Krog's Hope of Revival

Bernal and Selena sat on the steps before the castle gates, watching Dago, a handsome young man amid the crystalline beauty, slowly approach them.

He slowly climbed the steps, sat beside the bloodless Bernal, and took a healing potion from his storage ring before handing it to him.

"You were right not to kill them."

Bernal weakly looked at the potion in his hand, tipped his head back, and drained it in one gulp. In a low voice, he said, "The Thorn Ring encourages internal competition, but it does not permit internal slaughter. No one can bear the punishment for killing a fellow member."

"So that's why you managed to survive until now?"

Dago remained expressionless. "Had I known that, should I have waited until they finished torturing you before coming in?"

Hearing that, Bernal's face still failed to regain any color. He smiled bitterly and shook his head. He did not know how to answer Dago. He had indeed revered the Thorn Ring's rules a little too much.

Honestly, Dago had already been merciful. But if that group had truly intended to kill him and Selena, they would definitely have gone through with it. They were young, after all. If they claimed they had acted in a hot-blooded moment, what could Wizard Hall do to them?

At most, they would be expelled from Kletam City and forbidden from ever entering again. Considering the benefits they could gain from Thorns of Pain, that was not a price they could not pay.

There were many sides to things that Bernal could not see. Just as Dren had said before, the master of the Silver Ring had once protected him, yet he himself had never understood why.

Bernal solemnly apologized to Dago. Some of his thinking had been too naive.

In the