Chapter 321: Increasing the Gap (2/2)

“Ah?”

As if awakened by Stingham’s shouting, Ayrin regained his focus as he replied, “There’s nothing for me to do, so I am taking this time to learn some skills.”

“What?! Ayrin, you are too abnormal. Even when we are like this, you can still ponder over skills?!” Stingham wailed upon hearing Ayrin’s response.

“By focusing my entire mind on this one thing, I forget about the pain,” Ayrin responded. His body was twitching just like Stingham and Rinloran. He enthusiastically continued, “Just now, I seemed to have managed to understand Abel Academy’s ‘Domain of Silence’ and ‘Draconic Assimilation’ skills. I should be able to succeed if I ever use them.”

“……” Stingham greatly wanted to point at Ayrin and call him abnormal once more, but he found that he couldn’t budge his arm, which was currently robotically swinging back and forth. He felt like any other movement would cause him a pain which would send him over the edge.

“Ayrin, you actually managed to master two skills while suffering from such pain. I will definitely endure it! I cannot fall behind you!” Rinloran grit his teeth as Ayrin’s words reignited his fighting spirit.

“Oh, it seems to have gotten heavier again. Just what did you grab this time?”

Ayrin’s gaze descended towards his chest pocket, which was practically bulging out of its seams.

The physical burden Ayrin experienced was, in fact, much greater than both Rinloran and Stingham.

As the three of them traversed the Abyss of Evil and across Fallen Shadow Valley, the pouch around the little yellow dragon’s neck had grown incredibly. They had no idea just how many valuable items the dragon had stuffed into it.

After all, none of them, including Ayrin, had any extra energy to flip through it.

The only certainty was that the weight of the pouch had now surpassed the weight of the dragon itself.

Ayrin was practically running with weights.

And just like how the last straw can crush a camel’s back, this last item stolen by the dragon, although small and insignificant compared to the entire pouch, caused Ayrin to feel an immense rise in pressure. “I must continue to endure…” he roared in his mind.

By this time, the pain they had to endure became even greater.

Every step Rinloran and Stingham took made them feel as if their bodies were being pierced by countless burning hot needles.

Ayrin was also no longer able to distract himself from the pain by thinking about skills.

“Is there another way that I can distract myself?”

Charlotte’s image abruptly emerged within Ayrin’s mind.

“Charlotte…”

In his mind, Ayrin began to replay the scene in Eichemalar when they went their separate ways – when Charlotte had kissed him farewell.

The sugary feelings he felt at the time spread throughout his entire body as the pain quickly receded.

“I must endure, I will definitely endure…”

Other scenes containing him and Charlotte flooded into his mind as he began to imagine the scene of their reunion at the place where Charlotte and the others were stationed.

“To not leave behind any regrets…”

Immersed in his beautiful dream, Ayrin slowly muttered to himself.

“Ayrin, what are you saying?” Stingham asked.

In Ayrin’s mind, he was currently replaying the scene in the plaza before the Eichemalar’s Sacred Tower. He was currently facing a flushed Charlotte. His twitching mouth turned upwards into a radiant smile as he shouted, “I too… I have loved you since the time I first saw you atop that wall!”

“What are you saying?!” Stingham cried out in shock. Goosebumps erupted atop his skin as he seemingly forgot about the pain plaguing him.

“I sincerely love you! I have loved you since I saw you descend from the wall like a goddess at Divine Shield Academy,” Ayrin shouted once more, still lost in his dream and oblivious to what was going on around him.

“Are you nuts?!”

Stingham’s entire body began to tremble as he inexplicably felt reenergized and took several quick steps forward, opening up some distance between Ayrin and himself. “Ayrin, you abnormal pervert, you actually love men! But when did I ever descend from the walls of Divine Shield Academy? Why are you saying this to me?!”

……

Thud! Thud! Thud!

As night fell across Fallen Shadow Valley, three swiftly moving figures abruptly stopped and collapsed to the ground.

Soon after, another figure, this one large and rough, appeared not far behind them.

“Liszt was not wrong. These three youths truly managed to endure through it and succeed.”

The latecomer clenched his fists as he exclaimed, “Now, they should be able to open quite a gap between themselves and those other teams within the national tournament…”