On the final night in the Elven Forest, everyone’s dreams were filled with the brilliant night sky, so much so that when they woke up in the morning, they still felt a surreal sense of loss.
Ji Chi was awakened by a commotion. When he opened his eyes, it took him quite a while to groggily realize that the noise was coming from the direction of the Elven Mother Tree.
He turned over, resting his right arm over his eyes. The bow-shaped ring on his index finger pressed coolly against his cheek, causing his memories to suddenly become clear.
The Elven Mother Tree had withered.
His eyelashes trembled as he slowly blinked his dry eyes.
The elves still had traces of last night’s joy and excitement in their expressions, but when they woke up early this morning, they saw that a large part of their tribe had gone bald!
The original Elven Mother Tree had occupied a large area of the forest. When it suddenly disappeared without a trace, all that remained in that part of the forest was bare grass and a bewildered spring of water.
The elves stared dumbfounded at the scene before them. The enormous Mother Tree had vanished without a trace, leaving several elven babies who had originally been growing on the tree floating in the spring water, crying their hearts out with earth-shattering wails.
When Ji Chi arrived at the Elven Spring, he carried a sense of guilt in his heart. He didn’t know how to explain to the elves where the Elven God had gone.
However, he suddenly discovered that the elves’ expressions weren’t very sad at all—they even carried a hint of strange excitement.
Puzzled, Ji Chi walked into the group of elves, and then he saw that in the place where the Elven Mother Tree had originally grown, a sprouted seed was trembling and completely exposed under the elves’ burning gazes, with nowhere to hide.
The seed’s color was an extremely translucent emerald green, even more beautiful than Beatrice’s pupils. From the tip of the seed sprouted two tender, water-fresh pale green leaves that timidly stretched their bodies in the sunlight.
“Oh—look at it, how beautiful it is~”
“That’s right! Look at those sturdy branches! Those thick leaves! It will surely grow strong and healthy!”
“Yes! In the future, it will definitely be more prosperous than the previous Mother Tree!”
Ji Chi felt as if he had accidentally wandered into some maternity center, standing among a group of strange uncles and aunties, listening to them chatter and chirp about an eight or nine-pound chubby baby.
The soft and delicate little sapling: I’m also very scared.jpg
Dominic spotted Ji Chi among the group of elves and happily called out to him, “Ji Chi! You’re awake! Come quickly and look at our Mother Tree!”
Ji Chi felt guilty. “…I saw it. This is…”
Dominic was very happy and said with great animation, “It’s growing anew! Every reincarnation of the Elven Mother Tree makes it even stronger. We’ve waited for so many, many years, and it’s finally formed a seed!”
Ji Chi: “…Huh???”
Ji Chi’s expression must have been extremely broken, because Dominic seemed to realize their difference in understanding and smiled at him. “This is a good thing! Withering isn’t death—it’s a natural law of the forest and the freedom of life.”
“The withered tree becomes nourishment, giving birth to even more powerful life reborn.”
His eyes were full of joy, and he noticed Ji Chi’s expressionless face.
Damn it! Ji Chi turned and stormed off in frustration! What a waste of my emotions!
The little sapling innocently swayed its body among the pile of thick dead leaves, its tip bending as it peeked toward the direction Ji Chi was leaving.
When they left the Elven Forest, they brought back the phoenix-tail butterflies from the Elven Spring to the academy. Although they didn’t know if they could be counted as Moonlight Phoenix-tail Butterflies, they truly had no desire to continue lingering in the forest.
“Ji Chi… why don’t you let me take care of them instead?” Evan sat on his unicorn, turning his head worriedly to look at the phoenix-tail butterflies in Ji Chi’s hands.
Ji Chi had been feeding them for a long time. A small bottle of nectar was half gone, and the phoenix-tail butterflies had been stuffed to the point of dullness, perched on the small grass in the crystal cage, too lazy to even flutter their wings.
Ji Chi came back to his senses and naturally put away the nectar, hugging the cage like a dedicated mother hen sitting on eggs. “Oh, it’s fine. I’ll handle it.”
Evan looked at him hesitantly, ultimately saying nothing more, exchanging worried glances with his companions.
Ji Chi’s condition wasn’t right.
The phoenix-tail butterflies born from the Elven Spring were indeed resilient. Throughout the journey under Ji Chi’s “abuse,” they still stubbornly survived. Although they were a bit wilted, they were still much better than ordinary phoenix-tail butterflies that died at the drop of a hat.
Later, it was Ji Chi who was responsible for delivering the phoenix-tail butterflies to the professor who had issued the task.
That professor was a well-known alchemist in the industry. As soon as he looked at the phoenix-tail butterflies’ living conditions, he immediately frowned. “Are these Moonlight Butterflies? You mages better not use disguise magic to deceive me. If there are problems later, I will definitely report to the academy!”
Ji Chi happened to be spacing out when he handed them over. When the professor suddenly shouted loudly, he blankly made a sound of “ah,” which in the professor’s eyes looked like a guilty expression.
The professor became even angrier and said suspiciously, “Which team are you from? If you can’t complete the task, switch to another one! The academy wants to train your problem-solving abilities, not your fraudulent abilities!”
Evan heard the arguing inside from the doorway and quickly pushed the door open, apologizing to the professor, “I’m sorry, Professor. This is a task our team completed. May I ask what you’re dissatisfied with?”
When the professor saw Evan, he paused, his expression obviously softening: “Oh, it’s Evan’s team… then there’s definitely no problem. But how is this teammate of yours so muddle-headed? I wasn’t deliberately making things difficult. He just needed to explain clearly…”
The professor muttered as he picked up the crystal cage, curiously playing with the lazy butterflies inside.
While he was immersed in his research, Evan quickly pulled Ji Chi out and said with a wry smile to comfort him. “Were you not paying attention to what he was saying? That professor has a quick temper. When dealing with him, your attitude must be very serious, otherwise you’ll accidentally get scolded.”
Ji Chi shook his head, indicating he didn’t mind.
Evan looked at him several more times and said softly, “If you have any troubles…”
Ji Chi didn’t hear clearly. After a while, he turned back to look at him. “Hmm?”
Evan faltered, ultimately lowering his eyes and saying, “Nothing. There’s a group training class this afternoon. Don’t forget to attend.”
“Mm.” Ji Chi casually agreed.
In the afternoon, at the training ground on the north side of the Combat Academy, many instructors stood with their arms crossed on the marble floor, sternly watching the melee between student teams.
Today’s training content was about the degree of combat coordination between teams. To enhance the students’ flexible adaptability, the instructors broke up the students’ predetermined teams and randomly formed teams for battle.
Ji Chi was unfortunately matched with teammates he didn’t recognize at all, while the team he was fighting against had Evan and Saintess Coralie’s names on it.
A warrior instructor saw their surprised expressions and shouted sternly, “Everyone standing opposite you is an enemy! Perk up! Cooperate well with your new teammates! Don’t be soft-hearted just because there are acquaintances!”
When Saintess Coralie saw Ji Chi’s face, she tugged at the corner of her mouth. “What’s the point of fighting this? We might as well just surrender.”
Evan smiled helplessly. “Although the gap is very large, we should at least try. This is also a good opportunity to understand the difference.”
Even knowing they had absolutely no chance of winning, they both took out their wands at the same time. They exchanged glances and nodded. Saintess Coralie prepared her summoning array, and Evan promptly assumed the responsibility of command, communicating and arranging things with the new teammates.
The two of them had extremely high prestige in the academy. The new teammates directly gave up and clung to their coattails, obedient as quails.
But on Ji Chi’s side, things were much more complicated. The team was almost fighting right now over who would grab the team leader role. Several people argued until their faces were red, and finally a thin mage successfully won the position, arrogantly surveying them all.
“That ranger, you stand in the very back for full damage output; that warrior, you help him block some damage.” Without understanding any of the situation, the mage immediately started giving orders.
However, that ranger excelled at roaming, and the warrior excelled at offense. Their abilities were vastly different from the mage’s arrangements, and they all complained dissatisfiedly to the mage, but he still went his own way.
“Isn’t coordination about adjusting according to the team? What’s the difference between only being good at one combat style and being useless?” The mage rolled his eyes and looked toward Ji Chi, raising his chin and saying, “What exactly are you? Wearing mage robes but carrying a sword—are you a mage or a warrior?”
“Hmph, don’t tell me you’re another dual-profession student…” The mage rolled his eyes again, his tone unable to hide his sourness. “Dual-profession this, dual-profession that, acting like it’s already common as dirt…”
Ji Chi stood at the back, not in the mood to argue with him. “Arrange as you like.”
The mage’s remaining sarcasm got stuck in his throat, stuck uncomfortably. He looked at Ji Chi coldly and mocked, “Then you go on the offense. Remember to beg your teammates not to hurt you.”
The command sounded, and both teams moved at the same time.
Warriors charged forward, mages chanted, summoners used blood as a medium to summon monsters to join the battlefield… There were also rangers and rogues—everyone was fully releasing their professional talents.
Evan casually flicked his wand, and a light whip whistled and coiled up. In an instant, it wrapped around the opposing team’s damage-absorbing warrior and threw him out, exposing the completely undefended ranger who was then captured from behind by an assassin who had stealthily approached.
Evan stood in place and hadn’t moved at all. His brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Saintess Coralie also noticed something was wrong and slowly stopped summoning.
They were both watching Ji Chi—watching Ji Chi with his hollow eyes mechanically swinging his sword sheath.
At this moment, Ji Chi was like a puppet that only knew how to raise his sword to block. Step forward, parry, step forward again, parry again—there was no soul in his actions at all.
“Have you noticed…” Evan bit his lip and said.
“Mm.” Saintess Coralie nodded. She also frowned as she stared at Ji Chi. “He’s encountered something again.”
“I always feel he’s carrying so much…” Evan sighed.
“There’s no helping it. The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. So sometimes, being ordinary is also a very happy thing.” Saintess Coralie said lightly.
“Chief Evan! Watch out—” Suddenly, a temporary teammate’s terrified shout came from behind them!
Evan looked up to see overwhelming metal spikes viciously attacking him, their sharp whistling sounds almost capable of shattering eardrums!
Evan’s face showed nothing, but a trace of contempt flashed through his eyes. In the face of absolute power, all sneak attacks were worthless.
He didn’t need to prepare any chanting at all. The wand spun nimbly a few times at his fingertips, and a complex magic array instantly bloomed beneath his feet—
The metal spike shooting at the very front had already touched the magic array’s light. Before it could penetrate, it melted into a pool of viscous molten iron.
The teammates breathed a sigh of relief while looking at Evan with even more awe—to not need chanting for such a powerful magic array, how did he do it…
Seeing that the remaining metal spikes were about to melt one after another, the mage whose sneak attack had failed looked extremely displeased. His eyes flickered, and he angrily shifted blame, shouting, “Ji Chi! What exactly are you doing!”
Suddenly having his name called, Ji Chi’s eyes flew wide open. He saw the metal spikes shooting toward Evan and Saintess Coralie, rage igniting in his eyes. For a moment, he forgot about the chaotic team matching—
“Wind Sweeps Fallen Snow.”
The ring on his index finger transformed into a translucent bow and arrow. An entire fan of transparent wind arrows was nocked on the string and shot in all directions!
A gale roared and swept across the field. Except for Evan and Saintess Coralie, everyone else, including the instructors on the sidelines, was swept into mid-air. Like falling snow in the north wind, they swayed in the sky for several minutes before falling down, dizzy and disoriented, not knowing where they were.
Evan & Saintess Coralie: “…”
For a moment, the two of them had complicated feelings, not knowing whether to be happy or helpless—Ji Chi’s action of striking both teammates and referees was truly rather audacious.
After the gale subsided, the instructors took turns running to the side to vomit for a long time before coming back to angrily scold Ji Chi. “Get out, get out! With your level, what are you doing mixed in with the students!”
Having obtained the MVP of both enemy and allied sides, Ji Chi was mercilessly kicked out of the team. In the end, only a group of dizzy people and two deadly weapons remained on the field. The outcome was naturally without suspense—that mage was chased down and thoroughly beaten by Evan.
Ji Chi squatted on the edge of the training ground, spacing out as he watched them fight.
At this moment, an extremely excited shout suddenly came from behind. “That student! That student! It’s me! The professor who issued the Moonlight Phoenix-tail Butterfly commission!”
The alchemist professor, holding his glasses, ran panting to Ji Chi’s side and said, “Hey! Where exactly did you get those phoenix-tail butterflies you caught! They’re absolutely fantastic!”
The professor had a dreamy expression on his face. “I’ve never seen Moonlight Phoenix-tail Butterflies with such vigorous life force! You have to know, Moonlight Butterflies are born from light within darkness—they’re originally the most contradictory and fragile lives! But the ones you brought are completely different!”
“Do you know! If we can research the conditions of their existence clearly and fully explore the mystery of the fusion of light and darkness!” The professor’s eyes were full of fanaticism!
Ji Chi hadn’t been paying attention originally, but as he listened, a vague thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
He froze for a moment, then immediately took out paper and pen from his magic pouch. Swish, swish, swish—he wrote a long passage, carelessly folded the papyrus a few times, stuffed it into the professor’s hands, and said urgently, “This is something very important! Please help me pass it to Evan later! Thank you!”
After he finished speaking, he ran off in a flash, leaving the professor alone in his inescapable excitement to wait.
After a long while, the professor gradually calmed down. Bored, he opened the papyrus that hadn’t been folded tightly in the first place and frowned as he deciphered. “Demon King… God of Knowledge… God of Creation…”
“What a mess…” he muttered quietly, casually folding the papyrus into his pocket.