Mystical Journey

Going through the black stone palace halls, surrounded by the others, Garen quickly arrived at an isolated side hall.

There was an empty cemetery-like space between the side hall and the main hall, with several gravestones scattered around, there were no bricks laid out here, only yellow-black mud.

There was the occasional chirping of tunneling insects in the earth.

When Garen and the others walked onto this piece of ground, the earth on the ground instantly began moving, countless black-yellow earthworm-like insects breaking out of the ground, they had bodies like earthworms, but their mouths were jagged saws as they poked their heads out of the earth, as though smelling some delicious delicacies, they crawled towards Garen and his procession, rushing to surround them at high speeds.

"Close!" Master Calingan quickly drew a tactic gesture with one hand, the gesture was extremely complicated, and disappeared from the air after a flash.

All the earthworm insects on the surrounding ground paused in unison, their bodies stiffening, and then they all burrowed back into the earth, vanishing.

"These are the special aphids I raised here as a defense system, they might seem weak individually, but their largest advantage lies in their numbers, when they encounter a totem user’s invasion, they will fly up, and cover the surface of any Totem Light completely, tearing, biting, and absorbing the Totem Light, and only purely physical attacks can clear away these critters." Master Calingan explained as he walked.

Garen nodded, seeing the fear and apprehension on the others’ faces, he bet these people had all suffered the wrath of these insects before.

The group of five or six people went across the empty land and walked into the side hall, it was completely dark inside the hall, and utterly empty.

Psst…

All of a sudden, countless black air currents gathered in the center of the hall, these currents flew around in a circle, and then gathered rapidly gathered, forming a human shape with blurred facial features.

The silhouette was completely black, and bowed slightly at the group.

"Nine Snakes System, at your service." The voice was that of the sweetest, gentlest lady.

Garen walked up, and went around this blurred human shape as he looked at it carefully.

The silhouette seemed to be made of countless clouds of vapor, it had no material substance, and it did not move or act embarrassed under Garen’s scrutiny. It just stood there, quietly.

Garen observed it from a closer distance, reaching out his hand to touch its face lightly. It was cold and icy to the touch, without any real substance, as though putting his hand into a cloud of moist and cold air.

"This is just an outer appearance materialized by the Nine Snakes System, it has no use other than to communicate." Master Calingan explained from behind him. He walked up to a wall on one side of the hall, and patted the wall lightly.

"Are all the preparations complete?" Prepare to transfer the core control rights."

"All preparations complete." Nine Snakes replied softly.

After a moment, Garen walked out of the side hall, went across the empty land, and headed towards his own bedchambers.

After eating dinner, he did not bother with any other Palace matters either, he had already handed the fourth and fifth levels of the Black Water True Technique to the Nine Snakes System, as the barter item for merit points, it was just that more points were required.

After dinner, he found Demon Phoenix, who had already opened up completely to Island Master Skyharp, after making simple arrangements for Demon Phoenix and company to be visiting Elders in the Palace, Garen took Lala directly and walked out of the Palace.

Outside the Palace, a six-horse carriage had already been prepared, the drivers and guard teams all decorated rather extravagantly, they were basically magnificent carriages made of black crystal and sapphires.

Pulling the carriage were six handsome black Aberrated horses that looked like unicorns, they were powerful, capable of flight, and when necessary, could even dive into water.

Garen and Lala got onto the carriage, and flew from the Palace District, headed straight out of the Kingdom.

In the South East of the Kingdom, within the confines of the Ultimate Protection area, there was a mountain there that Garen had won over and handed over to the Tasura Academy led by his teacher Emin. This excursion of his was also to check on the Tasura Academy’s condition.

The carriage’s six unihorn horses grew black wings, and after several flaps, they easily carried the carriage up into the air with tremendous power.

There were also more than ten Black Swamp Guards escorting them on all sides, also riding black unihorn horses.

The entire group was extremely eye-catching in the middle of the sky, all the flying animals and beasts had to avoid them and make way.

Garen sat inside the carriage, resting with his eyes closed, when suddenly there was a man’s voice from outside.

"When did Palace Master Garen return? Why didn’t you inform everyone so we can have a welcoming party?"

The voice was very familiar, it was Grand Duke Cody, that old guy at the same level as Grand Duke Benoc, back then he had surrounded God Cloud, but was slightly injured due to the Distorted Beads, to think he had recovered so quickly.

Pulling open the carriage curtains, he saw another golden carriage cabin pulled by a three-headed green bird, also floating in mid-air just opposite Garen’s carriage. Grand Duke Cody’s cherubic face appeared at the entrance to the carriage, and he smiled as he looked this way.

"So it’s Grand Duke Cody, may I know if there is some urgent reason that you’re blocking my way?" Garen asked calmly.

"The Kingdom has been split into four, now that Your Excellency Garen has returned this time, you should govern your disobedient subordinates this time, otherwise a careless mistake might lead to disastrous consequences."

"Disastrous consequences? What disasters could happen in the Kingdom?" Garen was still looking at the other party calmly, "Or could it be, that the Grand Duke is warning me?"

"It’s up to you to interpret it however you want, I’ll just leave it at that." Cody let down the curtain, his carriage making a turn and flying towards the Grand Duke’s mansion.

Garen’s expression was sardonic, and then he suddenly blew out a breath of black air.

The black air shot away, growing larger and larger, fainter and fainter, and in an instant it had become a black wind, whistling towards Grand Duke Cody’s carriage.

The three-headed green bird pulling the carriage instantly fell into a panic, screeching, while inside the cabin, Cody snorted coldly, and a layer of faint golden light emanated from the cabin, blocking the black wind and keeping it outside.

"What do you mean by that, Palace Master Garen?!!" he howled from inside the cabin.

"Nothing in particular, I just thought your pet seemed rather cute, so I wanted to greet it."

Garen chuckled lightly, his carriage going past Cody’s from the side, and soon disappearing into the distant sky.

Just then, the three-headed green bird pulling Cody’s carriage gave a piercing shriek, and at the same time began to melt away, in just that instant, it melted into three mounds of black liquid, just like a candle, and began to rapidly evaporate, turning into clouds of black air that rose and vanished.

Only Cody maintained his golden light, forcefully keeping the carriage steady and floating in mid-air.

Inside the cabin, Cody’s round face was dark.

"Form Five…! I never thought…"

He murmured, while that little red girl in her red dress sat on his right, her fair legs swinging back and forth underneath the carriage seat.

"You can’t beat him now." The little girl’s childish voice rang out in the carriage cabin.

"It’s gotten slightly troublesome, do you want to hide out for a bit?" Cody looked at the little girl, his tone strangely as though he was talking to an equal with power as strong as his.

"It’s okay." The little girl shook her head, "You just be careful."

Cody nodded, and didn’t say anything else.

"The people from the Black Swamp Palace are growing more and more arrogant, it is true that the subordinates follow the Palace Master’s behavior. Looks like I have no choice but to join forces with the people on that side?"

"Join forces? Do you want to open up the Ultimate Protection?" The little girl asked curiously from the side.

Cody did not reply, but his expression darkened.

********************

At night, on a somewhat shorter mountain near the Kingdom, amidst the long line of fortresses covering the mountain peaks, there were many clear and bright lights, illuminating the peaks into a bright white land.

The highest of these was a newly-built white mansion.

In the wide and large hall, the milk-white stone walls were printed with many carvings of Great White Bear, Black Panthers and Sabertooth Tigers, these three different creatures were seen in many different images and carvings, representing the three creature totems that formed the three largest branches at the very core of the Tasura Academy, and the drawings on the walls showed many different types of development directions, there were Great White Bears with wings, some had a long and thick tentacle instead of a right arm, some had four eyes, and the same went for the Black Panthers and Sabertooth Tigers, each showing a different area of development.

The hall was brightly lit inside, a piano band slowly playing by the wall, the slow and comforting music emanating gently through the hall, and even wafting into the darkness outside the window past the fluttering curtains.

There was also a long rectangular table by the right side of the hall, with platters of fruits and other dishes on it, provided for the guests’ consumption.

The guests participating in the gathering were all dressed extravagantly, the men in fancy collars and the women in swaying skirts, but no matter what status these guests had, the key reason for their attending this banquet was either to see the Black Swamp Palace Master, whose reputation had skyrocketed recently, or to meet and talk to one another, building a sufficiently large web of connections.

Just then, Garen was standing with several white-haired old men, playing with an intricate crystal glass in his hand as he listened to the old men’s low conversations carefully. He wore a black-red suit, his figure long and slender, his golden hair falling over his shoulders, his jade-perfect skin the secret object of envy for all the women present.

This world only had tuxedos previously, but Garen had decisively chopped the tails off the tuxedos, adjusting it slightly to become an Earth-like suit, and he instantly felt a lot more at home in it.

He listened to what his teacher Emin was saying carefully, his face the picture of concentration. All around him were the highest-level elders of the Tasura Academy, the leaders of some smaller academies that were friendly with Tasura, as well as some grassroots leaders and upper-level nobles who had come to the Kingdom to join this banquet. Other than a very select few, the most of them were fairly old, at the very least in their forties.

Garen was especially eye-catching amidst such a crowd. The higher-ups all stood together here, while the people in most of the other places were mainly the elite scholars of these academies and the higher-level nobles from the Kingdom.

The important characters stood in one place, the younger generations and less important people stood in one circle, the division was obvious, and there was only the occasional moment when the important figures called some of their young ones over to be introduced to their peers.

Although the younger ones all formed their own little circles, they would still steal envious glances at the upper-level circle, with Garen at the center.

"In the blink of an eye, three years have passed, thinking back on everything that had happened these past few years, it still feels like a dream." Emin drank the fragrant wine, his gaze a mix of complicated sadness.

"Teacher, you always like sighing about things, the Academy has been rebuilt and completely unified, wasn’t that your biggest wish?" Garen said softly.

"People are greedy by nature, or maybe it’s precisely because my biggest wish and goals have been fulfilled, that’s why I’m feeling rather empty inside." Emin shook his head, and said self-deprecatingly, "You’re the hottest topic right now, even in the East Continent you are among the best of the best, to have taught you back then, truly was my biggest pride and joy."

"You exaggerate." Garen laughed, "There are still many things that I don’t know, and I need you to teach me."

"Don’t say such modest things, you have surpassed me long ago, to be frank, I was only slightly useful to you when setting the foundations, the rest of it was all your own hard work." Emin waved his hand.

"I bet that back then, when the Palace Master was learning the foundations, he had already demonstrated his immense talent, right?" One of the elderly members of the Academy asked with a laugh.

"Speaking of which, as for how the Palace Master used to be, perhaps only Big Brother Emin knows best."

Some of the elders started asking as well.

Emin just chose some of Garen’s stories from back then, he still felt vaguely awed until now.

Back then, Garen had only shown extraordinary talent in tactics, but unfortunately, even though he had the talent, he did not want to walk the path of tactics, and insisted on specializing in totem evolution. As for using tactics to fight, that method did not suit Garen at all.

Emin had felt quite sorry about that for some time. Mentioning that, he began to discuss some trivial matters from back then with the few elders enthusiastically.

Garen just stood at the side and listened quietly, smiling occasionally.

After listening for some time, he excused himself by saying he needed the washroom, leaving alone to go to the nighttime balcony outside the hall. Standing in front of the semicircular banister, he looked down into the distance, the little smattering of lights from the villages at the bottom of the mountain were like the many stars in the night sky, bunching together in constellations. The night breeze blew on his face, coolly, and with a hint of fragrance.

Garen sniffed lightly, the fragrance seemed to come from an extreme distance, barely there and sometimes not, but even he could not tell what flowering plant it was.