The blue sky was blanketed with white clouds, stretching endlessly as far as the eye could see.
Alongside a straight road, a winding, crystal-clear stream trickled gently along. Beneath the nearly transparent water, white pebbles and small green fish were clearly visible.
"This is the Pear Corridor. Once we pass through here, we'll reach our destination — an entrance to the Ganges Secret Plane located in Mala Canyon. And it'll only take us a single day, plenty of time to take it nice and slow! Want to stop and rest a bit?"
George glanced at the yellow parchment map in his hands, then pulled out a compass-like device to check the direction before turning back to speak to
"Stop for what? We're so close to the destination already — wouldn't it be better to just push on and rest when we get there?"
Ciri shot George a sharp glare.
This sort of thing had happened many times within the team before. Every time George made a suggestion, Ciri would shoot it down hard, and most of the time George would back down on his own.
Watching this play out again and again along the way, even Leylin had gotten used to it.
Perhaps only a woman like that could tame a playboy like George? At the very least, Leylin could see that George seemed to rather enjoy it.
As for Besta, that woman had been very quiet throughout the journey, barely offering any opinions. If she weren't the only third-tier apprentice in the Wetland Garden team, she might have been forgotten entirely.
"Fine! Fine! Then let's keep moving!" Sure enough, the moment he heard Ciri's voice, George immediately raised both hands in surrender, earning a vigorous eye-roll from Leylin.
Right after that, Leylin glanced uncertainly toward the direction of another fork in the road.
With Leylin's current level of Spiritual Power, he could clearly sense that not far away, a small squad of
Furthermore, at their current speed, they would likely run into Leylin's squad very soon.
And the strength of these apprentices was clearly a tier or two above George's team. In fact, from their very leader, Leylin could even sense the fluctuations of a Magical Item.
Though it was only a low-grade Magical Item, that was still quite remarkable.
At the apprentice level, only true prodigies and heirs of major families possessed Magical Items. And the combat capability of these apprentices was absolutely at the top among third-tier apprentices — apart from full Wizards, they feared no one!
After roughly three minutes, Ciri's expression changed as well.
"Watch out! Banban has detected Wizard Apprentices approaching!"
As the team's long-range attacker, Ciri also took on the role of lookout, and Banban was an exotic species of owl she raised, capable of sharing a portion of her field of vision within a certain range.
"Wizard Apprentices?!"
George's face darkened. He cursed fiercely: "Damn it! I hope my luck isn't that terrible! Stay on guard!!!"
Running into unfamiliar Wizard Apprentices in the wild was no joke. All sorts of things could happen, and the weaker side was almost always the one who ended up as prey.
Hearing George's order, Besta and the others clearly understood the danger involved.
The apprentices immediately gathered their horses together and set up a simple magical defense formation. Judging by how smoothly they handled it, they had clearly practiced this before.
And as the apprentices waited in tense anticipation, a cloud of dust in the distance finally grew closer and closer.
Clip-clop!!!
Amid the sound of hooves, a five-person squad appeared within Raylin's line of sight.
At the lead was an apprentice dressed in white robes, with a massive broadsword strapped to his back. The Magical Item fluctuation Raylin had detected was coming from that giant sword.
"A Magical Item this massive — now that's interesting!" Raylin rubbed his chin.
Generally speaking, Magical Items required rare materials and tended to be quite small. A Magical Item this large was something Raylin had never encountered before, even though it was only a low-grade one.
Once the three apprentices from Wetland Gardens, led by Besta, caught sight of the unmistakable emblem of the greatsword, their faces first showed a hint of confusion before they burst out shouting: "It's James! Senior James!!!"
"Oh? Apprentices from Wetland Gardens?" Raylin glanced at the three apprentices who had already abandoned the defense formation on their own initiative and were moving forward to greet the newcomers.
And on Besta's face, there was even a hint of a flirtatious smile.
Enhanced by her stunning beauty, that smile left several of the apprentices behind James momentarily dazed.
"Clack-clack!"
Amid the crisp sound of reins being pulled, the leading knight waved a hand, and all five apprentices dismounted in perfect unison, their movements as synchronized as a military unit.
"You all — are you apprentices from the Academy?"
Leading the group was James, a tall, fair-skinned man who stood a full head taller than George, with blue hair and a vivid crimson blood-mole between his brows.
"Yes! Senior James, we actually met once before at Instructor Kleiartino's wine reception..."
Alexander and Lana, upon seeing this renowned figure from the Academy, were so starstruck they couldn't even form words, standing with their heads bowed behind Besta.
Besta, on the other hand, seemed extremely enthusiastic, chatting eagerly with James while occasionally gesturing toward Raylin and George.
After about ten minutes, James walked over to where George and Raylin stood.
"George! And this must be Xirui?"
James tilted his chin up slightly, his eyes brimming with unmistakable arrogance: "Besta has already told me about your situation. As thanks for you rescuing them, I will permit you to follow behind my group and reach Mara Canyon together..."
James's expression was supremely condescending, as though he were bestowing charity.
"Senior James is one of the top ten most powerful apprentices on our Academy's combat ranking! With him around, you won't have to worry about safety along the way at all!"
Besta chimed in from the side, practically pressing herself up against James.
"You—" George still had his own share of pride and was about to say something, but Xirui tightly grabbed his arm from the side.
"He's right! The Pearfruit Corridor has always been a hotspot for bandits. With Besta and the others gone from our group, we have absolutely no confidence in getting through safely..." Xirui whispered into George's ear.
After hearing his lover's words, George's expression shifted uncertainly for a moment before he forced out a strained smile: "Well then, thank you, Senior James!"
"Mm." James gave a reserved nod, then turned his gaze toward Raylin.
"As for you—former dark wizard apprentice! At a time like this, my team does not welcome you!"
"You can't do this! Raylin is also a
"What kind of credibility can a wizard who grew up in that sort of environment possibly have? For all we know, even the Four Seasons Garden emblem on him was obtained through illicit means!"
James sneered coldly.
"Furthermore, I believe there is a strong chance he is a spy sent by the dark wizards. His luggage needs to be thoroughly searched!"
Behind James, a triangular-eyed apprentice with a face full of freckles immediately shouted out.
"What do you have to say, Besta?"
Leylin stared at the woman with amusement.
"I'm sorry, Leylin! Even though we traveled together before, right now, the safety of my companions is more important..."
Besta looked pitiful, her expression full of conflict.
"Do you have anything left to argue?" James crossed his arms.
Although Alexander and Lana didn't think Leylin was necessarily an enemy, they didn't dare say a word in front of James.
As for George, he was being held back firmly by Ciri.
"For the sake of an empty grudge?" Leylin stared at Besta. "How truly... boring!"
"However, it seems I won't even need to lift a finger to deal with you all!"
"What did you say?" James was somewhat puzzled by Leylin's two remarks, but Leylin's attitude clearly enraged him. Arcane light flickered across James's body thread by thread, and the atmosphere in the area instantly grew heavy.
Boom!!!
An acid missile shot out, striking the freckled apprentice who had been acting so arrogantly just moments before.
"Szzzzz!!!"
Amid the bone-chilling sound of corrosion, the apprentice melted directly before the eyes of the surrounding apprentices, dissolving into a pile of red and green mush.
Among the puddle of flesh, a few broken bones stood quietly upright.
"Ambush!!" Besta's panicked voice rang out, shrill enough to turn hoarse.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!
Without anyone noticing, James, Leylin, and the others had already been surrounded by more than twenty black-robed bandits.
"Akai!" "Damn it!" "I'll kill you all!"
The three apprentices behind James, seeing their companion die so brutally, immediately saw red. Several spells were launched straight at the black-robed bandits.
"Hmph!"
At that moment, the bandit leader stepped forward, a ring of black light expanding outward from his body.
Crack! Crack!
The spells cast by those apprentices struck the black ring of light and shattered apart like soap bubbles.
"Magical Items! Defensive Magical Items!!!"
James's pupils contracted. He immediately stepped in front of the three apprentices.
"He's not someone you can handle. All of you, fall back!"
"I'm James! And your name?"
Click!!! The sound of metal mechanisms clashing rang out as the giant sword clasp on James's back sprang open. He gripped the massive blade with one hand, pointing it at the black-robed bandit leader, and spoke calmly.
"Hehe..."
Amid the eerie laughter, the black-robed bandit leader made his move.
Boom! The ground split open, soil and rocks lifting into the air and coalescing into the shape of a beast's head. It opened its massive jaws and lunged fiercely at James.
"Hah!"
James swept his hand through the air! A flash of silvery-white light streaked across the void!
An arc of light slashed toward the beast's head!
Countless plants and trees around them shattered, scattering to both sides.