บท 48: Striking it Rich
Ryan looked at the consequences of Keta's wave of the hand and couldn't help but be amazed, though mostly excited. Whether it was others or himself casting magic, Ryan felt a genuine thrill from the bottom of his heart. Perhaps it was because of the different worlds; on Earth, magic only existed in people's imagination, but here in the Twin Star Continent, it was a tangible reality. Ryan still couldn't fully believe this was real, as if he were still dreaming. It wasn't his first time killing someone, although Ryan had been raised with a strong sense of law and order, the laws of Earth were clearly not suitable for this world. In this world, the law was something designed for the lower-class commoners. While there were some privileged classes on Earth, they were hidden in the shadows and couldn't be exposed. But here, it was a pure survival-of-the-fittest system, with the privileged openly flaunting their power. Over time, Ryan realized he was beginning to change as well. Although he could sense the shift in his own character, he didn't intend to remain an ordinary person like before. In this world, being ordinary meant being oppressed or even erased—when it was time to act, he would act.
Sitting on the ground, Ryan watched as Deff cried in Keta's arms. This was the first time Deff had seen such violence between humans. As for Ryan, he was deep in thought, pondering his future path—should he focus on cultivating and aim to reach the so-called "godhood" as soon as possible, or should he live a more exciting life, experiencing things he had never seen before, eating things he had never tasted? In fact, back on Earth, Ryan had always had a dream, a dream he never dared to speak aloud: to walk on foot through every corner of the world, to experience different cultures, to see animals and plants he had never encountered before. But this dream was something he couldn't share, as he was afraid others would think him foolish. Taking a deep breath, Ryan could clearly envision that dream of traveling the world becoming a reality.
"Ryan, let's go," Keta said, noticing Ryan was sitting and catching his breath while Deff had calmed down. When Ryan looked at him, Deff quickly hid behind Keta's body.
Ryan couldn't help but laugh at Deff's actions. After all, the reason he had done all this was for Deff. Slowly, Ryan got up, dusted off his clothes, and turned to walk toward Muan City. Keta, who had been observing Ryan, saw admiration in his eyes. Although he hadn't witnessed Ryan's action firsthand, just the fact that a mage had killed these knights was impressive. Moreover, Keta had sensed the chaotic wind magic elements in the air, coupled with the knights' injuries, which made the answer clear. Despite Keta being somewhat lacking in social skills, his thousand-plus years of life had given him unparalleled experience.
"I thought you said you were only a few thousand years old, but now you're saying you're over ten thousand?" Ryan walked up to Keta, not with the cold remarks Keta had expected, but with genuine curiosity.
"That girl mentioned my age after I awakened. Actually, when you used light magic earlier, I didn't know I would undergo a second awakening—meaning, I evolved. So I wasn't intentionally deceiving you," Keta explained quickly. The underground mages were becoming rarer, and the chance of awakening as a light mage in this dark environment was extremely low. Even if someone had light magic talent, without knowing the incantations, it would be useless—just like how a normal person might accidentally blow themselves up trying to launch a missile.
"Well, we'll settle the bill later. You know, alchemists consume quite a lot," Ryan said, his tone revealing that he had figured things out. No matter where you go, the most important thing is to have powerful connections. The same rule applies in politics or at work. In this underground region, Keta was at the top of the pyramid, so getting along with someone like him would ensure Ryan's safety here. However, Ryan wasn't going to give up what he had gained. If Keta told the Dark Elves about this, Ryan might be detained, and then he would have to do whatever they said. There were too many strange and unconventional methods in this world, and Ryan couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't end up as a puppet, only able to cast magic that served others. After all, Ryan's understanding of magic was still superficial. Since that was the case, why not take advantage of the situation?
"Fine, you've got it. This underground place lacks many things, but it's never short of the materials alchemists need," Keta said, feeling a sense of relief. He thought to himself, "Humans are indeed greedy, but as long as they're trustworthy, it's fine. Besides, for our tree people, we actually don't care for metals."
"Stop right there! Stop!" Ryan was in high spirits, silently calculating how to figure out Keta's bottom line, when a loud shout came from behind. Ryan turned around and saw a fiery-red figure charging toward them. In the blink of an eye, Ryan could clearly see that it was another knight, clad in silver-white armor engraved with intricate magic arrays. The knight wielded a golden, shining greatsword, which was slightly longer and thinner than usual. The hilt of the sword held a fist-sized fire magic core. The sword emitted an intense magical aura, clearly a high-level alchemical creation. The knight's mount was a rare magical beast—a Fire Horse, which lived in lava and resembled a horse but had a pair of sharp horns on its head. This beast was a high-level magical creature, capable of reaching the level of a Sacred Beast, which was the tenth tier. However, records about it were rare, with only a few vague mentions. After the Demon-God War, no one had seen such a creature.
"Damn it, how much better would all this be if it were mine?" Ryan muttered, eyeing the knight. The knight's armor used a lot of magical metals like Magic Silver and Mithril, and it was embedded with magical gemstones. The sword was clearly mixed with a bit of Gold Essence. Ryan knew that even a small amount of Gold Essence would significantly enhance the sword's hardness. Not only that, the large magic core on the hilt resembled a legendary Dragon Magic Core, and Ryan's mind started calculating how many gold coins it would take to exchange for all of this. His mouth watered at the thought of it. The most eye-catching items were the armor and sword, but the knight's boots also appeared to be made from the hide of a Wind Elemental Beast, and his helmet had a small green gem, no bigger than a pinky, which Ryan recognized as a Life Stone—capable of granting immunity to all negative magic and curses.
"You killed my subordinates! Don't you know who I am?" The knight circled around Ryan, Keta, and Deff, then boldly scolded them.
Ryan didn't even pay attention to what the knight was saying. Instead, he noticed that the Fire Steed's eyes were brown, indicating that it was still young—adult Fire Steeds had ruby-red eyes. Keta, however, was less than pleased. He replied in a less-than-friendly tone, "This is Mu'an City, the territory of the Dark Elves. You'd better leave if you don't want trouble."
In Keta's eyes, this knight was nothing but trash. However, being a treefolk, Keta's temperament was peaceful, so he didn't take immediate action, though his tone was less than amiable.
"How dare you! Do you know who I am?" The knight pulled off his helmet and arrogantly asked.
Ryan finally understood—this knight was here to pick a fight. Ryan wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and examined the knight's equipment. Then, he circled around him three times to the left, and three times to the right. After that, Ryan nodded as if having an epiphany, "Oh, you're a human. Am I correct?"
"You... You... I'll kill you!" The knight, seeing Ryan closely examine him, puffed out his chest, but didn't expect Ryan's reply to be like that. The knight was furious—wasn't he human?
"Are you not human?" Ryan asked, feigning confusion. With Keta around, Ryan had no fear of being harmed, so he played along. Deff, hearing Ryan's words, couldn't help but chuckle.
"Lowly being! Watch as I, Hank, deal with you!" Hank, embarrassed by Deff's laugh, angrily shouted and charged toward Ryan. Strangely, however, Hank didn't use his large two-handed sword. Instead, he summoned a thin sword out of thin air. This single-handed sword seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
Ryan's eyes lit up. Hank's action could only mean one thing—he had a spatial ring, and that sword was conjured out of thin air. Ryan could also sense a slight fluctuation of spatial magic. To Ryan, this knight was like a treasure trove.
"Bang!" Keta, seeing Hank attempt to harm Ryan, waved his hand, and a green light shot toward Hank. Hank and his mount were sent flying over 20 meters, crashing with a loud bang.
"Dare you!" "Damn it!" Two knights, who had been radiating silver-white fighting spirit, rushed to where Hank fell. They helped him up and both drew their large swords, yelling at Keta. Behind them appeared a group of knights identical to the ones Ryan had killed earlier, but these knights were in silver-white armor, not black. Their level was clearly higher than the previous ones. In the underground world, wearing silver-white armor meant you had to have considerable skills, or you'd be dead long ago. These knights also carried crossbows, and from the magic energy emanating from them, it was clear they were magical crossbows. Luckily, there were only a few of them. Ryan immediately ducked behind Keta. Magical crossbows were artifacts from the Divine Demon War, and they had long been lost on the surface. These weapons had an incredible range, reaching thousands of meters, and were a magician's worst nightmare.
"You all deserve to die," one of the knights, who had just rushed in, said coldly, examining Hank's injuries. The other stood up, his gaze fixed on Keta and Ryan as if they were already dead.
"Hmph! You're nothing but garbage. I told you Mu'an City doesn't welcome you. Leave now!" Before Keta could respond, Ryan jumped out and shouted loudly, then immediately hid again.
"You? Hahaha, let's see if you can represent Mu'an City!" The leader of the guards sneered.
Keta, now also enraged, shouted, "I told you Mu'an City doesn't welcome you. You better leave now, or it'll be too late."
"Yes, you'd better get lost," Ryan added, still eyeing Hank's equipment with longing.
"Hmph, I'm staying here. What can you do about it?" The guard leader sneered as he slowly walked toward Ryan and the others.
"In that case, I'll teach your master a lesson," Keta said, his patience running out as well.
"You? Just by speaking, you think you're human?" The guard leader mocked, but before he could finish his sentence, he saw Keta suddenly radiate a green light, and then his form began to change. Keta, who had been a few meters tall, grew into a giant tree over 30 meters high. The tree was covered with numerous football-sized spiny balls. For the inhabitants of the underground world, these were all too familiar. The guards immediately choked on their words.
"Oh my god!"
"What... what is happening?"
...
The guards stood frozen, their eyes wide with disbelief. This was a War Tree, the ultimate weapon of the Dark Elves. Typically, a tree this size would be surrounded by many Dark Elves, but they had never imagined that the seemingly weak Keta was the War Tree itself. Though the War Tree wasn't overwhelmingly powerful, it could still scare off any enemy with a volley of spikes. Even a Black Dragon, which was immune to most magic, had once been driven away by a War Tree. These guards were now terrified—could they really be stronger than a Black Dragon? Of course not. Fortunately, the Dark Elves weren't war-hungry, or else the underground world would have already been under their rule.
"What's wrong, Lord Keta?" However, the nightmare wasn't over yet. As Keta assumed his first battle form, six golden silhouettes appeared and rushed towards the group. A voice echoed in the air.
"Ugh, golden aura, level-nine Dark Elf." If the guards had any lingering hope before, it was shattered by the sight of the six figures floating in the sky. The golden aura made it clear who they were, and the guard who had been talking arrogantly earlier collapsed weakly to the ground. The six level-nine experts addressed Keta, the War Tree, with respect, which only made his identity even more intimidating.
"Elders! These people harassed Deff. I saw it all, they killed some of the foolish ones who tried to silence us... Keta-sama was an eyewitness." Ryan, eager to stir up trouble, jumped in and loudly recounted what had happened.
"Elders…" The remaining guards, upon hearing Ryan's words, collapsed in terror. The few who had narrowly escaped death fainted on the spot. Hank, shaking uncontrollably, realized the magnitude of his mistake. As a resident of the Underdark, he knew that the Dark Elf Elders were infamous for being cruel and merciless. There were only seven elders, and now six had appeared here. Hank's heart sank at the sight, and he couldn't even muster the strength to argue.
"Hmph, take these scoundrels away! We'll see who is behind them, daring to be so reckless," the second elder ordered. With a single command, a squad of Dark Elves surrounded the knights and began capturing them.
"I'll help you with these vile creatures," Ryan said, rushing forward to assist. The knights' mounts, including the fiery steed, collapsed weakly to the ground. Ryan swiftly approached Hank, who was on the ground, and began shouting insults before landing a few punches.
"The great sword stays with me. The mount too, and this armor… these boots have wind magic, I'm not letting you run! And this ring too… Once everything is over, you can come to claim it back." As Ryan continued his beating, he stripped Hank of all his gear. Hank was furious but dared not resist—fighting back here would be a death sentence. He could only glare at Ryan with murderous eyes, as if he wanted to tear his flesh off. But Ryan was pleased with himself, admiring the sword, the armor, and the spoils.
The surrounding Dark Elves, seeing Ryan's thoroughness, followed his lead and began stripping the remaining knights of their weapons and armor, handing everything over to Ryan for safekeeping. Ryan was dumbfounded by this turn of events. He hesitated to inspect the items directly but handed them off to Hack, Kobe, and the others, instructing them to store everything at his place. As for Hank's spatial ring, Ryan tucked it into his inner pocket, never to give it up.
"Kid, I'm telling you now—you'll never walk out of here alive. You wanted to kill me earlier; just wait, I'll take my time with you, heh heh!" Hank snarled, but Ryan wasn't afraid. He had a solid backing. However, Hank's gaze irked Ryan, so he slapped Hank's cheek lightly and muttered under his breath.
Not waiting for Hank to respond, Ryan grabbed Hank's socks and stuffed them into his mouth, ordering, "Don't give these scoundrels food for the first week to prevent them from escaping. Just water them with a little bit of water. I bet they came to Mu'an City with other motives. We can't let them get away."
"Right. Watch them carefully. They clearly have plans targeting our Dark Elf clan's hope," the second elder said. Upon hearing Ryan's words and thinking about the bread tree, his eyes hardened when he looked at Hank. The bread tree was considered taboo among the Dark Elves. Hank's eyes went wide, and he shook his head desperately, but the result was a slap from a nearby Dark Elf warrior. It was clear that Ryan's words had had some effect.
"Ryan, you've achieved your goal. Shall we proceed with our transaction now?" Ryan, momentarily stunned, was startled by the sudden voice beside him. Turning around, he saw Keta.
"Heh heh, I'm just looking out for you Dark Elves. You know, the bread tree is... Alright, alright, I get it, stop looking at me like that. Let's go see the other Treants. But this time those…" Ryan wanted to argue some more but saw the look Keta was giving him. He had no choice but to give in and admit defeat. He then followed Keta, leaving the scene, while the remaining elders were left confused. They didn't understand why Ryan had something that Keta valued, but they didn't dare ask outright. They exchanged looks, and with a flash of light, the elders and the city lord, Hel, left for the city.
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