Chapter 115: Silver Swordsman (1/2)
Frost Mound was your standard Night Creature encampment with mists of death, disgusting stench and hordes of puppeteered skeletons dumping fresh bodies into the blood pools. Everyone was about as chilling and terrifying as you could imagine.
I frowned a little at the familiar sight. If my trainer, the Undead Swordsman Suren, wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have returned to this god-forsaken place.
I entered Frost Mound and found my trainer standing tall atop a withered hill while holding a bloody sword.
“You’ve returned, young skeleton.” My trainer greeted me first.
I walked up to him and said, “Trainer, I would like to request a class promotion!”
“Alright, you have the necessary strength anyway. Perform a quest for me, and I’ll grant you the opportunity to promote your class!”
Ding~!
System Notice: Do you accept the third class promotion quest [The Heart to Protect]? (Quest Difficulty: A)
……
Huh? What’s this?
Surprised, I clicked “Accept” and saw—
Ding~!
System Notice: You have accepted the third-promotion quest, [The Heart to Protect]!
Description: Head to the town next to Frost Mound and seek out Young Girl Xinran. She seems to be thinking about something.
……
What? Is that it? All I have to do is to seek out the loli I haven’t met in a long time, Xinran? I almost couldn’t believe that this was my third-promotion quest, an A-rank quest no less! What a joke!
Once I was done packing my stuff, I began traveling to Xinran’s town. I had been to her town before, so it took me less than ten minutes to reach it. The forest town was as peaceful as usual. I could see a couple of women returning to the town with basketfuls of gathers above their heads, and hunters carrying longbows and game like hyenas or rabbits on their shoulders.
Holding the Ghost Ice Soul in one hand, I covered my face with the Bloody Purgatory Cloak and strode into the town fearlessly. I searched for Xinran up and down until finally, I saw her doing something at the corner of a small building.
Time passed very quickly in the game. Two years had passed since I last saw Xinran, and she had turned from a 15-year-old loli into a beautiful 17-year-old girl. Despite only wearing a simple robe, her face was pretty, her neck was pale, and her skin was flawless. It was clear that the girl was born pretty.
Standing next to a wooden dummy, Xinran swung a round, wooden staff and muttered to herself, “Oh great God of Light, please bless me with your sacred light—Recovery!”
Swhoosh!
Faint light fell from the sky and landed around Xinran. She had actually mastered a basic Priest skill!
I walked up to her and called out to her softly, “Xinran?”
She turned around slowly until she saw who I was. Pleasantly surprised, she exclaimed, “Is that you, big brother?”
“I’m doing pretty good!” Xinran walked up to me happily and grabbed my wrist. “I knew you would come back, big brother! You promised me you would take me to the Holy Temple in Floating Ice City to receive the blessing of the holy light and become a great priest of the Silver Moon Alliance when I’m all grown up, right?”
“Yes, I did. Are you ready?”
“Yes, I’m ready. Let’s go!”
“Alright!”
Now that I had met Xinran, my quest updated itself and displayed a new line of text: “Protect Xinran until she reaches Floating Ice City and becomes a priest. She must survive, or this quest is considered a failure!”
Hmph hmph, even if this wasn’t a quest, I wouldn’t allow any harm to come to her. After all, who could bear to harm such a cute and kind-hearted girl like her?
With Xinran by my side, we walked out of the town together and headed straight for Floating Ice City. Considering Xinran’s walking speed, we would arrive in an hour at most!
“Big brother, are the teachers in the Priest Academy of the fierce sort?” Xinran asked while holding my hand.
I ordered the Dark Wasp to clear the path while shaking my own head. “Of course not, the lech—I mean, the lecturers of the Priest Academy are all models for others to follow. They are smart, responsible, and respectful to everyone, regardless of status. They also don’t charge you an exorbitant fee for books, delay classes, or inflict corporal punishment to students. They are the trailblazers of the education industry!”
The longing and hopefulness in Xinran’s eyes increased as I calmly described to her everything about the Priest Academy. Of course, I knew jack shit about the actual place, I was just describing my experience back when I was in Suzhou University of Science and Technology. For example, I told Xinran that there was an adventurer’s inn next to the Priest Academy called “Green Tea Inn”. I also told her that there was a mysterious, sacred temple next to the Priest Academy called “Xuehai Karaoke Box” where bards gathered together to sing all the songs on the continent.
Xinran’s smile grew wider and wider as she listened intently to my lies.
Fifty or so thorny minutes later, we finally arrived at Floating Ice City. The grand, tier 2 city looked like an immovable giant even on the world map. Countless wars had failed to bring down its mighty walls even to this day.
Xinran followed me closely as we entered the city together. She stared at her surroundings with both curiosity and fear: clearly, she had never seen such a huge city in her life before, and she was feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
Xinran was beautiful, so there were some players who couldn’t help but sneak glances at her. Thankfully, I looked powerful enough to dissuade any fools from attempting to court her.
The Holy Temple was surrounded by high-level well-armored guards. To be honest, I was a tad intimidated by their presence as we entered the place. If these NPCs realized that I was an undead, I was sure that they would do everything in their power to remove my existence from these grounds.
After we entered the main hall, we saw eight high-level priests standing in a row inside the temple. At the center of them was an archbishop whose level was completely invisible to me. The way he watched me with those deep, impenetrable eyes made me feel as if he had seen through my disguise completely.
“My lord, my sister would like to become a priest!” I walked up to him and declared fearlessly.
The archbishop turned his gaze toward Xinran for a moment before speaking in an unsteady voice. “Child, you have a pure heart, but your soul is hidden too deep. If you truly wish to become a Priest of the Light, you may visit this temple again in three days. I shall arrange a trial for you then!”
Xinran was so afraid that she didn’t even dare look the archbishop in the eye. Her head bowed, she said, “Yes, elder. I’ll return in three days.”
The archbishop nodded and motioned for us to leave.