Chapter 12 The Lingering Shadow (1/2)

Rhode's initial plan was to take a break in the vicinity of the Moonlight Lake before continuing their journey. But after encountering the Silver Wolf, he had to change his plan since the smell of blood from the Silver Wolf's corpse was likely to lead to more unnecessary trouble.

Rhode picked a relatively flat high ground near Moonlight Lake to set up camp before the sun went down.

After dinner, Rhode once again stood guard. Though it was straining its body, there was no other choice as he was the most familiar with Silver Moon Forest.

The fat merchant Matt volunteered to help, but when he saw how Rhode and Lize stared at his rotund body, he could already guess their answer. Thus, he could only sit by the side and grieve over his body in boredom.

Meanwhile, Lize didn't remain idle. She knelt beside Rhode, resting both her hands on his left shoulder.

Of course, Lize was not idle. Right now, she was kneeling beside Rhode, putting her hands on his left shoulder.

”Aliy-Mia.” (Dragon Language: Heal)

As she chanted, streams of light emerged from her palms, which slowly and gently wrapped around Rhode's body.

In the Dragon Soul Continent, magic casters generally adopted dragon tongue to cast spells since 70% of the spells known to humans came from the dragons. As for the other 30%, they were from the angels, elves, demons, and undead.

The oldest ancestors in Dragon Soul Continent were conceived from the Five Creator Dragons, so they naturally inherited the dragon's talent in magic and longevity. To show their respect, the oldest ancestors classified the various regions in the continent as three different countries named after the dragons: The Country of Darkness (Dark Dragon), Country of Light (Light Dragon), and the Country of Law (Trial Dragon). As time passed, no matter what political system the country took, the highest position would always be the person who inherited the Dragon Soul. Angels were in second place, followed by elves, demons undead, non-humans, and the last were humans.

Of course, as the political system in every country was different, the race composition of each country wasn't the same. As a monarchy, the Country of Darkness had a relatively strict caste system; there was no place for humanity to be among the upper caste. Meanwhile, the Country of Light practiced constitutional democracy—half of the high-level members of the parliament were all humans.

Country of Law was ruled by angels, elves, and human beings equally; their numbers were quite balanced since each race occupied one third. This is because of the religious centralism system in the country; they believed in the Way of Balance. For them, equality is perfect.

Rhode was well aware of the situation on the continent. He knew what would happen next, which made him quite worried. In the game, players were just players. If they did not want to play, they could just log out by taking off their VR helmet. However, his current situation was different. He had become a part of the continent. Then what should he do when facing the inevitable disaster?

”Mr. Rhode...”

”Mr. Rhode!?”

”What's up?”

Lize's voice roused Rhode from his deep thought. He looked up and saw the girl in front of him. After that time, Lize had finally regained her usual demeanor. Though her brows occasionally revealed a trace of anxiety, compared to the 'end of the world, going to suicide anytime' gloomy expression from before, it was much better.

”It's just that...”

Lize shook her head, carefully looking at Matt who was sitting beside the bonfire while counting something from his pocket with a pained expression as if being bitten by a snake. She lowered her voice, and said with a serious look:

”Before...during the fight with the Wind Serpent, I felt something.”

”Oh?”

Hearing her, Rhode creased his brow.

”What?”

”I felt a tiny dark element aura from the Wind Serpent Lord's body”

Lize bit her lower lip.

”But the aura was very weak, unlike something that the dark monsters usually had... Mr. Rhode, the Wind Serpent should not be a dark creature, right?”

”Of course not, the Wind Serpent belongs to the wind element, and definitely has nothing to do with the dark element, but…

”Are you sure?”

”Yes, I'm sure.”

On hearing Lize's confident answer, he could not help but fall into deep thought. Of course, he knew what had happened in the history of the Dragon Soul Continent: the Wind Serpents would continuously attack the merchant ships, leaving them with a massive loss. When the Country of Light investigated this matter, they discovered that it was actually manipulated and instructed by the nomads from the disputed areas in the border of Southern Paphield that was under the Country of Darkness. Not too long after, the Country of Light sent their troops to attack the area and they carried out the expulsion by massacring the inhabitants. In response to this action, the Country of Darkness sent troops to attack the Country of Light's garrison and recovered the piece of land that they had claimed as their own. This event set off the spark between the two countries.

These series of events occurred during the beta period when Rhode and other players were busy familiarizing themselves with the new environment, system, and upgrades, so he did not really dig too much in-depth of what had happened. After the end of the beta period, when the game had officially launched, the war between the Country of Light and the Country of Darkness was already in motion. As for what actually happened, the players could only speculate.

There were some conspiracy theories, though. Some people thought that the Country of Light was trying to recover its territory but it turned into a tragedy, some people also thought that the Country of Darkness was deliberately provoking the Country of Light and initiated a war to expand its territory. Many people had also thought that the Country of Darkness had been eyeing the Country of Light for some time and it was their problem since they did not take care of the matter properly. Of course, the players had no position to say anything; it was just their own personal speculation to try and figure it out what had happened.

Rhode believed that some of them were right. The border of the Southern Paphield was rich in crystal mines. To any country, that was an important resource. There was no reason for the Country of Light to let go of that territory. And the Country of Darkness had a very powerful ruler in that era. In the midst of the war, even famous players were still unable to gain an advantage over him. There was even a rumor that he was not an NPC, but a player that was part of the game company.

Still, many players were disappointed with the Country of Light's parliament decisions. There were many idiotic orders that led to many complaints from the players. In the end, the Country of Light had provoked some to use the Country of Darkness as an excuse to go against the Country of Light.

Lize's hunch was quite reliable. As a creature of the light, an angel was very sensitive to dark elemental auras. Since she inherited half of its blood, her perception shouldn't be far off. This meant that the Wind Serpent attack on the merchant ship was indeed premeditated by the Country of Darkness. Were they trying to provoke the Country of Light to launch an all-out attack?

Things don't seem to be that simple.

”Lize, do not tell anyone what you just told me.”

”Yes, Mr. Rhode.”

Hearing Rhode's answer, she nodded. Then placed her hand on his back, carefully checking on his injury as her pale face revealed a trace of a smile.