Emily stared at the silver-haired, crimson-eyed girl before her.
Her wide eyes looked like they were about to burst into flames, and her arms were nearly overflowing with Wind Demon Wolf magic crystals.
She felt both exasperated and sympathetic.
“Miss Vivian, please don’t get so worked up…”
Emily tried to calm her down while quickly helping take some of the ‘spoils’ from her arms and placing them on the designated storage tray.
“Mr. Yize… his situation is a bit special.”
“Yize is extremely efficient at completing quests.”
“Lord Lailong—you know, the famous ‘Thunder Lion’ at the guild—greatly admires him. He personally invited him to join the Night Raid team and granted him internal advanced permissions.”
“This… this is an opportunity for him.”
“Opportunity?”
Vivian’s voice rose an octave, her crimson eyes filled with the anger and grievance of someone betrayed.
“He promised we’d save up points together and go back to see our daughter, but he abandoned me and went off to hog all the rewards for himself!”
“And that so-called ‘Thunder Lion’! He doesn’t sound like a good person! He probably thinks Yize is naive and easy to trick!”
Naive?
Emily thought of Yize’s calm, deep gaze and his baffling efficiency, and her mouth twitched slightly.
If that guy is naive, then there’s probably no smart person in this guild.
“And!”
The more Vivian thought about it, the angrier she got, clenching her little fists tightly.
“Is my quest efficiency really lower than his?”
“Just look at the Wind Demon Wolf magic crystals I brought back.”
“Why does that so-called ‘Thunder Lion’ only give Yize those internal permissions?”
“And free teleportation! Maybe even good food!”
The last line slipped out, exposing one of her deepest sore points.
Emily: “……”
She decided to ignore the part about “good food” and tried to maintain her professionalism.
“Miss Vivian, your efficiency is also astonishing.”
“The guild also has many other excellent teams. Perhaps…”
As soon as she finished speaking, the adventurers around, who had already been very interested in recruiting Vivian, swarmed forward to invite her to join their teams.
Regarding the Wind Demon Wolf quest location, these adventurers had already heard about it—just like the goblins, not a single one was left.
This also proved that Vivian’s strength was formidable.
Perhaps she was also a rising star with the potential to spar with the Thunder Lion, just like that Yize.
“I don’t want to.”
Vivian looked at the motley crew of adventurers before her, and a stubborn pride befitting her Blood Race Queen surged up.
“I’m not joining some weird team like you!”
Adventurers: “……”
“And… and Yize promised he would take me back to the Aolai Empire! He can’t break his word!”
Her eyes darted, and she suddenly leaned closer to Emily, lowering her voice with a mix of threat and pleading:
“Sister Emily, do you know where the Night Raid team’s base is?”
“Or, where did Yize and that Uncle Thunder Lion go now?”
Emily looked at Vivian’s small face—delicate and cute yet deliberately fierce—and sighed inwardly.
Due to regulations and caution, she couldn’t casually reveal the specific whereabouts of senior team members, especially Yize, who had just caused a stir.
“Miss Vivian, that’s against regulations. However, Lord Lailong is usually active in the second-floor lounge or his own team’s private room.”
“Mr. Yize just joined, so he might be taken to familiarize himself with the environment or go through some procedures.”
She gave a vague but reasonable direction.
“Second floor…”
Vivian memorized this information.
She glanced at Emily counting the pile of Wind Demon Wolf materials that belonged to her, and suddenly lost the earlier urgency to turn in the quest and exchange for points.
A strange restlessness and… a sense of loss enveloped her.
She pursed her lips and said to Emily, “Leave these things here for now. I’ll come back to turn them in later.”
With that, without waiting for Emily’s response, she turned and ran toward the stairway leading to the second floor from the guild hall, her petite figure weaving through the crowd.
Emily watched her back, then looked at the huge pile of Wind Demon Wolf magic crystals before her.
“Sigh, looks like I’ll have to work overtime today…”
……
Meanwhile, deep inside the guild building, at the Teleportation Hub Management Department.
The atmosphere here was entirely different from the noisy hall—solemn and quiet.
Beneath the tall vaulted ceiling, several complex three-dimensional arrays constructed from magic crystals of different colors and metal runes were slowly rotating, emitting stable spatial fluctuations.
Staff members wearing uniform robes and exuding a steady presence were busy at the control consoles of each array.
Occasionally, magical light would flash, signaling the start or completion of a teleportation.
Lailong led Yize to a counter.
This elf youth looked about the human equivalent of fourteen or fifteen, with a slender build, fair skin, and the typical pointed ears and delicate features of the elf race.
However, his pale golden hair was meticulously combed and tied neatly behind his head, not a single strand out of place.
His expression was even more serious and rigid, and his emerald eyes revealed a sense of composure and detachment that belied his youthful appearance.
This strict hairstyle and expression, combined with his still-youthful looks, created an interesting contrast.
“Yo, Little Hael, busy?” Lailong clearly knew him, greeting him casually and warmly.
The elf youth called Hael looked up at Lailong and merely nodded slightly. His voice was calm and flat, but his tone was businesslike:
“Mr. Lailong. If this is for your personal use or the Night Raid team’s regular route, please submit an application following the procedure, and I will handle it as soon as possible.”
“Haha, not me today.”
Lailong laughed heartily, then stepped aside to let Yize move forward, patting him on the shoulder.
“It’s for my new team member here. He wants to check the fastest teleportation route toward the Aolai Empire and the estimated cost—oh, and it’s to be settled using our Night Raid team’s internal advanced collaboration permissions.”
“Aolai Empire?”
Hearing the name, Hael’s already expressionless face showed a barely noticeable frown, and a flicker of aloofness and indifference passed through his emerald eyes.
He didn’t ask anything more, only said calmly, “Please wait a moment.”
He turned and faced the wall behind him—which was not a solid wall but a flowing, enormous three-dimensional magical map composed of countless glowing lines and nodes.
The light point for the Stana Guild headquarters was at the center, radiating outward in dense lines of varying thickness and colors, representing known teleportation points.
Hael’s slender fingers quickly pointed and swiped in the air.
A moment later, he turned back and looked calmly at Yize, beginning to state the query results:
“Query complete. The Stana Adventurer’s Guild headquarters currently has no direct teleportation route to any registered guild outpost, city, or officially recognized teleportation anchor within the Aolai Empire.”
Hael continued, his fingers tracing the air. On the magical map, a bright blue line lit up from Stana and began to wind its way northeast:
“About twelve hundred kilometers from the nearest known border of the Aolai Empire, there is a medium-sized outpost with a stable connection to the guild—Gray Rock Post. This is the closest human activity area we can currently reach to the Aolai Empire.”
The blue light jumped across the virtual map, connecting several points in sequence:
“From Stana to Gray Rock Post, the entire journey requires fourteen transfers, with each single spatial jump not exceeding three thousand kilometers to ensure teleportation stability and passenger safety. Estimated total time… approximately three days.”
Post!
“Three days? And fourteen transfers?”
Yize frowned deeply. Adding today, that would be four days!
And the destination wasn’t even inside the Aolai Empire—just twelve hundred kilometers away.
To Yize at this moment, this tedious transfer was simply a waste of time!
His eyes instinctively searched the huge magical map, and soon he noticed another route from Stana that seemed to point more directly northeast, with fewer connecting points and a significantly shorter path.
“Wait, Mr. Hael.”
Yize pointed at that route and asked in confusion,
“Doesn’t this route also lead to Gray Rock Post, or at least in that direction?”
“And it’s clearly much shorter, with fewer transfer points. Why not use this one?”
Hael followed Yize’s gaze, his eyes showing no change, but his voice turned a bit cold:
“This route is not open to humans.”
“Why?” Yize blurted out, his urgency making him ignore the subtle change in the other’s tone.
This time, before Hael could answer, Lailong grabbed Yize’s arm and quickly explained in a low voice:
“Kid, don’t point at that. That route… passes through the core edge of the Eternal Forest, which is part of the traditional territory and one of the Elf King’s court locations.”
“This route is a fast passage used internally by the elf race and their recognized allies.”
He glanced at the expressionless Hael and lowered his voice even more:
“Elves… how to put it? Their exclusion of humans is sometimes more… um, more ‘refined’ than some demihumans. Especially in the last hundred years, relations have been pretty strained. As for the specific reason…”
Lailong shrugged.
“It seems to be related to some stupid things the Aolai Empire did in the past that pissed off the Elf King. After that, the elves completely cut off ties with humans. Naturally, such a fast route through their heartland isn’t open to us.”
Yize: “……”
He hadn’t expected the Aolai Empire to have such a bad reputation on this continent.
And it dragged all humans down with it?
But time waits for no one!
The Betty Battlefield situation was critical.
Don’t even mention three days.
He didn’t want to wait even one more day!
Yize took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, and looked again at the elf youth Hai’er behind the counter.
This time, he forced a friendly, negotiating smile onto his face.
“Mr. Hai’er, you see… the situation is special. I really have something extremely urgent that requires me to rush back to the Aolai Empire as soon as possible. Could you… please make an exception?”
“Cut me some slack, let me use this route?”
“I’m willing to pay extra fees, or abide by any additional conditions set by the elven race.”
However, Hai’er almost completely ignored Yize’s plea.
He didn’t even look at Yize, just slightly tilted his head, his gaze falling on the magic map beside him. The coldness and refusal in his posture were obvious.
Tch… The anxiety in Yize’s heart was about to ignite his anger.
This little elf, not old in age, but puts on quite the airs!
Compared to Junior Swan who looks about the same age, this one in front of me is not cute at all!
Speaking of elves… A thought suddenly flashed through Yize’s mind.
He remembered that the System had once prompted that he had unlocked the Elf Princess’s affection.
The affection level was not low, but he himself had never met the Elf Princess.
Although he didn’t know the specific details, the data displayed by the System shouldn’t be fake, right?
How about… try to bluff?
With a mindset of trying anything, Yize cleared his throat, made his smile a bit more sincere, and spoke.
“Um… Mr. Hai’er, actually, I’m quite familiar with your elven princess.”
“Pfft!”
Lailong, who had just taken a sip from his portable flask, almost sprayed it all out upon hearing that. He stared at Yize with wide eyes and whispered in shock.
“Kid… you know the Elf Princess?! Really? This is no joking matter!”
Yize wasn’t confident either, but he didn’t show it. He just chuckled twice at Lailong, putting on an inscrutable expression.
‘He didn’t know the Elf Princess, but the Elf Princess “knew” him!’
‘The affection level was right there!’
Sure enough, upon hearing the words “Her Highness the Princess,” Hai’er, who had been expressionless, suddenly turned his head sharply.
His emerald eyes stared sharply at Yize, filled with undisguised suspicion and a hint of offended anger.
This human not only dared to break the rules, but also dared to talk nonsense and defile the Princess’s honor?
He was about to open his mouth, using some elegant but harsh elven words to refute this shameless human—
His gaze inadvertently swept across Yize’s neck, where a wooden necklace had slipped out a bit from his collar as he leaned forward slightly.
There, hanging a seemingly plain and unadorned wooden necklace.
Hai’er’s eyes suddenly widened!
As a teleportation hub management staff directly under the Elven Royal Court, he had received strict training and recognized many elven secret patterns and sacred relics.
Why… Why was the sacred relic of the elven race hanging around a human youth’s neck?
In an instant, a storm arose in Hai’er’s heart.
The coldness and impending anger on his face receded like a tide, replaced by unbelievable shock and a hint of panic.
He looked up at Yize again, his gaze completely changed.
“You… you just said, you and our Princess…”
Hai’er’s voice was no longer calm; it even carried a faint, almost imperceptible tremor.
Yize took in the other’s expression changes, secretly marveling inside.
‘He had just casually mentioned it, and the other actually believed it?’
He still kept that “sincere” smile on his face and nodded affirmatively.
“Yes, we’re on good terms. I never lie.”
‘Hmm, at least “on good terms” was certified by the System, so it wasn’t a lie.’
Hai’er took a deep breath, as if to calm the shock inside him.