Going Home

Over the next month, aside from his daily cultivation time, Jie Ning spent his free moments exploring every corner of Kading City with Arannis.

Jie Ning dared say that now ninety-nine percent of Kading City's residents knew less about this city than he, an outsider, did.

Of course, the two of them still had Quinta trailing behind.

"Jie Ning, do you really have to leave?" Arannis looked at him, her eyes full of reluctance.

After a month together, the relationship between Jie Ning and Arannis had advanced by leaps and bounds.

If at first Arannis had spent time with Jie Ning mainly due to pressure from her father, now she had genuinely developed feelings for him.

As the Count's eldest daughter, Arannis knew that unless she had the power to overturn everything, submitting to her family's arranged marriage was inevitable—and she had no intention of resisting anyway.

She believed that her parents, who had always doted on her, would never force her to marry someone she detested.

All she had to do was choose a suitable candidate from the options her parents selected.

Of course, the prerequisite was that the other party also agreed to the marriage.

So far, the impression Jie Ning had left on her was simply too good—handsome, strong, witty...

He was practically the image of the husband she dreamed of.

Jie Ning smiled and looked down at Arannis. "Lanni, don't worry. As soon as I get back, I'll discuss our marriage with my father."

"But with you coming and going, I won't be able to see you for months." Arannis was filled with reluctance.

From Kading City to the town where Jie Ning's family lived, the normal travel time was three months. But since he had followed a merchant caravan that took detours to trade in various towns, it had taken Jie Ning four months to reach Kading City.

However, if a powerful warrior traveled at full speed, the time needed would be much shorter.

Jie Ning patiently comforted Arannis. This time, he was going back to discuss matters with his father, and the next time he came, it would be to ask Count Lewis for Arannis's hand in marriage.

"Rest assured, Lanni..."

"So why can't we go with you to Tieling Town?" A voice broke the reluctant atmosphere between the two.

Jie Ning and Arannis turned in surprise to look.

Quinta, seeing their expressions, said with some chagrin, "I've been here the whole month. Don't act like 'how did you get here?'"

Jie Ning smiled apologetically at Quinta. "Sorry, Quinta. You know, your invisibility spell is just too well-practiced."

"Brother Quinta, it seems your magic has improved a lot lately." Arannis was also quite surprised.

"I haven't practiced any invisibility spell," Quinta said flatly. "I'm a Fire Element mage. Fire magic doesn't have an invisibility spell."

"Oh, really? So Fire magic can't turn invisible?" Arannis said with some surprise. "But brother, your presence is just too low. You really are suited to being an assassin."

Quinta took a deep breath, as if to say something, but in the end he gave up and just sighed.

"Quinta, do you mean you and Lanni can come back to Tieling Town with me?" Jie Ning quickly took over the conversation, feeling that Quinta might not be able to take much more.

Hearing Jie Ning's question, Arannis snapped to attention. Her beautiful big eyes fixed on Quinta, and her tone carried a hint of anticipation. "Brother, do you mean we can leave Kading City with Jie Ning?"

"Will Father agree?" Arannis asked nervously.

Quinta let out a breath and said, as if joking, "Of course it's true. Father can't wait for you and Jie Ning to get married immediately."

"These past days, if I didn't know it was the first time he met Jie Ning, I'd wonder who his real son was."

Hearing this, Jie Ning immediately recalled Count Lewis's overwhelming enthusiasm over that period and couldn't help twitching the corners of his mouth.

"Who can blame him when Jie Ning is so outstanding!" Arannis hugged Jie Ning's arm and said proudly.

A group of people traveled along the road from Kading City to Tieling Town.

The party was unexpectedly large—in fact, the number of people in the group was even greater than the merchant caravan Jie Ning had come with.

Jie Ning looked at Maki with some bewilderment. "So, Uncle Maki, how did you convince Count Lewis to come back to Tieling Town with us?"

That was right—besides the siblings Quinta and Arannis, even Count Lewis and his wife had joined the journey, along with their accompanying knights and guards. The number of people was surprisingly high.

Maki chuckled. "Who can blame you for being so outstanding, Jie Ning?"

"Lewis came with full sincerity to discuss directly with your father about setting the wedding date for you two kids."

Jie Ning glanced back at Lady Carita, who was talking to Quinta about something, and saw that Quinta's face was starting to turn pale. "Then can you explain to me why Lady Carita said she wanted to go learn parenting experience from Mother?"

"I don't have a problem with that, but I think you'd better watch your back at night. Quinta might use Earth magic to build you a grave on the spot."

Maki said sheepishly, "You can't blame me for this either. Can you say Ms. Melinda didn't help you a lot? I just praised Melinda properly."

"How come I heard that someone was telling a magical story about how he became his nephew's idol, and how the kid's mother encouraged the child to learn from his uncle—and when Lady Carita managed to find the few bits of real information in it, that same someone then bragged that his sister had pioneered a motivational education method..." Jie Ning was a bit speechless. Truly, one had to believe in the diversity of human species. Who would have thought his own uncle had such an addiction to boasting?

Maki's eyes immediately began to wander.

"Ah..." Jie Ning sighed helplessly. "I hope Ms. Melinda, upon learning of her 'glorious deeds,' will grant her dear brother a dignified end..."

Then, ignoring the sweat starting to form on Maki's forehead, he dismounted and continued to attune himself to the earth.

The others in the group were used to this by now.

There were even rumors circulating that this was exactly how Jie Ning had grown so fast. During rest stops, knights could occasionally be seen walking barefoot around the camp, imitating Jie Ning.

When Arannis discovered this behavior, she had nervously come to ask Jie Ning about it, and he could only laugh helplessly.

He even took the trouble to explain this to Arannis, saying that such a method was only useful for those who had reached a certain level of strength—and even then, it wasn't guaranteed to work.

As for these knights, setting aside whether they possessed any affinity for earth-elemental magic, the fact that most of these imitators were only around Level 5 or 6 meant this was almost certainly a futile effort.

Still, Jie Ning didn't say much more—what if one of them turned out to be a hidden genius?

Arannis first stared blankly for a while at Jie Ning, who was immersed in his own world. 'Jie Ning looks even more handsome when he's focused on training.'

But the next moment, she forced her gaze away from him, her expression turning resolute.

"Lanni, you have to work hard on your training too. If you can become a Saint Realm powerhouse too, we'll have endless time to travel to every corner of the Bana Continent, just like we've traveled all over Kading City now." Arannis seemed to hear Jie Ning's words to her back in Kading City echoing in her ears.

'Jie Ning will definitely become a Saint Realm powerhouse. I have to step it up too.' Closing her eyes, Arannis took a few deep breaths and tried to enter a meditative state.

Time on the road always passed quickly.

Soon, good news arrived: Arannis had successfully become a Level 6 Mage.

Everyone was overjoyed.

Moreover, Tieling Town was almost upon them.

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