"What's going on? I tracked the magical response of Gill's life gem to the Evil Valley, over two thousand kilometers away from Broken Soul Slope. How did you transport them? Didn't I ask you to keep an eye on them? I could handle the Frey assassins' disturbance at the academy myself. Why did you come back to create chaos? Can't you prioritize?" The female instructor furiously scolded Dean Buck, nearly tearing him to shreds in her rage.
"It's bad," Dean Buck said, sweating profusely and pale. "Priest Sine betrayed us. He was a spy for Frey and tampered with the transport!"
"Damn it, I intended to move the students away from Felicity, only to send them into the dragon's den," the female instructor quickly calmed down, no longer angry. She pondered for a moment and said, "Now, the most important thing is to find Gill and Rody as soon as possible. Go immediately, and I'll see the king and queen to ask for reinforcements. We must find Gill and Rody at any cost."
"Could it be that Rody is also..." Dean Buck realized something.
"Our ancestors used the blood of tens of thousands to save one treasure, and you carelessly sent two more out. You fool, I don't have time to scold you. Go find them now!" The female instructor stamped her foot and shot off like lightning.
"I've made the biggest mistake. I shouldn't have put Rody and Gill together. It's over," Dean Buck was sweating heavily.
"Don't worry, our ancestors will bless us from heaven, watching over our hope every moment. Buck, stay calm, we can still make it," said a man who was always drunk but now sober, standing behind Dean Buck, his presence like an unsheathed sword, full of killing intent.
In the magic tower, the old priest saw Dean Buck enter with murderous intent and smiled sadly.
Dean Buck, seeing the broken transport circle on the ground, was so angry his eyes turned blood-red. He struggled to control himself, his hands trembling, indicating his inner turmoil.
"It's too late, Buck. You're late," the old priest slowly said.
"Sine, if I remember correctly, I used to call you teacher. Why did you do this? Have you been so pervaded by the power of light from being a priest for so long? Have you become a dog of the celestial beings? How dare you send our generations' hope to such a deathtrap? Does the blood of Felicity's betrayal still linger in you?" Dean Buck asked coldly, his eyes bloodshot.
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"The celestial beings of the heavenly realm are too powerful. We on the ground cannot contend with them," the old priest spoke dejectedly. "A faint hope has drained Felicity of blood. What has our once-powerful empire turned into? Felicity can no longer bear another war. By burying this hope with my own hands, I hope to exchange it for Felicity's future peace. Buck, I know you hate me. You can kill me. I won't blame you. You were my proudest student, and dying by your hand is my honor."
"You old fool, we were hoping to rejuvenate under your elders' leadership, but you became more muddled with age," Dean Buck roared in fury. "Sine, by doing this, how can you justify it to the tens of thousands who died protecting our hope in the past? What did you teach us back then?"
"I'm sorry to our ancestors, but for Felicity, I had to do this," the old priest said, tears streaming down his face, sighing.
"Even if Felicity drains every last drop of blood from its people, hope must endure," Dean Buck moved behind the old priest, suppressing his rage. "This is the last time I'll call you teacher. Teacher, say your last words."
"Buck, I informed Frey about the hope in the land of evil," the old priest said slowly as he closed his eyes.
"You're seeking death!" Buck, furious to the extreme, raised his hand to strike with the force of thunder, but a strong hand held him back. The usually inebriated man behind him said slowly, "Let's go, he's already taken his own life. He angered you just to seek a quick death. Buck, what we need now is not hatred, but calmness."
"Teacher Sine, do you know what I want to say to you in the end?" The usually inebriated Drunken Cat, his eyes now sparkling with determination, said firmly, "Hope endures! Whatever you did, it won't change that."
"My dear disciples, the celestial beings of the heavenly realm will make Felicity bleed dry," the old priest slowly collapsed to the ground, black blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
"Even if Felicity bleeds dry, there will still be one enduring thing - hope!"
In the dense forest, Rody and Gill struggled to move forward.
Three days had passed, and they had covered less than fifty kilometers. Rody realized this place was far more dangerous than he had imagined, with powerful monsters frequently encountered. It was no wonder the A-level bounty from the mercenaries' guild remained unclaimed - ordinary mercenaries stood no chance here.
Rody kept trying to find the original rendezvous point.
According to the map, within a hundred and thirty kilometers before Broken Soul Slope, there should be at least two small cities and five towns, dozens of villages, two well-known mountains, and a cliff visible from afar. But Rody couldn’t find any human settlements.
"Maybe this isn't Broken Soul Slope," Gill said softly, voicing Rody's suspicion. "Could we have been teleported to the wrong place? Or did Dean Buck do this intentionally?"
"Most likely, it's one of Buck's silly ideas, changing the location last minute to test us. No wonder he gave us a month!" Rody exclaimed angrily.
"I'm a bit worried about Ollie. She's impulsive. If she doesn't listen to Sonya, she'll be in trouble. And Leo and Benson, they're swordsmen with weak sensing abilities," Gill, after spending three days alone with Rody, spoke more smoothly and had grown braver, but if Rody looked at her, she would still shyly lower her head in a cute manner.
"Why aren't you worried about Tommy and Terry?" Rody wondered; those two seemed the weakest.
"Tommy and Terry might not be strong in combat, but they have good self-preservation skills. It's just a feeling," Gill's sensing ability impressed Rody, who would not have such confidence if he hadn’t secretly observed Tommy and Terry with the magic mirror.
"Your feeling is accurate," Rody praised. "Gill, is your sensing ability natural or cultivated through hard work?"
"I don't remember much about the past. I only recall Auntie Paji often giving me boxes to guess what gifts were inside. Sometimes I could guess correctly, but often I was wrong," Gill's words made Rody feel humble; he wouldn’t be able to guess such things either, unless he used his psychic powers to peek inside.
"Can you guess what others are thinking?" Rody asked.
"No," Gill shook her head, then quickly lowered it, her cheeks turning red as she murmured, "But I can tell if someone means well towards me!"