Forest Song City

After reaching A-rank adventurer level, leveling up became rather troublesome.

In smaller cities, A-rank jobs were rare, let alone S-rank ones.

After we left Sharia, I basically never stayed long in any other city.

Most of the time, we were on the road. Occasionally, when we passed through cities along the way, it was only to replenish supplies.

Nothing unexpected happened on the road. We followed the post roads, though after leaving the Three Magic Kingdoms, public order along the way was not quite as good.

But the members of our party were all fairly strong, so we did not run into anything particularly dangerous. Ordinary Demonic Beasts were all handled by Isolte when she went up to clear them out.

She had come out this time to temper her swordsmanship, so I did not fight her for the chance.

Ever since we kissed in the sky above Sharia, she and I had become extremely close. Holding hands on the road, stealing light kisses while gathering firewood—these were all everyday trifles, not worth mentioning.

Also, women really did develop earlier than men. At this age, in her teens, she already had obvious changes. She had grown taller, and certain places had grown larger too.

I told a kind little lie, saying that if I rubbed them, they would grow bigger. She actually believed it, which filled my heart with incomparable guilt. But when there was an advantage to be taken, my hands did not hesitate in the slightest.

It reminded me of my previous life, back in high school when I had my first love. At that time, as a boy, I had behaved especially timidly in a relationship. I had never taken the initiative to kiss my girlfriend, let alone make a move.

My feelings began in passion but stopped at propriety; even brushing against her little hand made my heart pound wildly. Thinking about it now, I really had not been a man back then. I had wasted so many chances.

Thank the heavens for giving me a chance to start over. This time, I absolutely would not make that sort of low-level mistake. I wanted to do the things a normal man liked to do, loved to do. I wanted to leave no regrets.

Oh, right. When Isolte first heard that the more they were rubbed, the bigger they would get, she had been very resistant. But after sensing that I liked it, she slowly stopped resisting me.

Later, after I asked her carefully, she said to me in a small voice, "I heard people say that your family all likes them small. So I was afraid that if they got bigger, you wouldn't like me anymore."

"My dear, how could that be? Those are all slanders outsiders use against our family. I don't care about anyone else, but I, Dolin Prodia Greyrat, can swear right here: I absolutely like them big. And the bigger they are, the more I like them. The bigger they are, the more I'll be unable to put them down. Believe me, you can grow without worry. I'll also often help massage you on your path of growth."

Then the little girl shyly threw herself into my arms. Her bashful face had turned completely red.

Looking at her bashful appearance, I felt extremely satisfied. Was this the feeling of being the "scumbag" I had envied most in my previous life? Women in this world were so easy to win over. Just a couple of cheesy pickup lines, and the other person would be too shy to even lift her head.

If this were modern society, and I told my developing girlfriend that I liked them big and wanted to help rub them, I would probably get slapped across the face. Then all I would hear would be, "I knew you were up to no good. Tell me, have you said this to other women before? Was your ex-girlfriend really big? Do you like me, or do you like her?" Just thinking about it made me shake my head. I might as well cherish this simple world before my eyes!

While my relationship with Isolte was heating up, Lilith was also constantly growing. Of course, the growth I meant was not that kind of growth. Though she had also gotten bigger. But because Isolte was around, I had not measured her size in a long time.

She and our party's scout Niki were responsible for the daily meals together. The two of them seemed to hit it off at first sight, and soon got along very well. Though Niki was a young woman around twenty to thirty years old, when it came to their love of delicious food, the two of them still had many topics in common.

Because Lilith had learned cooking while receiving maid training in our household, it was completely different from Niki's unorthodox way of cooking.

Every time we caught game along the way, the two of them would discuss for a long time exactly how it should be prepared to taste better. Personally, I preferred Niki's barbecue skills. She had many seasonings in her pack, and after mixing them, she could produce a fragrance similar to cumin.

It made me remember the roadside barbecue I ate in my previous life. The first time I tasted that flavor, I was so moved that tears flowed down my face. When Lilith saw that I liked eating someone else's cooking so much, she was so anxious that she cried. She probably lost confidence in her own cooking skills, but later, the fish soup she stewed and the steamed meat she made both received unanimous praise from the other party members.

Maybe everyone simply found cuisines they did not often eat especially novel. The result was that I liked the dishes Niki made, while the others liked the dishes Lilith made.

After suffering a bit of a blow at first, Lilith adjusted her mindset extremely quickly. Then she soon got along well with Niki, and they began learning each other's skills.

It could only be said that when it came to adjusting her mentality, Lilith truly had talent. Otherwise, as Doris in her previous life, she could not have struggled to survive under Darius's cruel hands when she was that young.

If it were someone with a fragile heart, they might not have lasted the first week before committing suicide.

In this life, I would not let her encounter that sort of tragedy again. For someone with such a tenacious nature, such a tragedy would only be an even greater, even longer torment.

After leaving the northern Magic Tri-Kingdoms, while traveling along the stretch of road between the northern three kingdoms and the Biheril Kingdom, we encountered a robbery by routed soldiers once.

They were probably surviving soldiers from some small nation after a war. They had murdered, burned, pillaged, and kidnapped all along the way, and when they ran into our caravan, they did not plan to let us go either.

At the time, there were roughly over five hundred enemies in total, and behind them were several thousand slaves they had captured. When they saw our small caravan, they sent out over twenty riders, intending to come over and rob us too.

At first, Clark even asked whether we should give them some money to ward off disaster. But in reality, there was no need at all. The other side did not even give us a chance to talk; they drew their swords and charged straight at us.

After easily dealing with over twenty mounted routed soldiers, the main force behind them charged over as well.

Considering that the other side had many horses, we could not run at all. I chose to have the party meet the enemy.

After all, they were the ones who wanted to kill me. And seeing that they had abducted so many slaves, I found it extremely intolerable. I did not show mercy.

I cast Great Earth Alabaster where the enemies were concentrated.

O bones of ancient gods sleeping in the depths of the ley lines! Let my blood be the guide, and awaken the bones of the earth! Mountains rise, ravines collapse, my will is the law of your new birth! Let this body turn to stone and become dust, let this soul merge into the earth's core and never part! Great Earth Alabaster, heed my command—reshape mountains and rivers, annihilate every trace of the enemy!

In an instant, the earth split open. Starting from the place where I had cast the magic, the ground sank, as if a basin had been created out of thin air. Then the ground within the basin began to shake, and countless cracks appeared in the middle. Many routed soldiers fell into the cracks and never climbed out again. Finally, I gathered my mana and created an earth-and-mud landslide inside the basin, like a sea wave crashing over. The people and horses in the basin were all swept into the mudslide. In the end, the world returned to calm, but the ground basin created by the Saint-tier magic remained. From this day onward, for countless years to come, it would never change.

The people guarding the slaves saw such powerful magic, and their souls practically scattered in fright. Then they all ran off in a puff of smoke.

There were still over a thousand slaves left. We did not ignore them. I prepared to take them to the nearest town. Now that their homes had been destroyed, if we abandoned them and continued on our way, it would undoubtedly be leaving them to fend for themselves in this ice-and-snow-covered world. Most of them would freeze to death.

Fortunately, those routed soldiers had plundered a large amount of food, along with jewels and coins. I chose some people who looked relatively kind and had them evenly distribute the remaining food, jewels, and coins to the others.

In light of the magic I had just used, these people now all believed I was a god, an existence sent down by the heavens to save them. As for my requests, these people did not dare outward obedience and inward defiance.

Then we led this group for roughly over two months before reaching the nearest town. Though so many people slowed our travel speed, after saving so many commoners, I still felt it was not a loss at all. I did this with a clear conscience. No matter which world it was, when helping others brought joy, the greatest gain was always the satisfaction in one's own heart.

I was not a purely good person. I had my own selfish motives too. My selfish motive was that after helping others, the gratitude they gave me in return put me in a pleasant mood, made me feel happy and satisfied.

Stopping and going all along the way, and after parting with Teacher Bradycond at the Red Dragon Upper Jaw, nearly one year and nine months later, we arrived at Forest Song City in the Biheril Kingdom.

The Biheril Kingdom was completely different from the other countries in the northern Central Continent. Perhaps because it was close to the Lingus Sea, the sea breeze brought relatively warm and humid air, so this country was not covered in ice and snow all year round.

In the Biheril Kingdom, there were ports, mines, and vast forests. Forest Song City sat in the hinterland of the Biheril Kingdom, surrounded by endless forests of giant trees. The main body of the city was built upon the branches and trunks of several World Trees more than a hundred meters in diameter.

There was an enormous elven lineage here, and they called themselves Wood Elves. Forest Song City was also known as the cradle of the Wood Elves, the Capital of Magic Ballads, and the Heart of the Forest.

The homes, shops, and temples here were all built by relying on the branches and trunks of ancient trees. Living vines were woven into bridges and stairways, and the surfaces of the buildings were covered in glowing moss. At night, the entire city would glow with a faint ghostly green light.

The central structure was:

The Song Holy Tree, a golden giant tree over three thousand years old. Its trunk had been hollowed out into the "Resonance Hall," and a singer's voice could travel through the tree's veins and spread across the entire city.

Vine Council Hall: the city's decision-making body. Twelve Wood Elf elders transmitted messages through plant root systems, sensing any disturbance in the forest in real time.

Main races: Wood Elves (50%), humans (40%), with a small number of Beast-kin and Dwarves.

This fantasy-like magical city was something every single person in our party was seeing for the first time.

After settling into an inn, Isolte and I went to the Adventurer Guild to look for my teacher, while the other members prepared to wander around.

After arriving at the guild, we did not find Teacher Bredikond inside. Knowing her habits, she was definitely lying around sleeping in that place again.

Since I could not find her, I left a message on the Adventurer Guild's notice board saying that I had arrived and was looking for Teacher Bredikond.

Then I went with Isolte to see what missions this Adventurer Guild had that suited us. After all, our ultimate goal was still to reach S-rank adventurer status.

Right now, we still needed to complete another fifteen A-rank missions, or another ten S-rank missions, before we could rank up.

To be honest, there was not much difference between an S-rank party and an A-rank party. An A-rank party could take S-rank missions, but an S-rank party could also only take S-rank missions. There were no higher-level missions for S-rank parties to accept.

However, in some places, only S-rank parties were often conscripted by the state. For example, large-scale Demonic Beast disasters, or newly discovered labyrinths found by accident. Sometimes the state would organize the S-rank parties within its borders to go deal with them together.

After all, when it came to dealing with Demonic Beasts and labyrinths, adventurers were sometimes more professional than national armies. But adventurer parties and states had a cooperative relationship, and adventurer parties could refuse such missions. Though that would offend the local power, it was still better than losing their lives. Adventurer parties also moved around often, and very few S-rank parties focused on operating in only one country.

After waiting another two days without seeing Teacher Bredikond come to find me, I did not stubbornly keep waiting. I took my teammates and accepted an A-rank mission to carry out together.

Although it was an A-rank mission, the difficulty was not too great for us. After two days of travel, we arrived at an underground mine called Kru. After going over a dozen kilometers deep into the mine, we eliminated all kinds of Demonic Beasts along the way and found this mission's target on the lowest level: a huge ancient ruin.

Our mission this time was not to enter the interior of the ruins, only to determine the ruins' specific condition and record the route to reach them.

The inside of this ruin was like a huge city. Within the city were all kinds of sculptures and houses from some unknown century. We drew the specific shapes of the sculptures on paper so that people with the relevant knowledge could investigate the city's exact information. Above the massive underground city were many flying Magic Beasts, so the inside of the city would not be safe either.

By the time we left the ruins and returned to Forest Song City, seven days had already passed. After arriving at the Adventurer Guild, we handed in the materials from this expedition and completed the commission.

Just as I was preparing to go check the notice board, four Wood Elves stopped us.

Wood Elves actually looked exactly the same as the Long-ear Race in the great forest beside the Millis Holy Country. But because there were many tribes in the great forest, and the main race there was Beast-kin, the elves over there were called the Long-ear Race.

In Forest Song City, elves and humans made up a larger population base. There were fewer Beast-kin and Dwarves. So the Long-ear Race here called themselves Wood Elves.

The Wood Elf at the head looked at us and said, "Which one of you is Dolin Prodia Greyrat?"

"I am." I stepped forward.

"Elder Federico wants to see you. Come with me."

"May I ask, if it isn't too rude, why your elder wants to see me?"

"We don't know the specific reason either, but he told us to wait here and, when adventurers came to check the notice board, if there was a Dolin Prodia Greyrat among them, to bring him over to see him."

The only message I had placed on this notice board was the one looking for Teacher Bredikond. Teacher was also an elf, so this should have something to do with her. No mistake.

I had my teammates return to the inn. Isolte was extremely worried about me and wanted to go with me, but I did not agree.

I secretly told Isolte that if anything unexpected happened, she should take Lilith back to the Asura Kingdom and notify my father to send people to rescue me.

Although that sentence probably did not mean much—a country a thousand li away would rarely give the Asura Kingdom face—but it successfully calmed Isolte down and gave her a reason to stay at the inn and wait for me to return.

I followed the four Wood Elves for a long way. During that time, we even crossed suspension bridges and reached different great trees.

In the end, we stopped in front of a wooden house in a very elegant surrounding environment.

The Wood Elf at the head knocked on the wooden house's door. What made me happy was that I once again heard a familiar voice. From inside the wooden house came a woman's voice saying, "Who is it?"

That voice was exceptionally familiar to me. Because I had often heard it before in the palace mage dormitory in Ars. After the door opened, there was another slovenly face. A woman with messy, unkempt hair opened the door.

Before the Wood Elf at the door could speak, I took the initiative to greet my teacher. "Good morning, Teacher Bredikond."

Sitting inside the very spacious wooden house, Teacher Bredikond received me.

"Dolin, you came later than I expected. I've already asked around about your deeds. I heard you formed an adventurer party, and that it has already risen to A-rank."

"Yes, Teacher. I formed my own party in Rosenburg, called Dawn of Ignis. And in Sharia, I raised the party to A-rank. During the journey to Forest Song City, something unexpected happened, so I was delayed a little. But I should still have arrived here on time, without exceeding two years."

"Yes, you are very punctual. And I already know about how you rescued slaves on the road. Now many important figures in the Biheril Kingdom know about your deed of rescuing the displaced people. They also know about how you used magic to bury five hundred disorderly soldiers in a pit."

"It spread that quickly? I hope I haven't made those important figures feel threatened enough to want to get rid of me."

"That probably won't happen. You were born in Asura, and Asura does not border Biheril. They won't be willing to offend Asura just because you're somewhat dangerous."

At this moment, a young elf with white hair at his temples came in from outside the door.

Teacher Bredikond stood up and introduced him to me very formally. "This is my father, Federico Galanod. Father, this is the apprentice I told you about, the one I took in Asura, Dolin Prodia Greyrat."

"Oh, from the Greyrat family? Hello, I am Federico Galanod, father of Bredikond Galanod. Long ago, I was even acquainted with the first ancestor of your Greyrat family. Back then, he was just like you, very talented. I fought alongside him, though unfortunately, that was already a very long time ago."

"Hello, sir. I am very pleased to meet you. I am Teacher Bredikond's disciple. You may call me Dolin. That would make me even happier."

"Haha, very courteous. I like that. Much better than this unbecoming daughter of mine. If you have any problems in Forest Song City, you may give my name at any time. I won't disturb you two from talking any further. I'll go back and rest."

After chatting idly with Teacher Bredikond for a while longer, I followed the same road back to the inn.

So Teacher Bredikond's father turned out to be one of the elders on Forest Song City's council of elders.

Elves originally possessed eternal lifespans, but after so many years of bloodline intermingling, pure-blooded elves were basically no longer seen. As long as even a bit of another race's bloodline was mixed in, elves could no longer maintain eternal lifespans, though their actual lifespans were still much longer than humans'.

Teacher Bredikond's father was an elf over a thousand years old.

Also, Teacher Bradycond told me there was actually another reason she had called me here this time, but she couldn't tell me yet. She could only tell me after I raised my adventurer rank to S. And that reason had something to do with the king-class water magic she knew, Abyssal Eternity.

Looks like I need to keep working hard.

Team Name: Dawn of Ignis

Team Rank: A

Team Members: 7

Team Missions: F 0 times E 10 times D 35 times C 10 times B 10 times A 11 times S 0 times