Whether it’s the relatively short history of humans or the long history of elves, the disaster known as “Abyssal” is always described as terrifying and destructive, like a demon lord from the depths.
Wherever the evil gods from unknown planes passed, they left devastation in their wake, inflicting heavy blows on the continent of Tain several times.
For example, the destruction of the Old Continent and the fall of the Northern Yatin Empire—these major historical events all had their involvement.
Humans didn’t feel much about the destruction of the Old Continent, since they weren’t its original inhabitants, but when the Abyssal disaster led to the fall of the Northern Yatin Empire, humans were the biggest victims.
This allowed the barbarians to invade, the provinces to break away from the Yatin Empire, and the capital to move south—a whole series of historical events.
The current human kingdoms all gained independence when the Northern Yatin Empire fell.
After that, the continent was divided among many powers, and the Southern Yatin Empire, which moved its capital to Sera Tis City, never managed to reclaim those lost territories, eventually being destroyed by heretics.
But after that, the human kingdoms learned from the Yatin Empire’s mistakes and cracked down hard on cultists, making it nearly impossible for them to raise their heads.
It wasn’t just the human kingdoms—dragons, foxes, even vampires all hated cultists, sometimes even more than humans did.
“And then?” Mo Li couldn’t help but ask.
“After she was discovered, of course this dragon princess became everyone’s target,” Xing Luo continued.
“The Dragon God’s eldest son was heartbroken that his sister had joined a cult, so he personally led his people to hunt her down.”
“Sacrificing family for the greater good, huh?”
“In the end, the Dragon God’s daughter was defeated and executed.
To prevent any future trouble, all her children were killed as well… It’s said the execution took place in what is now the Palonai Forest.”
“So that’s how it was.”
“It’s just a legend, but since it’s been passed down by word of mouth, it’s likely that something like this really happened.
Of course, after a thousand years, some details might not be accurate.”
“Thank you for clearing that up, Mentor.” Satisfied his curiosity, Mo Li didn’t pay much more attention to the made-up legend.
“Alright, we’re almost there.
Get ready.” Xing Luo let out a clear whistle and stopped talking to Mo Li.
Hearing this, Mo Li gathered his windblown clothes.
He hadn’t noticed it while chatting with Xing Luo, but now that his attention was back, he immediately felt chilly.
He had to wrap up tighter to avoid catching a cold.
One of them had phoenix fire protecting her, the other was an elf who didn’t fear the cold—he was the only one with lousy resistance.
Soon, a feeling of weightlessness hit—Xing Luo was descending.
Looks like they’d arrived at Palonai Forest.
The journey was over, and as Mo Li set foot on solid ground, he felt his legs go a little weak.
Looking up, the sun shone into the forest at a forty-five degree angle.
Once Xing Luo shifted into human form and Mo Li took a quick look around, his only thought was: these trees are ridiculously tall.
No idea what species they were, but they were at least three or four times taller than the trees in human lands.
“Looks like we’re the first ones here.”
Well, obviously.
They rode a dragon—if they weren’t the fastest, something would be wrong.
“Need me to go gather some firewood?” Aurora asked coolly.
“No need.
The other mentors aren’t slow either, they should be here soon.
You two should warm up, the competition’s about to start.” Xing Luo yawned, then leaned against a tree and went into standby mode.
Just as Xing Luo said, the forest soon got lively—really lively.
When the mentors arrived with their teams, Emilia once again became the center of attention.
After all, this was the Holy See Academy’s special testing ground, and all the candidates were Holy See nobles.
Seeing the princess made them feel right at home, and everyone had to go up and say a few words to prove they existed—and maybe score some points with her.
“Don’t worry, Your Highness! We’ll all stand by your side!”
“With us protecting you, nothing can go wrong in the test!”
“That’s right, we’re your most loyal knights!”
So noisy, seriously, can’t anyone get some rest? Mo Li impatiently glanced at the swarm of bootlicking young nobles.
If it weren’t for the setting, he’d have loved to shout at them, “Is yelling all you guys know how to do?”
He closed his eyes, trying to calm down.
After all, the test was about to start, and it was best to save his energy for the arena.
“Not going to say a few words?” Just then, a clear, ethereal voice sounded in his ear.
“Hm?” Mo Li was a little surprised—this was probably the first time Aurora had ever started a conversation with him.
“Why should I?” Mo Li found it odd.
“Beautiful flowers always attract lots of bees.
Don’t you want to be one of them?” Aurora spoke again, her gaze distant, never landing on Mo Li.
“Why would I want to be one of them?” Mo Li raised an eyebrow.
“That’s not normal.” After a long silence, Aurora came to a conclusion.
“Huh? So you think I’m not normal just because I’m not a bootlicker?”
“No, it’s just that someone like you not fawning over her is what’s not normal.” Aurora’s voice was flat.
“…If you say so.” Mo Li got it now—this elf princess was roasting him.
Looks like after what happened a few days ago, her impression of him was completely blackened.
In her mind, he was probably a sleazy old pervert with a dirty mind and sticky fingers.
By her logic, not going to fawn over Emilia was out of character for him.
Not hard to understand.
“Hey, Young Master Mo Li, so you’re here! Haven’t seen you today.”
A familiar voice made Mo Li raise an eyebrow.
Looking up, it was Pan Lin, the guy who’d led him into the banquet a few days ago.
“Yeah, long time no see.” Mo Li nodded, not showing much emotion—they weren’t that close.
“So! Want to join our team?” Pan Lin didn’t mind and enthusiastically invited Mo Li.
“Isn’t this a fixed team event?”
“No, no, Young Master Mo Li, you must be mixing it up.
The second round is fixed teams, the first round is mixed.” Pan Lin explained.
“Apparently, once you enter the secret realm, you’ll appear somewhere at random, and your teammates might not even be with you.
So, we can team up! Want to join us?”
