Chapter 68: Dragon Soul

The open-air labyrinth.

The campsite of the Bahadur Academy of Magic study tour group.

Rita leaned against a tree, idly twirling her dark-red long hair.

By the tents, the students sat in a circle playing a card game.

Bursting into laughter every now and then.

"Where's Miss Miss Milinda?"

A handsome black-haired boy walked over to her.

In Etheron, hair that black was uncommon, and people often regarded it as a symbol of charm and mystery.

This young boy's pupils were deep, his handsome face cool and aloof — exactly the popular type.

"Clearing the monsters nearby. Luen, the place you mentioned — we haven't arrived yet?"

The two spoke in low voices.

As if a barrier stood between them and the rest of the students.

The black-haired boy, Luen, shook his head.

"I had assumed it would be at Dragon Pit Lake, but it turns out that's not the case. Perhaps it's connected to the abnormal proliferation of Saban's corpse back in the day."

"Abnormal proliferation of flesh? What's the connection?"

Luen turned around and stood shoulder to shoulder with her.

The tone of their conversation didn't resemble that of a teacher and student in the slightest.

"The connection between a dragon's soul and its body is far more complex than existing research suggests. Past studies all believed that the red dragon Saban's soul perished the moment he fell, leaving only the body still alive."

He said.

In the distance, a cute, pretty female classmate beamed like a flower and waved at him.

Luen returned a smile and waved back.

His mouth never stopped talking.

"But in reality, a spiritual being's composition isn't just soul and body — there's also the 'spirit.' What died in Saban was the spirit, which is why his flesh proliferated abnormally out of control."

Rita stared at this thirteen-year-old boy in shock.

How could knowledge she herself didn't know come spilling from the mouth of a boy like this?

"Shocked? Actually, this is basic knowledge any arcane-path mage would know."

"But how does a commoner like you happen to know these things?"

"I've told you, Rita — I have a very learned teacher."

Luen touched an ancient-looking ring in his hand.

"In front of others, you still have to call me teacher."

Rita said, displeased.

As the only daughter of a viscount, deep down she was also unhappy about being led around by a little boy.

But given his enormous potential and her family's gradual decline, she had no choice but to seize her own future.

"Oh? I do hope you can put on a teacher's dignity in bed too."

"You! Don't talk nonsense!"

A flush of shame crept across Rita's cheeks. She hurriedly glanced around, and only relaxed once she confirmed no one was there.

But seeing the boy before her utterly unbothered, an inexplicable surge of resentment welled up inside her.

In truth, she had long since realized she was hopelessly in love with Luen.

"Back to the main point — since the body and soul haven't died, as the flesh's proliferation expands, the space for the dragon soul's activity grows along with it."

"You mean, to obtain that hidden dragon soul, we have to search every place the dragon's flesh proliferated back then? Then we're done for — the documents say it spread a full ten kilometers or more."

Hearing this, Luen couldn't help but sigh.

"It's the only option among no options. If we had a labyrinth pass, we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."

"Just a pass? Miss Miss Milinda and I both have one."

"Not that basic kind — a high-level pass. I have a Mi Fa that can locate the dragon soul by sacrificing the holder of a high-level pass."

"A high-level pass... Miss Miss Milinda is back."

Rita panicked for a moment.

She hurriedly, as if to cover things up, put some distance between herself and Luen.

Luen shook his head helplessly.

He walked into the tent alone.

"How is it? Luen, this woman is already completely wrapped around your finger, isn't she?"

Suddenly, the ring in his hand emitted a female voice only he could hear — hoarse and ancient.

"Yes, teacher. I can already sense Rita's feelings for me."

"I told you — Yigo's spiritual constructs are more powerful than you imagine. Fortunately, back when I advanced to eighth tier, I had studied them."

"Too bad we still haven't found the dragon soul."

Luen sighed.

If he could obtain the dragon soul, his strength would leap up by a large margin.

Bringing him one step closer to the day of his revenge.

"Luen, you're still young — no need to be so impatient. The king of Etheron isn't going anywhere, and he won't die easily either. You have plenty of time."

"No, teacher. The thought of that bastard still sitting on the Wang Zuo tortures me every single moment."

The voice within the ring also sighed.

"We don't need to search blindly here. Tonight I'll try making something that can sense a pass, then we can head to Jadeite City and try our luck—the adventurers there are more numerous and more likely to have high-grade passes."

"We'll follow your lead, teacher."

Two days later.

Rod's party smoothly left the current mountain-forest area.

They arrived at a hilly region covered in pink flower fields.

The temperature here had dropped considerably, finally within a normal range.

According to Xia Li, seeing this flower field meant the open-air labyrinth was on its final stretch.

"Don't let your guard down for a second—Rule One is in effect on these hills at all times. Be sure to have exemption items or potions ready."

As she spoke,

Xia Li downed a vial of mental potion on herself.

"I don't feel a thing."

"Except for you, Mr. Rod."

Tally couldn't be bothered to deal with the rule and simply ducked into Rod's shadow.

Perhaps because she'd realized these past few days that her own master was making such devout offerings, her little-sister persona had never once been swapped out.

In this flower-field region,

Rod quickly spotted other parties besides their own.

Adventurers in twos and threes, weapons in hand, seemed to be searching for something in the flower fields.

"They're hunting a kind of boar monster."

Xia Li explained: "This area has a boar monster with a flower cluster on its head. Sometimes mushrooms grow in that flower cluster—they're an extremely expensive raw material for anesthetic potions, and also the raw material for the bliss potion that you city folk love so much."

Bliss Potion

Rod remembered—this was an addictive stimulant drug.

A year ago, a merchant named Pete brought a bottle to Shi Ying Town, and a city hall employee bought it.

Then, at his birthday party, that employee mixed the potion into the drinks, directly causing twenty naked runners to appear on the streets that night.

On top of that, a pregnant woman was so startled she went into premature labor and gave birth to a dark-skinned baby of foreign ethnicity.

Later, she and her husband sued the employee on the grounds that the fright had caused the baby's genetic mutation.

Though he didn't know what happened after that,

Shi Ying Town had indeed banned the import of this potion ever since.

"This is the closest gathering spot to Jadeite City—a lot of adventurers like to earn a little money here."

"This stuff is popular in Jadeite City?"

Rod was puzzled.

This differed greatly from his impression of Jadeite City.

As the human city closest to the Emerald Court, he had always assumed it was a prosperous and clean city.

"Even more popular than you'd imagine, Mr. Rod. Some nobles even dilute it and drink it like water."

(End of chapter)