Planting a Seed of Hope

Meanwhile, Lincon left the small courtyard and made his way to the fortress ramparts.

The darkness was as deep as ink. Although Lincon had cleared out Longwind Fortress, many Dark Creatures still wandered outside.

A faint black mist drifted toward the fortress on the night wind, but whenever it was about to seep inside, an unseen force pushed it back.

Beyond everyone's sight, a huge seed sprouting fresh buds seemed to have fused with Longwind Fortress itself. The seemingly damaged walls were actually covered by a faint green barrier.

Several Defense Corps members stood watch beneath the lights, clutching their weapons tightly, their expressions tense as they stared without blinking into the darkness beyond the walls.

Where there were many people, Dark Creatures were more likely to gather and form a Black Tide. Though Longwind Fortress had only a little over eight hundred people, it still counted as a small-to-medium population center.

Most of the Defense Corps had lost family members and harbored hatred toward Dark Creatures, making them braver than ordinary people when facing the darkness.

However, what they had not expected was that instead of spotting traces of Dark Creatures first tonight, they saw Lincon.

At first, some wondered whether he was a Dark Creature in disguise. Such things were not uncommon in the darkness; those eerie creatures loved exploiting the weaknesses in human hearts.

But when the Ancient Maple Guardian standing at the gate shifted from a disguised state into a treant form and gazed respectfully in their direction, they realized they had been worrying too much.

"Sir!" Low greetings from Defense Corps members rose wherever Lincon passed.

Guan Teng held a refined iron spear and quickly stepped before Lincon.

Lincon waved a hand. "I'm just here to run an experiment. Go back to what you were doing."

Hearing that, Guan Teng almost immediately guessed the reason.

Did sir come up with something new again? That Rune Array from last night had shocked him for a long time.

The Shrine and Runes within Longwind Fortress had long filled these newcomers with curiosity, but they had never dared ask too many questions.

If anyone currently understood the city lord best, it was probably the governor who had arrived here before them.

Lincon weighed the Berry Bomb in his hand. Under Guan Teng's astonished gaze, a strange humanoid plant suddenly emerged from the shadows.

The Reed Assassin was nearly as tall as a person, and the faint pressure radiating from them made Guan Teng involuntarily take two steps back.

Lincon handed the Explosive Berry to the Reed Assassin and had them take it into the darkness to test its power.

The Reed Assassin did not hesitate. The golden needles covering their palms softened and, like tentacles, accepted the Explosive Berry.

They leaped straight from the ramparts and charged into the nearby darkness at high speed.

Not long afterward, a violent explosion rang out from the darkness, followed by a flash of fire.

[You killed an E-Rank Aberration Disaster. Sunlight +1, Main Class Experience +10, Secondary Class Experience +10]

Prompts continued flashing across the panel as the Reed Assassin turned into a golden afterimage, weaving through the darkness.

This time, Lincon not only wanted to test the Explosive Berry's power, but also to see what the Reed Assassin was capable of.

The results were exactly as he had expected. Even among D-Class Ability Users, the Reed Assassin would have been considered exceptionally powerful.

Most importantly, they did not fear the darkness, and the reed needles they fired could easily kill Dark Creatures weaker than them.

Under special circumstances, they could also release all their reed needles at once, dealing damage across a wide area.

Half an hour later, the Reed Assassin returned to the fortress ramparts, several Dark Crystals hanging from their softened golden needle-tentacles.

On the panel, they had already killed more than a dozen Dark Creatures for Lincon.

Guan Teng stared in stunned disbelief. "Sir, is this your new Plant Guardian?"

Lincon nodded. "The Reed Assassin is my personal guard, responsible for protecting me at close range."

Hearing this, Guan Teng looked ashamed. In his view, after what had happened last night, sir truly no longer trusted their abilities. That was why he had cultivated a personal guard capable of protecting him at close range.

Last night, Lincon had personally dealt with the most dangerous Devouring Worm and Raging Bull. Meanwhile, they had become the ones who needed Lincon to set aside his work to help them. Guan Teng still felt deeply guilty over it.

Because of that, the thought of becoming stronger had filled his mind all day.

But the gap between ordinary people and Ability Users was not something training could make up for, which left Guan Teng deeply troubled.

Lincon noticed Guan Teng's expression and raised an eyebrow slightly. Leaning against the battlements, his voice drifted slowly on the night wind. "What are you thinking about?"

"Sir, I'm thinking about how to become stronger!" Guan Teng lowered his head and answered honestly.

His voice came from deep in his throat, carrying a trace of stifled frustration and unwillingness.

In this era, apart from Ability Users, ordinary lives were as cheap as weeds. They could be consumed by darkness on any given night, let alone protect someone.

Their Defense Corps sounded impressive enough, but in reality, it took several of them to face a single E-Rank creature.

Without Li Zhouhai, they would not even have the right to confront a D-rank creature. Even when assisting from the side, Li Zhouhai bore nearly all the pressure.

Lincon had not expected Guan Teng to be thinking about this, and he froze for a moment.

After pondering for a while, he took three Rune Stones from his pocket and handed them to Guan Teng.

He had made these Rune Stones during his free time after giving some to Zhang Rui during the day. They contained not only Reinforcement Runes and Purification Stones, but also an Enhancement Rune Stone that even Zhang Rui did not have.

In theory, these were indeed things that could grant power and cause an ordinary object to undergo a qualitative transformation.

But Lincon himself had not figured out how they could be applied to humans.

He had once experimented on himself, inscribing Reinforcement Runes onto his body and trying to see whether Runes could strengthen the human body.

The result was naturally a failure. Whether Runes only affected objects or Ability Users had completely exceeded the limits of current Rune capabilities, Lincon had felt no change in his body whatsoever.

The reason he was willing to give the Rune Stones to Guan Teng was simply that he could not bear to watch the light in the other man's eyes gradually fade. He merely wanted to give him a sliver of hope.

Perhaps a warrior in despair really could blaze a new path for Runes.

Lincon said calmly, "These are Rune Stones I recently developed. They contain the power of Runes, though I usually use that power on the Shrine and on lifeless objects without souls. As for whether they will work on ordinary people, I don't know."

Guan Teng carefully accepted the Rune Stones. Looking at the strange characters carved on their surfaces, he gently touched them, as though he could sense a special power contained within.

"How you use these three Rune Stones is up to you. Remember not to hurt yourself."

Lincon patted Guan Teng on the shoulder. After trying to comfort him, he turned and left.

He did not know how Guan Teng would ultimately use those Rune Stones. He had only planted them in the other man's heart as a seed of hope. Perhaps one day, it would grow into a towering tree.