Half a year earlier, Garen's swordsmanship had already reached the perfect basic level. Afterward, he had attuned himself to the wind element and developed some ideas about the Weightless Strength realm, but he was still a little way from creating his own signature move. He needed more insight and practical experience.
Although he hadn't killed any monsters for two years, his training had still brought him considerable improvement.
Garen
Warrior Level: 7 (14949/100000 experience) Transformation Level: 9 Magic Level: 6 (41485/50000 experience)
That day, after saying goodbye to Yale and the others, Garen and Linley set off for the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Bebe, the Shadow Mouse, excitedly bounced around on Linley's shoulder.
Although both of them were only fifteen, they stood eight meters tall, and their Warrior Levels were both quite high. Judging by their appearance, no one would have guessed they were mages.
The two walked along at an easy pace.
"Linley, my Magic Level has reached Level Six now. Once we get to the Magical Beast Mountain Range, I won't bother with any magical beasts below Level Six. You'll have to handle them yourself."
Garen said with a grin.
"I came to the Magical Beast Mountain Range to train. If we weren't brothers, I wouldn't have asked you to come along. You're always making a big fuss, and I was worried you'd come here alone and get into trouble again." Linley rolled his eyes.
"You're something else."
Garen was speechless. He supposed he'd been keeping too low a profile. Once they reached the Magical Beast Mountain Range, he'd show Linley his full strength. He wondered if it would give him a shock.
Just then, Bebe started chattering excitedly.
"Linley, what's Bebe saying now?"
"He says he's really strong now. When we run into Level Seven or Level Eight magical beasts that neither of us can handle, he wants us to let him take care of them." Linley laughed helplessly.
"Haha, Bebe, it's too early to brag. Don't end up running for your life from an Level Eight magical beast."
With Garen leading the way, and with their speed, they soon approached the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
"Hmm?" Garen furrowed his brow.
"What is it?"
Linley asked.
"There should be bandits up ahead. Twelve of them. Bandits often ambush passing adventurers outside the Magical Beast Mountain Range. I'll take out the strongest one, and you can handle the other eleven." Garen spoke casually.
Linley was astonished. He was about to use Wind of Perception, but Garen stopped him.
"Don't use magic. If there's a wind mage among the bandits, he could sense the magical fluctuations and become alert."
Just then, Doehring Cowart floated out of the Coiling Dragon Ring and praised Garen.
"Linley, your brother seems extraordinary. Without the slightest trace to go on, even I couldn't sense any sign of bandits, yet he detected them in advance. How strange, how strange."
"Grandpa Doehring, Garen must have his own secret to have advanced to a Level Six mage so quickly."
Garen led Linley forward, keeping them hidden as they slowly closed in on the bandits.
It was midsummer, and the vegetation had grown even thicker. The outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range were a vast plain, where the dense grass provided excellent cover.
Garen casually shot the bandit leader dead with an arrow. Linley used a Level Five Earth Spike Array, badly wounding five of the other eleven bandits and killing six outright. He then chased down the wounded ones and finished them off with his Flat Blade.
Linley was astonished by Garen once again.
"Garen, you actually have a legendary Space Ring."
When the Purple Dragon Bow suddenly appeared in Garen's hand, Linley almost misdirected his spell.
"Yeah, there's a lot you don't know about me. Haha."
Garen laughed, quite pleased by Linley's astonishment.
After looting the bandits' packs, the two split the Magic Beast Cores and set off again.
Garen no longer cared about the little money the bandits carried, but this was Linley's first visit to the Magical Beast Mountain Range. He was delighted to get dozens of Level Four Magic Beast Cores and more than ten Level Five ones.
As they continued onward, they passed over some Level One and Level Two magical beasts. When they encountered Level Three or Level Four ones, Garen left them all to Linley so he could practice his combat skills.
They also came across a few human corpses along the way. Some had clearly been killed by magical beasts; others had obviously been killed by people.
Garen reminded Linley that the Magical Beast Mountain Range wasn't just home to magical beasts. Most humans there were enemies, too.
That night, Garen spotted two red dots approaching. Shortly after he alerted Linley, two Wind Wolves appeared in the bushes nearby.
Linley instantly cast a Level Four Shattering Stone, wounding one and killing the other. He hadn't expected the remaining wolf to howl, calling over more than twenty Wind Wolves.
"Hmm, this scene feels familiar. I think I've seen it before."
Garen had already flown into the air nearby with a Levitation Spell.
He wouldn't step in unless a Level Six magical beast showed up. Otherwise, Linley wouldn't get the chance to train.
He remembered that in the original story, Linley had met some of his classmates along the way. But Garen had hurried him along, changing the course of events. Yet here, the story had somehow converged again.
"This world has a fate law. Could this be fate? Even if you change a few minor things, does fate still pull certain events back onto their usual course?"
Garen couldn't help wondering.
Still, as long as he could make changes, that was enough. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to complete the later quest to save Doehring Cowart. The Side Quest rewards were extremely generous.
His earlier Tiger-Striped Warrior transformation had been a Side Quest reward, and it was still his greatest asset. He had a feeling that the later the Side Quest, the more generous the reward.
Watching Linley struggle through the battle below, Garen couldn't help marveling at his combat instincts. Linley had come to the Magical Beast Mountain Range for the first time, yet he could fight this well. No wonder he was the protagonist of this world.
After more than ten minutes, Linley managed to drive off the remaining Wind Wolves with a Level Five Gravity Spell, at the cost of a minor injury.
As he was collecting the spoils of battle—
"Linley, you're such a weakling. A few Level Four and Level Five Wind Wolves had you in this much of a mess? Haha."
Garen laughed as he descended from the sky.
"I know you're amazing. You're the best, all right?"
Linley had been feeling rather pleased with himself, but Garen's words left him speechless.
He thought to himself that there had been more than twenty Wind Wolves. Garen might not have done any better.
Once they had finished gathering everything, the two slowly left the area.
They hadn't gone far when Garen abruptly turned and fired an arrow without warning.
"Thwack!"
A shadow that had been lying in the grass took an arrow to the head. He had no idea when he'd been discovered, and his eyes brimmed with resentment as he died.
"He was pretty cautious. Too bad he ran into me."
Garen put the black-robed man's pack into his Space Ring.
This time, the two really did leave the area.
Linley had grown used to it. Along the way, he'd failed to detect magical beasts with Wind of Perception, yet Garen always seemed to know exactly where they were without using any kind of magic.
(End of Chapter)
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