Vol. 6 Ch. 90

"What's your grudge with that shadow?

How did you get rid of him?

Did he say where he came from?

Oh, and..."

On their journey together, Safina's most frequent questions were about that evil schemer.

At first, Leon answered each one, but gradually, he began to notice something strange.

"Why are you so interested in this Shadow?"

He stopped in his tracks, hands in his pockets, and looked at Safina.

"Didn't you say you only heard about Shadow from your brother? Since it's just hearsay, you shouldn't be this interested, right?"

Safina slowly turned around, responding naturally:

"I'm curious about everything I don't understand. Besides, from the way you talk, I can tell this Shadow is very mysterious, so I can't help but ask a few more questions."

After a brief pause, she added, "But if you don't want to talk about it, I won't ask anymore. Let's just continue looking for the white crystals."

Half an hour ago, the two had jokingly snatched a black crystal from another trial participant.

So, with just a couple more hours, they only needed to find two white crystals to pass the trial.

"I don't mind answering questions about Shadow, I just didn't understand why you were so curious," Leon replied.

Safina relaxed her shoulders and shrugged.

"Girls are naturally curious. Doesn't your wife ever get curious about anything?"

"She's only curious about the assignment for tonight," Leon thought to say.

However, that involved their private matters, so he didn't elaborate.

Leon cleared his throat.

"She's a laid-back person, rarely digs deep into anything."

Upon hearing this, Safina pouted. "Fine. But I really don't have anything else to ask. Let's hurry up and continue searching for the crystals, we've only got less than two hours left."

"Okay."

The two continued exploring the trial forest.

About twenty minutes later, they encountered another group traveling together.

This group had four people in total.

Leon and Safina met them in an open clearing in the woods.

Most of the time, those hunting for crystals would size each other up, waiting to see who had what kind of crystal.

When they first came into view, both sides looked at each other.

No one made a move yet, as they weren't sure what color crystals the other group was holding.

If they attacked immediately and turned out to have the same color crystals, it would be very disadvantageous after the fight.

Leon’s gaze fell on the person standing a bit farther back in the group.

He squinted slightly, recalling something for a moment, then whispered to Safina,

"They're holding white crystals."

Safina blinked in surprise. "How do you know?"

"When this round of the trial started, a group of people holding white crystals attacked me at the entrance. Although I knocked most of them down, a few managed to escape before they could act."

Leon nodded toward the person at the back of the group.

"One of them is the person standing behind. Since they can form a team, they must have similar crystals to ours. That’s why I’m confident they’re holding white crystals."

Safina nodded, understanding. "I see... well, if that's the case, let's just fight them. You take two, I'll take two, perfect."

"Actually, I can take all four if needed," Leon said.

"I don't want to spoil you, let's go!"

With those words, Safina leaped forward in one swift motion.

Leon watched her back, shaking his head and smiling helplessly,

"You're really impatient."

Then, he moved forward as well, preparing to grab the opponent's white crystals.

The one Leon had recognized seemed to have also recognized him.

He took two steps back, nervously swallowing,

"Quick, quick, run! It's that human named Leon!"

"Running from a human? Are you still asleep? Just grab his crystals!"

"The point isn't who the human is, it's Leon!"

"...Is he that strong?"

"Isn't it impressive that he knocked out over a dozen people by himself at the trial entrance?"

"?"

The trial participant thought for two seconds, then decisively made a decision—

"Run!"

But how could they leave the white crystals lying around?

Moreover, with just over an hour left in the trial, Leon was also running out of time.

The two participants had intended to warn the others, but Safina was already fighting one of them, and they couldn't spare time to speak.

Reluctantly, they had no choice but to focus on themselves.

Without hesitation, the two turned around and ran.

But they hadn’t run far when a shadow passed overhead,

Then landed steadily in front of them.

Leon slowly turned, extending his hand toward them,

"Please, be proactive, this will save us a lot of time."

"...We can't run, what do we do? Should we fight him?"

One of the trial participants hesitated for a moment, then stomped his foot and gritted his teeth,

"Fine! Let’s fight!"

Anyone who made it to the third trial had not only skill but also a strong spirit.

Although they knew they couldn’t beat Leon, they couldn’t just sit and wait to lose.

Running at first was just a safer, more cautious method.

Now, seeing that running wouldn’t work, they figured they might as well go all out.

The two immediately acted in sync, attacking Leon from both sides.

Their speed was fast, almost in the blink of an eye, they ambushed Leon’s side.

However, Leon’s reaction was even faster.

Without activating his super senses, he easily caught their punches and kicks.

Leon grasped their wrists and ankles, using their momentum to spin around in place, then, he released his grip at the right moment, throwing them in opposite directions.

"Not good!—"

Before they could regain their balance, Leon had already swiftly closed the distance to one of them, and with a powerful front flip, he landed a heavy blow to the man’s abdomen.

"Boom!—"

The trial participant’s body slammed into the ground, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

When the dust settled, Leon stood next to the fallen participant.

His hands still in his pockets, holding a white crystal in one hand.

He slowly turned his head to look at the other trial participant he had thrown.

He glanced at his fallen companion on the ground, hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and charged forward.

Leon sneered softly and muttered,

"If you turn around and run, I won’t chase you. But since you're coming to me, I’ll gladly take it all."

The opponent swung his fist directly at Leon, but Leon easily dodged to the side. The punch had tremendous force, yet it missed entirely, leaving the trial participant with a huge opening.

Leon seized the opportunity, lifting his knee and striking it sharply into the man's stomach.

Before the man could recover, Leon reached out, gripping his throat and slamming him heavily to the ground.

This time, Leon didn’t hold back, as he had already gotten a white crystal, and there was no need to take another one.

The trial participant clearly sensed that Leon was deliberately holding back, so after being pinned down, he struggled only twice before patting Leon’s wrist, signaling his surrender.

Leon relaxed his grip and slowly stood up.

He looked over at Safina.

"Here we go!"

The girl flared up with a burst of energy, executing a clean front flip, using the momentum from her fall to land a heavy blow to one of the trial participants' stomachs, rendering him unable to fight any longer.

When dealing with the other participant, Safina also seized an opening in his attack, gripped his throat, and skillfully slammed him to the ground.

Leon watched her series of moves flow like water, clearly identical to the techniques he had just used to take down the two trial participants.

"Perfect replication..."

Even the speed and force of the front flip and the timing of the opening were exactly the same.

After swiftly taking down the two, Safina grabbed the white crystals from them.

"Okay, big win."

The purple-eyed girl shook the crystals in her hand as she walked back to Leon.

"Now we just need to wait for the trial to end."

"Mm."

Leon nodded.

He looked at Safina, hesitated for a moment, and couldn’t help but ask,

"I just saw your moves, and they seemed exactly like mine. Did you learn them by watching me fight?"

Safina didn’t beat around the bush, simply nodding her head.

"Yeah. Because I grew up learning all kinds of mixed fighting styles, no real school to follow, and I used to fight a lot as a kid. Once I mastered enough skills, when I learned new things, I could pretty much replicate them after seeing them once."

Leon was slightly surprised,

"Wow, that's impressive."

"Well, my brother is even better than me."

Leon raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued,

"Your brother has a photographic memory too?"

"...He’s the type who can knock someone down from the ground and keep going."

"Gets more excited the more he fights?"

Leon didn’t quite understand this description.

But Safina didn’t seem to want to elaborate further, so he didn’t ask more.

...

An hour later, all the trial participants with both black and white crystals had successfully passed this round of trials.

Unexpectedly, including Leon and Safina, only fourteen people had passed this round.

"I didn’t expect so few people would make it through. I thought everyone would just find a quiet spot and wait for the round to end after getting different colored crystals,"

Safina said.

Leon lightly responded, not saying much else.

As the trial officer stepped forward, the referee announced the next trial rules.

"Congratulations to everyone for passing the third round of the trial."

"The fourth round is the final round of this Fire Spirit Divine Stallion Trial, and the rules are simple."

"You fourteen will engage in a free-for-all battle in the same arena;"

"The last three standing will receive the blessings of the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion."

"The committee mentioned that fewer people registered this year than before, so it seems many here aren’t participating in the Divine Stallion Trial for the first time."

"Good luck to all of you. See you tomorrow."

After the referee left, the other trial participants also began to leave.

Leon watched them walk away and suddenly realized,

"Oh, now I get it."

"Get what?" Safina asked.

"Why there are so few of us left after the third round."

Leon explained,

"The Fire Spirit Divine Stallion’s blessing only has three spots, and the first round doesn’t eliminate anyone;

"Second round eliminates based on the Divine Stallion Tribe’s evaluation standards;

"It’s only in the third round where participants eliminate each other based on their own abilities, so everyone tries to eliminate as many people as possible in this round, so they can have a better chance of staying until the final battle in the fourth round."

"There’s even a possibility that only three people remain after the third round."

After hearing Leon’s analysis, Safina also understood,

"That makes sense... ah, that’s a shame."

"Hm? Why’s that a shame?"

"If I had known, we shouldn’t have been slacking earlier. With our abilities, we could have crushed the third round, then it would just be the two of us sharing the Divine Stallion’s blessing. Wouldn’t that be great?"

The girl placed her hands on her hips, showing the same proud look she had when she caught a fish.

Leon smiled,

"In the face of absolute strength, any rule doesn’t really matter."

"That sounds so pretentious."

Safina sharply commented.

"My teammate used to say that to me all the time."

"Which teammate?"

"The one with the blue ponytail I told you about earlier."

"Go on, go on~ tell me more about your past stories!"

Safina jumped excitedly, her purple eyes flashing with ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) anticipation.

She was clearly a grown girl, yet when it came to gossip, she immediately turned into a curious little kid.

When he was with her, Leon always felt like he had to take on the responsibility of being a parent while out on an adventure.

But for Safina's curiosity, he nodded and answered,

"Alright."

The two walked toward the rest area of the Divine Stallion Tribe, bathed in the evening sunlight.