Tear of the Meteor

"Kalin..."

Looking at the elven woman before her, Nia smiled with relief and peace of mind.

"I'm so glad to see you're alright."

"What could possibly be wrong with me? I thought you didn't care about anything except books."

The elven woman stretched out her arms, swaying her body from side to side, as she walked up to the two. Then, she widened her eyes in surprise, scrutinizing Li Lin from head to toe in disbelief.

"Your Excellency? You are Lady Luoxia?"

"That's right."

Li Lin shrugged, looked at the elven woman in front of him, and gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"Kalin, it seems you haven't changed much in all this time."

"No, no, no, don't talk about me, sir. You yourself have changed quite a bit."

Kalin approached Li Lin in surprise, carefully examining his body, hair, and everything else. She would occasionally reach out and pat Li Lin's shoulder or pinch Li Lin arm.

"Sigh... Yellow skin. That's quite rare. Black hair? To be honest, I think your old hair color suited you better. Hmm, you're in good health, much stronger than before. I've said it before, even without practicing magic and martial arts, improving your physical health would be beneficial. It's much better than not being able to get out of bed every time..."

You're still the same as before, you haven't changed at all.

Li Lin sighed helplessly. Although he had known Kalin's personality for a long time, he had thought that after so much time, things would have changed. But now it seemed that Kalin was still the same as before, with no intention of changing or wanting to change at all. However, this was a good thing, wasn't it? Standing here like this, with Nia and Kalin by his side, reminded Li Lin of those distant times, of that beautiful life he had lost.

"However, I knew all along that you wouldn't die so easily. It's hard to say about other Arcane Mage, but we Seven Ring Spirit Envoys have been by your side all this time. Don't we know what kind of person you are? Lustful, suspicious, and always looking to escape. So, even if our contact with you was severed, I knew you would definitely have a way..."

"Okay, okay, okay."

Li Lin had to stop Kalin from speaking, even though what she said was true, but now was not the time to talk about such things.

"We should probably prepare and continue the attack... Those Mind Flayer are quite troublesome. Moreover, we haven't found the Elder Brain yet, and we don't know exactly how it intends to deal with us..."

"Ah, the Elder Brain you're talking about, is it that big head that looks like it's been mixed with tofu and water? In that case, I think you don't need to worry anymore. I've smashed that weird thing to pieces. By the way, I've also released all those guys who were originally Mind Flayer. They're causing a huge ruckus inside right now. I'm afraid those poor octopus heads might have been chopped into mincemeat by now."

"... This couldn't be better."

After reclaiming the Isolation Barrier, the group quickly left the city on the verge of destruction. Of course, Li Lin didn't forget to cast a spell to confirm the results of the battle in the direction Kalin pointed out. Only after confirming that the tofu-like creature smashed to pieces by the stone was indeed the Mind Flayer's Elder Brain did he finally feel completely relieved. Of course, this inevitably earned him another round of complaints from Kalin, but Li Lin was already used to it.

Originally designed to reflect elven characteristics, Li Lin naturally strived to embody these traits in his weapon. However, something went wrong. While Kalin appeared to be a perfect elf, her personality was far from the noble image he had envisioned. Kalin was always capricious and somewhat unkempt. Li Lin had tried to reason with her several times, but Kalin remained defiant. Even after leveraging the friendly relations with the Elven Kingdom to force her to go there for "refinement," it seemed to have yielded no results. Instead, when the Elven Queen sent her back, she said to Li Lin meaningfully, "Now she is the truly perfect elf."

Since even the Elf Queen had given her a notarized statement, Li Lin had no choice but to abandon his idea of "educating" Kalin and let her be. Besides, as a magical weapon, Kalin was indeed very powerful, and Li Lin couldn't bear to have her reforged.

On the way back, Li Lin finally learned everything that had happened to Kalin.

Like Nia, she sensed Li Lin's death immediately, but unlike Nia, Kalin had no intention of searching for Li Lin. Whether it was because she genuinely believed Li Lin was an immortal monster, or something else, Kalin remained with the elves, responsible for helping them evacuate the wounded and sick who had emerged from the battle against the Five-Nation Alliance.

At this moment, a division arose among the elves. Unable to bear witnessing their brethren die in such a grotesque and tragic manner, some elves demanded resolute resistance. They were not content with merely defending the forest and engaging in a hopeless resistance against the allied forces; they demanded greater power to annihilate the Five-Nation Alliance. The Magic Empire had been destroyed, but many mages still remained. If these mages could be gathered, what difficulty would there be in defeating the alliance and recreating a new Magic Empire led by elves? Simply annihilate the Five Kingdoms Alliance! None of this would be a problem!

However, their radical attitude was far removed from the peaceful and gentle ideals of the elves. Moreover, the elven mages of the Magic Empire were equally disheartened and had no intention of helping. Kalin was helpless. She was merely an observer, unable to do anything on behalf of the elven race, and she also knew very well that her time was running out. As a magical Weapon Spirit, without the replenishment of her master's Magic Power, it was only a matter of time before she reverted to her original form.

Then, a split occurred within the elves.

Those elves with radical ideas eventually chose to leave, while Kalin, after much deliberation, decided to go with them to see what was going on. Staying on the island was boring anyway, so it might be more interesting to be with these radical elves.

That's really interesting.

The continent was far more dangerous back then than it is now, especially since the five-nation alliance had been searching for and eliminating the remaining forces and personnel of the Magic Empire. These elves naturally became their target of close attention, and it took them a full two years to travel from Elf Island to the Underdark. Moreover, the number of elves had been reduced to one-third; the rest were either killed or died from illness due to their inability to adapt to the continent's climate.

Next, they arrived in the Underdark.

At that time, the elves had not yet fully transformed into Dark Elf, but Kalin didn't say much. In any case, following these elves and protecting them along the way had indeed been a very interesting experience for her. Kalin had already made her plans. After settling the elves into their homes in the Underdark, she would revert to her original form, passing the time by reminiscing about her adventures over the years, while also storing up energy, waiting for the moment her master would call her again.

Kalin's plan was undeniably shrewd. She had already prepared for retirement when the elves began building their first-ever city. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Just then, Mind Flayer, who had inexplicably migrated from the Astral Plane to the Prime Material Plane, arrived in the Underdark. These self-proclaimed "noble" races naturally wouldn't dig caves and build houses themselves, so they readily set their sights on the hardworking elves and immediately added them to their slave list.

For the already exhausted elves, the hostile native creatures of the Underdark were already keeping them constantly on their toes, and now an even more formidable opponent had appeared... Therefore, Kalin had no choice but to temporarily cancel her vacation plans and venture alone into the Mind Flayer's city to launch an attack. Although the victory was glorious, Kalin was not a mage and could not confine herself like Li Lin, so she was imprisoned by the Mind Flayer's signature summoning technique. However, she didn't care; after all, she was sleeping wherever she wanted. Thus, this elf, whose personality was somewhat eccentric to begin with, nonchalantly reverted to her original form under the Mind Flayer's imprisonment and fell into a deep sleep. As for the other elves? She had done her best; the rest was up to their fate.

That's definitely something that suits Kalin's personality.

The three chatted as they walked, and Li Lin and Nia told Kalin about the current situation. When she learned that nearly a thousand years had passed and that the Magic Empire had been completely destroyed, the elf simply shrugged.

"Anyway, you're going to rebuild it, so what's there to worry about?"

"Of course, I also want to introduce you to a few new companions."

"Hmm? Your new companion, sir? It's another woman from the 'Unconventional Library' group, isn't it? I knew you couldn't have a man by your side..."

The three walked and talked, but after they turned the corner at the cave entrance, they all stopped at the same time.

A battlefield of carnage.

The cave was now littered with the mutilated corpses of Mind Flayer, their limbs and tentacles cruelly ripped off and used as makeshift paintbrushes to create incomprehensible abstract artworks on the stone walls. The air was thick with the stench of blood, almost nauseating. The pale blue blood of the Mind Flayer looked eerily strange; no one could fathom what had transpired here.

"Ah, Master, you're finally back?"

Upon seeing Li Lin appear, Angela, who was bored out of her mind, casually tossed aside the tentacle she had snatched from some Mind Flayer, revealed an innocent and lovely smile, and pounced on Li Lin, throwing herself into his arms.

"These octopus heads are so boring. I haven't even done anything yet, and I've already turned into this. They're such fragile toys, not fun at all."

She wrinkled her nose, pouted, and complained unhappily.

Kalin stared at the two of them, her eyes wide with surprise, her mouth agape.

"Sir... you actually wouldn't even spare a little girl like this?"