"Is this the place?" The man squinted his eyes, surveying the forest before him.
Though the sun shone brightly, the forest just a step ahead was dark and ominous, exuding a chilling cold.
Bucilis, translated into the common language of the continent, means the Forest of the Brave, or more precisely, the Forest Where the Brave Perish.
For three consecutive years, it has been ranked as an A-class mission by the Free City, with the bounty skyrocketing to 10,000 coins, enough to support an average family of three for a lifetime.
You could also earn the title of Free Knight, enjoying diplomatic treatment across the various nations of the Stuh Continent.
Because of these reasons, countless adventurers have perished in this forest, including two Phecda Knights and four BUZZKA Magisters.
His shameless old man even joked that with such equipment, it would be enough to conquer a nation, but unfortunately...
When he said this, his smile was far craftier than that of a fox spirit who had cultivated for a thousand years. Lancester shook his head, trying to dispel the unease in his heart.
He took a step forward, as if triggering an invisible thread, a sudden chill rushed over him.
Crossing his hands before his chest, he formed an immovable seal and shouted, "Break!"
A few strands of energy sliced through the air. "Tch, a sealing formation of this level? I wouldn't have even bothered with it when I was seven. Boring."
Though the forest remained pitch-black, Lancester's golden hair seemed to glow naturally.
Branches on both sides gently curled towards him. With a casual wave of his hand, they were all cut down, though only the sword's light could be seen, not the sword itself.
Vines on the ground reached upward, like the tender arms of a woman, trying to hold him back.
"Is that all you've got?" Lancester sneered, his feet mysteriously leaving the ground.
With a flick of his fingers, a black fireball shot out but extinguished the moment it touched the ground.
The vines trembled mockingly but began to wither in the next moment.
"A bunch of brainless things," he clapped his hands, indifferent.
Ignoring the skeleton knights and necromancers closing in from all directions, he made no visible move, but a wall of fire ignited in front of him.
The nearby creatures of darkness instantly turned to ash, while the rest retreated in terror.
But the fire gradually began to fade.
A snap of his fingers. "Ah, I see. The elemental flow in this forest is suppressed to its lowest level, making it impossible to use large-scale high-tier magic. No wonder even those BUZZKA Magisters had no solution. But if I use a sword, with this many skeletons, they could bury me alive."
His tone suddenly shifted to disdain. "Is this all Bucilis has to offer? How disappointing."
After a lifetime of darkness, Bucilis finally saw the light. It was as if the highest form of light magic had driven away the night.
So bright, the creatures of darkness could sense nothing else, willingly fading into oblivion.
The spinning figure slowly came to a stop. "Hmm, not bad, this 'Borrowed Light' technique."
"But, where's my dragon?"
The most enticing rumor about Bucilis, of course, was the one involving a sleeping princess.
Legend has it that Bucilis was once the site of a royal palace, where an unfortunate princess choked on a fishbone and fell into an eternal sleep, waiting for her prince to come.
If someone could awaken her, they would not only gain the beautiful princess but also untold riches.
But before that, you had to defeat the dragon guarding the castle.
"Tsk, tsk, a woman who chokes on a fishbone? How beautiful could she really be? Only a fool would believe that. Even if she's beautiful, I bet all her nutrition went to her chest instead of her brain."
That was Lancester's first reaction upon hearing the legend.
So, of course, he wasn't there for the big-chested, brainless princess (wait, who said the princess was big-chested and brainless?), but for the dragon.
The paths within Bucilis twisted and turned, fueling a growing frustration in Lancester.
"Damn it, anything blocking my way deserves death." The vortex of light spun again, this time straight ahead, leaving a barren path in its wake. Trees were uprooted and blown aside.
Satisfied, he withdrew his magic because he had found what he was looking for.
A gigantic dragon—a blue dragon.
A blue dragon? Lancester sized up the dragon from head to toe.
"Fine, I'll accept this reluctantly."
In the hierarchy of dragons, the lighter the color, the stronger the dragon. Blue dragons didn't even make it into the top three.
Of course, only he would be dissatisfied with this fact. There were fewer than ten blue dragons in the entire continent, and the legendary supreme white dragon hadn't appeared in centuries.
At the center of Bucilis, sunlight flooded the area, making the blue dragon's scales glitter like gems.
It lowered its head, gazing at the tiny human in front of it.
"Hey, what's with that look?" Lancester shivered.
Did he see it wrong, or was the blue dragon looking at him with… infatuation?
"Sorry, my teacher never taught me how to show mercy to a dragon." Swordlight flashed, and Lancester shot upward.
The blue dragon opened its mouth. "Breathing fire, huh? That's so cliché, try something else!"
Laughing, a stream of water shot from Lancester's right hand.
"Let me help cool you down."
Lancester noticed a flush creep over the dragon's face, strangely.
Was it embarrassment because its favorite move was called outdated?
Why did he even think that? Too weird.
No time for further thought, the stream of water turned into an ice spike that came crashing down on him.
[How's this move?] Lancester read the message in the dragon's eyes.
"Lame." He dashed toward the ice spike, his sword transforming into blossoms of red plum that converged into one.
The ice shattered silently.
The dragon lifted its foreclaw to strike, its sharp talons capable of slicing through gold and jade.
Lancester sidestepped, landing lightly on the dragon's paw.
The sword stabbed down with force, and the dragon let out a sorrowful cry.
Its cry could shake the heavens, but it didn't shake Lancester.
"Steady now, standing on one leg is pretty tough for a dragon, right?"
As he mocked, the massive dragon crashed to the ground.
Lancester gracefully hopped off, his once seven-inch sword now extending as it pressed against the dragon's neck.
"Give up, you're mine now!"
To be honest, before coming to Bucilis, Lancester had thought of everything. He was brave but not reckless.
He had considered man-eating trees, skeleton knights, necromancers, and even dragons.
But he had never imagined this scene before him. "Am I still in the imperial capital watching a cross-dressing show at Qixiang Pavilion?"
He muttered to himself.
The dragon's body was enveloped in white mist, and moments later, it cleared.
His sword was now resting on the neck of a young man.
The man had short, dark blue hair, a few strands of fringe covering one eye, his handsome face exuding a strange beauty.
He elegantly drew a half-circle with his right hand, knelt on one knee, and kissed the hand that held Lancester's sword.
"My supreme queen, I have finally found you. I am your most humble and lowly knight, offering you my truest love! Please, marry me, my queen!"
How should one react to a proposal from someone they just met?
Embarrassment, anger, or…
"Damn it, I'm a man!" A rock bigger than the dragon itself fell from the sky, landing squarely on the man's head.
Lancester sheathed his sword and turned away without a second glance.
"Wait!" Lancester wasn't too surprised to find the man standing before him, unharmed.
"My queen, you can't abandon me like this. We've already shared blood and signed an eternal pact."
"Where?"
The man lifted Lancester's hand, and he noticed for the first time a tiny cut on his wrist, from which the man's blood was flowing down his sword, mingling with his own.
"On the Stuh Continent, blood pacts are the most binding of contracts. They cannot be broken until death comes, my queen."
The man's tone was like a song, so pleasant to the ear.
A few fireballs appeared out of nowhere. Though the man dodged swiftly, a few strands of his hair were singed.
"Idiot, I told you I'm a man!"
"That doesn't matter, my queen!" The man's smile was exceptionally irritating in Lancester's eyes.
This time, ice shards flew, slashing the man's face, drawing blood.
The man's expression didn't change. "My queen, your knight believed you would give everything, even your endless blood."
The wind blade was dodged.
"Who knew you had such a bloodthirsty side!"
"Goddamn it, you freak," Lancester raised his sword to the sky, "Wrath of the Thunder God!"
Lightning flashed across the sky, golden serpents danced, and a bolt of lightning shot down along the sword, exploding with a blinding flash of white light.
Bucilis, now nothing more than a term for the history books.
Sitting exhausted in the center of a charred landscape, Lancester exhaled. "