Dance of Radiance

Klayr, wearing a thick, long-pile cloak, stood on a black rock on a hill opposite the castle.

His face was turned toward the north wind, his eyes closed, and he listened intently to the sound of the strong wind whistling past the rocks.

He felt that after studying for so long, he should be able to hear the whispers of nature like Roy. He hadn't been able to do it before, probably just because he hadn't been lucky.

The Adventure Group could only stay at the Black Iron Mine for about a week, and Klayr really wanted to have a good talk with Roy about the topic of 'sounds in nature'.

Roy has been too busy lately to have a chance to talk to him about these things.

A gust of wind blew by, Klayr raised her arm to shield her face. When she lowered her arm, she saw Roy standing on a large black rock, also facing the wind, squinting at the distant wilderness.

The clear blue sky reflected three majestic snow-capped mountains, while a giant golden-eyed eagle circled in the sky, occasionally letting out a series of high-pitched cries...

"Klayr, it's been almost a week since you arrived, and I haven't been able to properly entertain you. Have you made any progress these past few days?" Roy put his hand on Klayr's shoulder and asked with a smile.

Roy knew what his friend was thinking; he was the kind of Elven Nobles who could dedicate his entire life to pursuing art.

Klayr traveled all the way here hoping to exchange some musical insights with me.

Klayr shook her head vigorously, and said to Roy with some frustration, "Roy, I feel like nature mediums don't recognize me enough..."

Roy had no way to explain this.

Seeing his pitiful look, Roy gestured for him to be quiet before speaking:

"Shh~ Don't say that. They're actually all around us. Look at that golden eagle..."

Roy pointed to the sky, where the golden-eyed eagle was gliding against the wind...

Then, Roy hummed a melody.

Klayr's eyes grew brighter and brighter. He quickly took out a Parchment Booklet and a Charcoal Pencil and meticulously recorded the melody Roy hummed.

In recent years, he has been constantly trying to compose music. Although he has not made a name for himself, his ability to transcribe music by ear is very proficient.

Moreover, he had to record it as accurately as possible.

Because when Roy hums it a second time, the melody he hums usually won't be exactly the same as the first time.

As it turns out, the first tune Roy hummed was often the best.

A gust of wind made the parchment book Klayr was holding crackle and pop...

Klayr turned her back and used her nearly frozen hands to write down the melody.

Roy didn't want to stay in the cold wind with Klayr any longer, so he put his arm around her shoulder, and the two of them jumped off the rocks and walked along a path towards the Black Iron Mine Castle. As they walked, he said, "Let's call this piece ' The Song of the Eagle '! It might be more suitable to play it on the panpipes..."

Klayr carefully put the Parchment Booklet into her Magic Pouch, looked at Roy with some envy, and asked him, "Roy, I'm actually curious, can you hear the beautiful melodies of nature all the time?"

"Actually, I only hear it occasionally... like now, standing on the mountaintop, I can only hear this melody when I calm down." Roy made up a lie on the spot. One lie often requires ten lies to cover it up. He regretted being so impulsive back then. Now he could only comfort his friend, "Let's go. It's easy to catch a cold if you stand in the cold wind on the mountaintop for too long."

Klayr arrived at the Pagisto Plateau, constantly thinking about how she could help Roy.

He didn't possess Sabrina's exceptional martial arts skills, nor was he a magician like Miss Tiffany, and he wasn't particularly adept at botany. The extent to which he could help Roy was actually quite limited. In fact, he had thought about it for a long time before tentatively asking, "Roy, what should we do with the spinel mined from the Gemstone Mine and the Mithril Ingot smelted from the Mithril Mine? Should we hand them all over to the Silver Pegasus Legion?"

Roy recalled his conversation with Earl Swynborne and said frankly, "Hand over half, and I'll handle the rest myself. A large part of it is for the Half-Elf Guard Squad's military expenses."

"Have you ever thought about shipping these Magic Metal and gems to the Elf Continent for sale?" Klayr asked curiously.

"Right now, there aren't any decent trading companies in the Pattington Plane. We can only try to transport them back to Castleton City. Luckily, I have a trading license for the Pattington Plane, so it's not too difficult to ship them out..." Roy said.

Klayr said to Roy, "If you want to open up the market for these spinel and Mithril Ingot in Castleton City, the best thing to do is join the Mining Guild. My uncle is a member of the Mining Guild, and I can get you a letter of recommendation."

Roy blinked and smiled at his friend, saying, "Then you'd better find me another warehouse..."

"Leave it to me." Klayr immediately perked up, then asked Roy, "Roy, are you planning to continue your leave of absence?"

"Well, we can't just leave this mess behind for the sake of going to school," Roy sighed.

The two walked down the path on the hillside and returned to the castle, whereupon Klayr went straight into her room and refused to come out.

Several Half-Elf Warrior escorted Roy up the City Wall.

A group of Gray Dwarf, with ropes tied around their waists, were hanging outside the City Wall, filling the cracks in the City Wall with stones and mortar...

This week, Moira accompanied Vice Captain Tennyson every day to scout the movements of the Highland Slavers in the wilderness.

However, Moira had never encountered those headhunters. According to the Dark Moon Elf Warrior in the squad, those headhunters had their faces painted with black greasepaint and could throw hunting Unicorn Wild Ox from a hundred meters away.

In the past few days, Moira has traveled all over the wilderness at the foot of Aida Snow Mountain.

She wore tight-fitting Light Leather Armor and rode her horse, following the Dark Moon Elf Warrior around. In the afternoons, Vice Captain Tennyson would set aside some time to give Moira some individual training.

Vice Captain Tennyson was very blunt. He told Moira that the Elementary Martial Arts she learned at the Elf Academy were not very practical for a real assassin.

A skilled assassin must master the art of 'stealth' to the extreme.

Moira called out to Mr. Tennyson, but Tennyson insisted that she call him by his name...

Moira, leading her horse, leaned against a pillar made of an arched rock and asked Vice Captain Tennyson, "Tennyson, what do assassins become after they advance?"

"The Abyss Walker, that's when they truly entered the ranks of the strong," Vice Captain Tennyson replied without hesitation.

Moira listened intently, her lips pursed and her eyes full of curiosity. There was a light layer of down on her pointed ears. The afternoon sun shone through the black rock archway, shining on the back of her head and creating a halo of light around her body.

Vice Captain Tennyson continued to Moira, "After you've learned backstabbing and stealth, you also need to grasp the 'momentum' and break through the bottleneck of a level 10 warrior before you can become an assassin."

As for Moira, she had already sensed the presence of 'energy' within her body, but that mysterious feeling was not very stable and only appeared occasionally.

According to Sabrina, Moira might one day seize an opportunity and become a real assassin.

Vice Captain Tennyson continued, "However, it is extremely difficult to transform from an assassin into Abyss Walker. At least 99 out of 100 assassins may spend their entire lives seeking a breakthrough."

"In their quest for breakthroughs, these assassins developed many different styles. The style I pursue is rather extreme. Actually, you'd better not follow my example. Just have a basic understanding of these things. What I pursue is: removing armor, because wearing leather armor will affect the speed of assassination. For me, all I need is a sharp dagger..."

"..."

Vice Captain Tennyson is usually a man of few words; he is the taciturn Dark Moon Elf who only becomes talkative when it comes to these matters.

Moira stood by the stone pillar, only able to nod dumbly.

"Let's go, I'll take you to try a new exercise," said Vice Captain Tennyson, gazing at a raised platform in the distance that appeared in the sunlight.

Instead of walking directly over, he hid behind a stone pillar, letting his body blur in the shadows until it faded into a blurry shadow before crouching down and reaching for the protrusion.

A brown Dog Rat stood upright, constantly scanning its surroundings with extreme vigilance. Even the slightest rustle would trigger a sharp hiss...

Tennyson hid in the shadows and slowly approached the Dog Rat -Dog Rat from the rocky hillside until he could grab it by the neck, then he quietly retreated.

Then Vice Captain Tennyson had Moira try it out...

Moira skillfully hid in the shadows, concealing herself as she slowly approached the silly Dog Rat, following the route that Vice Captain Tennyson had just taken.

Moira held her breath, taking each step forward cautiously, trying to hide her body in the Dog Rat's blind spot as much as possible.

But Moira had only gone halfway when the brown Dog Rat suddenly turned its head sharply, its black bean-like eyes looking at her blankly, letting out a shrill cry, before it darted into the burrow behind the platform.

Moira stood there, stunned...

Tennyson emerged from behind the black rock and stood beside Moira, asking her, "Do you know why it found you?"

Moira shook her head. She had tried her best to walk quietly and hide her blurry body in the shadows, but the Dog Rat still managed to spot her.

"You did manage to evade the Dog Rat's sight and hearing, but you couldn't escape its sense of smell. It detected your scent," said Vice Captain Tennyson. He paused slightly before adding more seriously, "Moira, the enemy you're facing isn't as foolish as the Dog Rat."

In fact, for Tennyson, the best way to teach Moira was to assign her assassination missions.

Most assassination techniques can only be truly mastered through combat.

Of course, Tennyson wouldn't take Moira on an assassination mission.

The only thing that could be done was to conduct some targeted training after the field reconnaissance was completed, so that Moira would understand what she needed to pay attention to as an assassin...

Unexpectedly, Moira made rapid progress in just a few days.

When resting in the castle, she would always approach Roy silently, barefoot and wearing a white nightgown. Sometimes she would give him a little scare, and sometimes she would hand him a peeled apple. Moira never tired of it.

Roy sat in the chair, his gaze sweeping over the beautiful elf in front of him. In fact, her curves were already quite full, and her bright eyes always sparkled with a happy smile. Roy put his arm around Moira's slender waist and tasted her tempting red lips, which were as red as cherries.

But the thought of Ms. Jillian standing in front of the fish stall, holding a fish-killing knife, her eyes sharp, made Roy quickly withdraw his outstretched hand.

He wasn't a child anymore; the reason he dared to lift Sabrina's skirt back then without getting beaten up was because he was still young.

If I were to do that again now, even nine lives wouldn't be enough to kill me.

In the cold wind, Sabrina, dressed in heavy armor, stood on a black rock shaped like a mushroom.

A group of Half-Elf Warrior gathered around Blackrock, all looking at Sabrina.

Sabrina planted her Serugi Longsword into the black rock and addressed the Half-Elf Warrior around her:

"These past few days, you have all learned some Elementary Martial Arts from the Elf Academy. These Elementary Martial Arts need to be practiced constantly so that your body can react naturally in battle in order to show their effectiveness. Although I don't know how to teach you how to defend, I can demonstrate how to defend for you."

After saying this, Sabrina arranged for ten Half-Elf Warrior to attack her simultaneously.

And she was standing on this black rock, less than two meters in diameter...

The Half-Elf Warrior had been practicing coordinated combat for days. After exchanging a few quiet words, they gathered around, weapons in hand.

Two Half-Elf Warrior stood in front of Sabrina, with six Half-Elf Warrior standing on either side.

Two Half-Elf Warrior were also lurking behind Sabrina, waiting for their chance to strike...

The Half-Elf Warrior standing in front of Sabrina were the first to launch an attack.

Two Half-Elf Warrior, wielding Iris Shield, leaped onto the stone platform to meet Sabrina. Seeing Sabrina swing her Serugi Longsword down, they quickly raised their swords to parry...

However, the two Half-Elf Warrior clearly underestimated Sabrina's explosive power.

Sabrina's longsword first struck a Half-Elf's longsword, sparks flying, and the Half-Elf Warrior was thrown off the black rock by the force of the impact.

Serugi Longsword struck the shield of the Half-Elf Warrior behind him, causing the Half-Elf Warrior to stagger backward.

Seeing Sabrina make her move, the six Half-Elf Warrior standing beside her seized the opportunity to attack.

Sabrina blocked the three Half-Elf Warrior on her left with her longsword, but her body, encased in heavy armor, crashed into the three Half-Elf Warrior on her right, and a burst of light suddenly erupted from her body.

It was as if a mountain of swords surrounded Sabrina, repelling all the Half-Elf swordsmen who took the opportunity to surround her.

The ' Dance of Radiance ' instantly stunned the entire audience.