The actions of Gasiah surprised LAN, which meant that if he did not accept his loyalty, Gasiah would commit suicide by drawing his sword!
LAN was somewhat troubled because he did not know how to accept it so as not to desecrate such a sacred scene. As he hesitated, he could even see the fingertips of Gasiah trembling.
"You don't have to worry..." Gasiah knew that his previous attitude towards LAN was extremely disrespectful and could even be described as excessive, and it would be reasonable for LAN to reject him because of this.
The long sword did not cut into his throat as he had expected. The warm, viscous liquid flowed from the blade to the tip and then dropped to the ground. Time passed second by second, and there was deathly silence all around. Gasiah's eyes were filled with bewilderment and anticipation, and LAN's gaze passed over his head and fell on someone a little further away.
Simon Xia. The seasoned adventurer immediately understood LAN's predicament and made a quiet gesture.
Gasiah felt a light weight in his hand and the long sword was lifted by LAN. "I accept it." LAN did not pay attention to the wound on his hand and did not return the sword to Garcia until he had stood up.
"Intentionally planting flowers, carelessly planting willows." " The mage, who had been watching the show with his arms crossed, clapped his hands and came over. The meaning of his words might not be understood by others, but LAN knew very well that it was an insinuating that Garcia had always intended to make things difficult for him but had never succeeded, and this time, what was supposed to be sincere allegiance left him at a loss.
"Thank you so much just now." LAN bowed, and he was always gentle and polite to his elders.
"You're welcome. Richard is waiting for you. Also, the wound should be treated as soon as possible." After the old mage's reminder, Garcia realized that LAN had just blocked his long sword with his hand. Just by looking at the amount of blood on the sword, one could tell how deep the wound was.
Nodding slightly, LAN reached out to take the long sword of Gasha and evenly smeared the blood from his hand on the sword, not even leaving the hilt. Suddenly, the white holy flame gushed out and burned the entire long sword. After a moment, the flame subsided and the long sword had turned into a transparent red like a fire drill, and within the red flowed transparent energy.
"Soul of the sword! Simon Xia, to forge a soulful weapon, you have to throw your own soul into it, which is almost a life-and-death deal.
LAN didn't care at all. His right hand was flashing with white light, and the wound was healing at a visible speed. "Mr. Xia, don't worry. My situation is a bit special." Seemingly understanding the old master's confusion, he gave a few simple explanations, "The grand sacrifice is still waiting for me. Excuse me."
Returning the sword to Gasiah, leaving the old mage somewhat stunned, ran away on his own.
"Kotter Academy is about to be closed, and I guess you want to take this opportunity to get together with your friends. As your apprenticeship is coming to an end, the sacrifices above the thirteenth rank are not directed by the temple, so the rest of the journey is up to you to decide, whether you join the adventurer team, form your own with your friends, or act as a mercenary, bodyguard, or even act alone, I don't care about that," The old man reached out and handed LAN two sets of adventurer's and mercenary's manuals and the corresponding badges, "You and Garcia will have to complete ten difficult tasks in the next two years."
"Is that all?" LAN was somewhat puzzled.
"Of course, these ten tasks do not include what the temple might assign you to retrieve the Sword of Judgment and the Ring of Judgment." The Grand priest continued, "The year after next will be a dark year that comes once every twenty years. If we haven't retrieved the two artifacts by then, we'll have to be prepared to meet the forces of the other world."
"I see." LAN knew a little about the other worlds. Different planes had different forms of life. Many planes were filled with storms, and no life could survive. But some planes, like the place where they lived now, were not only suitable for survival but also had their own unique culture. Wormholes might appear between different planes, through which some weak energy could pass. Powerful energy can only project its own projections over. But when it comes to otherworlds, the first thing that comes to LAN's mind is the underworld.
The elemental spirit world and the Dragon world, though they are all other worlds, do not need to be overly guarded. Only the Underworld, the world of the dead, is unacceptable to the world, because those walking bones have... There is no life left!
July has passed in the blink of an eye, and Garcia has succeeded in obtaining the title of Templar. Although he swore allegiance to LAN, the distance between him and LAN grew stronger and stronger, of course, partly because of his frantic practice of swordsmanship.
When leaving the temple, LAN was merely wearing a moon-white robe with silver embroidered patterns on the loose cuffs and hem, and a badge on his left shoulder that indicated his status as an adventurer. There was not a single sign on his entire body that could show his rank. Gasiah, on the other hand, was a very orthodox samurai, with the adventurer's badge pinned to his right arm and a symbol representing a fourteenth rank warrior on his left shoulder. The combination feels like a fourteenth-rank warrior with a priestly magic apprentice.
Under the Magic Tower of Landley.
"Amy! Why hasn't Rena arrived yet?" The voice was spoken by a burly young man with dark skin and a terrifying scar on his left cheek near his ear. But he himself was far less attractive than the two-handed sword behind him, which, though not of the best quality, was a two-hundred-pound sword that stood out in an era when two-handed swords were not popular.
"How would I know? My sister and I are not in the same academic department!" " The girl, known as "Amy," had a neat short haircut and a tight samurai outfit that showed off her good figure. In the conversation, she seemed to have a new discovery and reached out to fiddle with a small badge pinned on the young man. "Bulvigi, you applied for mercenary?"
"Yes, but this is an adventurer badge. I'm already a level 4 adventurer, and if I don't find something to do, my savings will soon run out. That money is enough to live on, but I can't completely skip the activities among classmates." "Moya also applied to be an adventurer, but I don't know if he got the qualification of an apprentice mage later," explained Bulvigi.
"It seems I'm not the last one to come!" Moya appeared before them in a brown robe, with a rather frail body like almost all mages, holding a staff that was obviously not expensive, and three equally inexpensive magic rings in the hand that held the staff.
In the casual conversation, Moya was constantly showing off his gear. Emilia looked disdainful, while Burvigi showed great envy.
"Sorry, I'm late." With a tinge of arrogance and sloth, she chimed in. Ossirena's way out of the city could be described as glamorous, with a noble and elaborate robe adorned with a few scattered magical gems, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, all of which were the finest of magical equipment. Presumably, Moya's outfit was rather shabby.
"Sister." " Emilia's tone was unconsciously mixed with a bit of strangeness. The distance between her and Osirena was like that between a wild girl in the mountains and a noble lady in the big city. It was hard to associate her with the word "sister".
"Spassi will be with us later. He is the son of the count. Don't embarrass me then." "By the way, what are the summer training programs of the combat department?" said Osirena, in a tone as if a noble lady was instructing her servants to win the favor of her lover. For the Ministry of Magic, it's about completing a task announced by the academy."
"The same goes for the combat department. I've already looked at the missions," said Bulvigi. "There are quite a few missions announced by the academy that are long-term acquisitions and allow for vacation training. There are quantity requirements for training missions, no payment is made within the quantity, and the rest is paid at half of the purchase price. You have to complete them as an adventurer to get the full payment."
"I don't have adventurer status, but it doesn't matter whether I pay that little bit or not." Osirena carelessly tidied up her curly hair that hung down to her chest. "I just need to complete my training. As for the reward, you share it."
LAN and Gasiah arrived with Osirena's lover, Spassi. Since both LAN and Osirena brought new friends, Amelia suggested that Osirena introduce everyone first and then introduce Spacey and Garcia separately.
"Bulvigi, a sixth-level swordsman. Moya, a fifth-level apprentice elemental mage. Emilia, Sixth-level swordsman. I'm Osirena, Emilia's sister, a sixth-level elemental mage trainee." Osirena identified one by one and stopped when LAN arrived because she had no idea at all what LAN had been doing these months.
"LAN, the priest's magic apprentice, now relying on the Temple of Naga, this is my friend Gasiah, a fourteenth-level warrior." LAN took over the topic at the right time.
He had already explained to Garcia that the priest was not a rank provided by the Magic Society, although people were accustomed to equating priests with priestly apprentice mages and priests with priestly mages, the priest did not have the priestly mage rank badge provided by the Magic Society, and the priest's badge was simply not suitable for joining the ranks of adventurers. That's why he chose to be an apprentice.
"I am Spassy, son of Count Freeman, a trainee knight of Rank Nine." Warrior and knight are two separate branches of the combat class, but only combat classes above rank 10 can become knights.
The nobleman is upright, at least not showing disdain for the lower ranks, except for the noble sense of superiority and habitual show-off.
The lowest of those present was probably LAN, but even the priest's magic apprentice had the ability to perform healing spells. For an adventure team about to be formed, having it was better than not having it.
In the spirit of ladies first, the name of the adventure team was decided by the girls, because Osireina was always fond of her younger sister, and when Emilia said the name "Little Black Cat Adventure Team", it was decided without any resistance.
For the sake of training, the mission was a collection of materials that could be done by both the Ministry of Magic and the Ministry of Combat - 10 tail feathers of the Red-tailed vulture.
Seeing this task, LAN couldn't help but think of Pisan's prince with turquoise pupils, so without thinking, he clicked on this task, but it was the only one that could be participated in by both the Ministry of Magic and the combat department. More importantly, as long as 10 tail feathers were retrieved, the participants would not only receive all the bonus but also be considered to have completed the training task.
Seeing LAN take on the task, Gasha frowned slightly. The number of the colorful tailed vultures was not large, only in Pisan's Deep Blue Forest, where a large number of them lived. In Berudendi, to catch this creature, one had to cross the deep water marshes on the east side, which was no less perilous than the Deep Blue Forest.
It's perilous. But the reward of 500,000 gold coins touched people's hearts.
"Colorful tailed vultures live in groups and have a fierce temperament. We are afraid we won't be able to catch them yet." " Gasiah thought it necessary to remind these children whose minds were muddled with gold coins, though he himself was still young.
"We can organize more people, or form alliances with other adventurer teams or even mercenary teams." "For 50,000 gold, we can hire a mercenary group of over a hundred men as guards. Deep Marshes are a bit more dangerous, but for 200,000 gold, we can hire the same one army to escort us back and forth. The red-tailed vultures are social, but we can set up camp in a more distant place, set traps, and then target the lone vultures."
LAN nodded in agreement that he had always been indifferent to hiring mercenaries, but Deep Water Swamp was a place where demons ran rampant, so it was better to have more people.
"I can call some of my private guards." "But I'm not very good at dealing with mercenaries. Whoever is good at it, go," said Spassi.
"I'll go." "He thought it was better for him to take care of his own life," said Gasiah.
"Does Rosemary have a branch of the Moon Dance Mercenary Corps?" LAN suddenly asked.
"Is that the mercenary group that is not subject to the mercenary regulations?" Osirena nodded. "I've heard that royal families don't dare to provoke them, and there are no restrictions on mercenary recruitment, only promise to help defend the city when it's under attack. But the mercenaries there are very strong. It's said they don't accept any profession below level 14, but the hiring bonus is probably much higher."
"Rena is right. We can't afford to hire the Moon Dance Mercenary Corps." Spassi chimed in.
"The pay is not an issue." "I have friends in there, and it's possible to help for free if you're not busy," LAN said. Garcia, shall we try to bring Mr. Xia in as well? ! Isn't he always eager to taste the flavor of the red-tailed pigeon?"
"All right!" Spassy and Gasiah responded at the same time, but one said mercenary and the other said recruit.
The general plan for the mission was set.