long shape, which looked extremely slender.

"Leylin! Leylin! What's wrong with you?" At this point, there was a pat on Leylin's shoulder.

Leylin's whole body suddenly quivered, and he came to his senses. Looking at the surroundings, the acolytes were still listening to Fatty Jevon's speech, and everything seemed to revert back to its normal state.

"Could it be that it wasn't an illusion earlier?" Leylin got scared, "A.I Chip, reproduce the situation I was in earlier!"

[Beep!] A pale blue light display appeared, and the series of images earlier appeared continuously in front of Leylin's eyes, [An anomaly in the cerebral vessel, an immediate inspection is proposed!] [An anomaly is found in the Host's condition! Staying away is advised!] [The Host body has returned to normal!] Numerous lines of data kept emerging, which let Leylin know that it was not an illusion earlier.

"Phew...Magi, are they always this mysterious?" Leylin wiped his cold sweat off, still carrying a lingering fear of the events earlier.

"Leylin! Your complexion is really bad! Could it be that you have fallen ill?" George asked from the side.

"No matter who, their expressions won't be any better if they had experienced that earlier!"

"Not...Nothing...Where did Jevon stop at?" Leylin hurriedly digressed.

"Oh! We need to fill in a form, and take the aptitude test! And then it will be free time, and we can choose our academy autonomously!"

"Because you guys have come a day late, you only have a day's worth of time left, and in this span of period, you must choose an academy where you will practice magic in, if not you will have to wait until next year!" Jevon was still speaking loudly ahead of them.

Now, all of you line up and take the form from me one by one, and then enter for the test!"

Jevon sat behind a white table, and took out a stack of forms and placed them down.

The line moved forward quickly, and very soon it was Leylin's turn.

"Fill in your particulars in this form, and then enter the tent and follow the instructions of the person inside!"

Leylin took the form and realised that it was made of sheepskin paper. The particulars required were minimal, only a name, age and location born, as well as a few others.

Picking up the goose feather pen on the table, Leylin filled in the form very quickly.

The faint, red coloured, inked flower patterns on the sheepskin seemed to be very beautiful.

"I never thought that this brat's handwriting from the mainland is still pretty good!" After Leylin finished writing, he picked up the sheepskin paper and entered the white tent.

"Come over!" An ancient voice sounded.

It was very spacious inside the tent, and there was only a white-haired old lady sitting on a black chair and a crystal ball which rested on a table.

"Okay! Why would I suddenly think of those divination witches!"

"Hello!" Leylin greeted the witch.

"Bring the form here!" Clearly, this witch was not having any of it, and her voice was still frosty cold.

"Leylin huh? Place your hands on the crystal ball!"

Aptitude Test

Leylin followed the witch's instructions and placed both of his hands on the crystal ball.

Icy cold! Vibrations!

A strange tactile feeling was transmitted from the tip of his fingers.

Leylin's head hurt as if there was a glass rod stirring inside.

Along with the start of his headache, the crystal ball in front of Leylin also emitted a faint glow.

"Very good! Don't let go! The witch stared attentively at the crystal ball.

As the pain increased, the crystal ball in Leylin's hands also grew brighter, "No! No more!"

Leylin clenched his teeth, and the pain that practically split his brain into two caused him to loosen his grip uncontrollably.

"Okay! So you are at this level?" The witch nodded her head. She took out a goose feather pen and scribbled on Leylin's form.

"We have categorised the aptitude of the acolytes into five grades, with the first grade as the worst and the fifth grade as the best. You are in the third grade, a middle ranked grade!"

The witch said as she turned a ring on her hand and made a strange mark on the sheepskin, which had been shining brightly with light.

"My examination here is over, you go on behind me! Next!"

Seeing a young girl with freckles entering the tent, Leylin took the sheepskin paper, stood up and gave his thanks, and then lifted the hanging curtain of the tent, heading to the next procedure in line.

The area was still as spacious as the one earlier, and in the middle, there was a white bearded old geezer.

"From the layout of this tent, there should only be two tests. It is really simple!" Leylin thought, as he sat in front of the old geezer and handed the form over to him.

"Third grade? Not too bad!" The white-bearded old geezer stroked his chin, "Alright! Now to test for elemental affinity!"

The old geezer knocked on the tabletop and it split open, and a black basin rose from the centre.

This water basin was not smooth. It seemed to be made of stone, and there was a kind of liquid metal flowing inside that resembled mercury.

"Carefully look into the water!" The old geezer's voice sounded, seemingly carrying an authoritative tone.

Leylin could not help but to divert all his attention towards the centre of the water basin. With his constant focus, the mercury in the middle swirled continuously and turned into a whirlpool, as if a mouth had opened at the bottom.

"Now, tell me, what do you see?"

Leylin's eyes were a little glazed over, "Shadows, and a black coloured whirlpool! And there are red spots near the outer circumference!"

"Anything else?"

"There are also green specks of light in the surrounding area!"

"Is there a lot of green?"

"Not at all! Very little!"

"Okay!" The old geezer snapped his fingers, and Leylin suddenly came back to his senses, "What happened to me!"

"Your test is already over! In the aspect of elemental affinities, you have the highest affinity with the Dark and Shadow elements, after that is the Fire element, and you also have a smidgen of affinity with the Plant element!"

As the old geezer spoke, he rapidly filled in the form and added his handprint.

"Let me give you some advice! Magi are able to use every kind of energy! But only by following the path you have the highest affinity with, can you progress the furthest!"

The old geezer handed the form back to Leylin, "Alright! Your test is over. Walk out from the back entrance and start choosing your academy!"

Leylin bowed, and then left the tent.

As he lifted the canopy at the back, a ray of sunlight came shining down.

"A.I Chip, reproduce the state I was in earlier!"

[...An unknown interference has caused the host to enter a state of hypnosis!]

"As expected!" Leylin's face darkened, and then he exhaled helplessly, "Thankfully, the other party does not have any bad intentions, if not..."

Deep in his heart, his thirst for power only grew more intense.

"Hey! Leylin!" George's voice rang beside his ears, "You finished your aptitude test too?"

George's voice travelled over.

"Yeah!" Leylin nodded his head and waved the sheepskin paper form in his hands.

"I have completed it too, hehe! I, this young master, am a genius with a fourth-grade aptitude!" George laughed loudly, wearing an excessively smug expression!

"I am not too familiar with the grading of acolytes, could you explain it in detail for me?" Leylin asked.

George's family was much greater than Viscount Farlier's family, and he was able to know more secrets regarding the Magi.

"Of course! This is all common knowledge. No matter which academy you enter, there will be people who will tell you." George said.

"The aptitudes of the acolytes are ranked according to the chance of being promoted to a proper Magus, and they are categorised into 5 grades! And the fifth grade is the highest, with a 90 percent chance of becoming a Magus!"

"The fourth grade is slightly inferior, but there is still a 50 percent chance! I, this young master, am a genius at this level! Haha...My father will definitely be elated!" George digressed, he was clearly too excited.

"And the rest? Hurry and say it!" Leylin punched George's shoulder and finally brought George back on track.

"Oh? Earlier I mentioned up to the fourth grade. What's below it is the third grade, where there is a ten percent chance of becoming a Magus. As for the second grade, there is only a 2 to 3 percent chance, and the first grade is the worst, with only a 1 percent or even 0.1 percent chance."

"Anyway, there is only a chance for third grade and above. As for the first and second grade, basically, they can only be an acolyte their whole life!"

"So that is the case. It seems like my grade is middle ranked. There should be no academy that will reject me, nor would they regard me as important!" Leylin analysed his current situation.

"How about elemental affinity?" Leylin continued asking.

"Elemental affinity is the future path of a Magus, you know, some Magi can manipulate lightning, some Magi can manipulate fire, and some others can even manipulate frost! These are all paths of choice."

"Although a Magus is able to use any type of elemental spell, in theory, the ones with the highest affinity will not only let the casting speed be faster but also contain more power. If a Fire element Magus wanted to cast a water-based spell, not only would he consume more spiritual energy, but the might of the spell would also weaken greatly. There could be a water-based pool summoning that ends up as only a water ball!"

"All in all, the elemental affinity will determine the path of a Magus, and the aptitude will determine how far a Magus can walk on that path!"

George concluded.

"The last sentence makes perfect sense, but it doesn't seem to be yours!" Leylin repeated the words of the last sentence.

"He he! You found out. These are the words of a travelling Magus! I saw them in my father's study room." George said embarrassedly, as he scratched his head.

"Oh right! I finally managed to inquire as to why the black-robed Knights were so cold and distant!"

George seemed to have remembered something and was itching to share the news.

"The strength of a Magus, even if he is only an acolyte, is not something a Knight can withstand, so don't you think that the black robes' performance when we journeyed was a little strange?"

"There is indeed something strange about it!" Leylin nodded his head and asked with a conjecture, "Could it be that they have some background?"

"No! No! No!" George shook his head, "My dear brother, you are guessing in the completely wrong direction; these black robed Knights are actually one of the experiments of a Magus!"

"An experiment!" Leylin's eyes widened. In his world, conducting a live experiment had always been a taboo for science, and even if there were any, they were done in secrecy. But here, they had actually done it so openly and aboveboard.

"In the process of the experiment, this batch of experiment samples had already sustained an overdose of radiation and would not live more than several years. That was why they were used as disposables, to escort acolytes like us!"

"This was the reason?" Leylin thought of Angelo's pale face and silently nodded his head.

Earlier, the A.I Chip had scanned and detected traces of radiation, but the radiation discovered on the white robe Magi were a hundred times more concentrated, so Leylin naturally thought that there was no effect.

"For us Magi, we will be acolytes at least; which Knight would not want to prostrate themselves and hope that we pick them to serve us in the future. The only ones who will not take us seriously are those who will not live for longer than a few days!"

George said with some regrets. His face was indignant, it seems like, as an heir to a large noble family, he was displeased with the rude manners of the black robes from before.

"I heard that for the guys from the west, not only had they been treated like young masters by the Knights along the journey, they had even slept with some of them!" George's dissatisfaction only lasted a moment, before it turned into a vulgar expression.

"Slept with some of them?" Leylin was a little more awake, "There are also female Knights?"

"Of course, although female Knights are generally quite muscular, a few have practised some unique techniques so they still look pretty good!"

"Also, a female Knight's stamina is rather good and can withstand all kinds of treatment. Especially during intercourse, her pair of toned thighs wrapping around you, that feeling is too wonderful for words!" George's current character was that of a lecherous swine.

Leylin recalled his memories. The brat of the past was also a playboy, but obviously, he could not compete with George who was from such a large noble family, so he had indeed not touched a pretty female Knight before.

There were several female Knights under the Viscount, but they all had bulging muscles, which made Leylin feel revolted.

Shaking his head, he did not wish to discuss the contents of this matter with George.

"I understand now. Let's go and choose our academy!"

"This! My father has already chosen for me, I'll be attending the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower. My family has a relationship with one of the senior Magi inside...Why don't you come with me too!" George gave an invitation.

Leylin was a little tempted, but seeing the ring on his neck, he still hesitated,

"Earlier, that Magus never said which academy the ring could help me get into. What if it turns into a restriction instead?"

"No! I wish to walk and look around more!" Leylin declined politely.

"Alright then, I am going to carry out the procedures. You can come to the area for the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower to look for me!" George waved his hands and squeezed into the crowd.

"Where should I go? I don't care anymore; let's check out the academies first!"

Leylin strolled aimlessly around the camp and saw all sorts of interesting tents with strange shapes and sizes. Some were like a giant mushroom, where a small fan-shaped door opened in the middle, and some might very well have used some sort of strange horned devil skull, where the acolytes can walk into the tent through the devil's ferocious mouth as though they were stepping into a haunted house.

And at the front of all these different buildings were marked with words.

"It is the language of the mainland, that's still fine!"

Leylin took a look, saw some of the academy names, and memorised them, "Ennea Ivory Ring Tower, Mercifura Academy, Wetland Gardens..."