Tethra looked again at the woman that was holding his shoulder. The woman still had her eyes closed but it seemed like she could see better than normal people. She is quite beautiful, but not out of the world type or the fiery type, rather the next door kind older sister type. She wore a white gown that brought out the feeling of pureness. Tethra guessed that she was an outer disciple because of the white robe she used. Elder Pan already told Tethra about the difference of robe’s color in this sect when he was registering earlier.
An outer disciple wore a white robe, an inner disciple wore an orange robe, a core disciple wore a green robe, a direct disciple wore a violet robe, and an elder wore a striped black robe. The stripe on an Elder Robe showed their sub-rank. No stripe means an Outer Elder, 1 stripe means an Inner Elder, 2 stripes means a Core Elder, 3 stripes means a Vice Elder, and 4 stripes means a Head Elder. Actually, those were not a hierarchy, it only differentiates their job and merits. Sometimes an Outer Elder could be stronger than a Core Elder. That’s why all disciples respected Elders equally.
Tethra heaved a sigh of relief at the fact that the one in front of him is a fellow disciple. If he met an Elder or even the Sect Master, he would be interrogated for sure.
“Fellow disciple, what do you need from me?” Tethra asked while forcing the best smile he could. The young woman’s corner of mouth rose a bit from Tethra’s words.
“Finally, you want to answer my question. How about we sit there first?” The young woman pointed at the bench she just sat on earlier.
“Fine, I’m Tethra, what’s your name?” Tethra asked while sitting on the bench. He felt like her strength is unfathomable but if that was the case, why is she still an Outer Disciple like him.
“I’m Bai Ning” It was indeed proven that Bai Ning is a patient person, she didn’t ask what she should have asked first. On the other hand, Tethra is an impatient person, so of course he couldn’t stay silent longer.
“So, what are you doing here this early, Miss Bai?” Tethra used a formal word because he really didn’t want to get trouble himself in case she is a daughter of an influential family.
“I’m always here every morning, playing this harp in front of these statues” Bai Ning said with her eyes still closed and mouth revealing a faint smile.
“So, Miss Bai, why don’t we just get straight to the point, what do you want to ask?”
“I’m just curious about how did you manage to do that”
“Do what?” a clueless answer is the best lie he could manage without thinking.
“Of course, that flying and glowing tears and letters” And certainly, who the hell would believe it.
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“Are Miss Bai sure Miss Bai hadn’t seen it wrong? I never saw Miss Bai open her eyes, maybe you’re hallucinating?”
“No way, I closed my eyes because my eyes are just too strong for a normal human and it takes too much light that my brain couldn’t hold it for long. If I close them, I can see like a normal human” Now, it was Tethra’s turn to get astonished. He thought Bai Ning used some kind of detection method like in usual Chinese novels, but actually, she just couldn’t overuse her treasures.
“Fine Miss Bai, I will tell you, I actually don’t know myself, but I just know that I need to do it.” Half-truth half-lie is one of the most useful thing ever used by novel protagonists, Tethra could do it too after reading so many of them.
“Okay then, I will go first, be careful” Bai Ning then took her leave knowing Tethra wouldn’t tell her more.
“Wait, you trust me just like that?” Tethra really wanted to throw this lines that he always read in Chinese novels when the MC told a half-truth. He finally did it!
“Nope, I just didn’t want to bother with you anymore” Tethra fell from the bench from that words. He felt depressed that a woman actually dislike him that much. And most importantly, the reply line shouldn’t be like that! Tethra didn’t know that Bai Ning giggled a little bit from teasing Tethra after she was out of his sight.
After doing his amazing mood switch, Tethra took out his book to find out the uses of the word before. He slowly traced the word ‘Orpheus’ just below ‘Icarus’.
“So, it increases artistic skills? Nice, I always wanted to do those things. People who can do them are amazing!” Tethra didn’t use it right now because it didn’t directly increase his strength and it didn’t need to be tried because he would be able to do it instantly. Not like ‘Icarus’, where he must adjust his leg strength so he wouldn’t be launched afar.
Seeing no other person here, Tethra curiously looked at the cliff behind the statues. He got curious because earlier he saw light emerged from below the cliff. The light wasn’t too noticeable but he was able to see it because before, he was focusing on checking the surrounding to see if there are any witness. Unfortunately, he was busted by Bai Ning, luckily it was only her and she doesn’t look like a gossipy person.
Reaching the edge of the cliff, Tethra looked down below to find the source of the light. He only saw abyss as far as eyes could see. No traces of light there. Maybe he was imagining it? He was not sure himself. All of a sudden, a dot of light could be seen inside the abyss when he really focused his eyes. Tethra further moved his head downwards to see the light. Abruptly, a strong suction force pulled Tethra downwards. Caught unprepared, his body got pulled and he almost fell with just his feet touching the edge of the cliff.
Most of the probability he calculated in his head only had one ending. That is he fell to the abyss. While despairing, he noticed another cliff opposite of him. The cliff was wide, it stretched far from the left to the right. He could try to reach there, but the distance between Tethra and that cliff is quite far, around 100 metres. He wouldn’t be able to reach there even if he used ‘Icarus’.
“Fine then, it’s all or nothing! Icarus!” Tethra jumped with all of his leg strength, even overdriving it. People said that when humans are on the verge of the death, they could overuse their muscle beyond the limit. Tethra, who was on the edge of the cliff before, suddenly reached the opposite cliff with his face dragged on the ground. Spitting the dirt from his mouth, Tethra rejoiced for his safety.
“I’m actually safe! Ouch, my right leg!” Tethra felt that he fractured his right leg. Overusing strength always have disadvantages, and this is not the worst of it.
“Well, at least I’m safe, now where am I? No, wait, how did I even reached here?! ‘Icarus’ only give leg strength to jump at most 30 metres and if I overdrive my muscles maybe I can jump 35-40 metres. But that abyss is a whole 100 metres!” Tethra realized that he couldn’t count right.
“Wait, jumping upward go against the gravity so the height would be reduced. But jumping forward don’t go against the gravity so it would be longer than jumping upward. Then, by focusing my leg strength into one point, I could force as much as strength possible to that point. Yes, that’s it! I knew it!” Tethra deduced from the characteristics of this one jump and found many similarities with a skill he knew. A skill he always thought cool. A skill he found in many novels.
“Instant Movement!”