When Lynn regained his senses, he felt waves of warmth gradually enveloping his body from all sides.
The air was thick with the scent of water vapor.
Mist swirled before his eyes, and Lynn realized he was soaking in a small spring surrounded by woods.
The spring water emitted a faint, shimmering blue light.
Lynn could feel a continuous stream of vitality seeping into his body through his pores.
‘This is…’
Lynn’s pupils constricted slightly.
As his mind cleared, a name surfaced in his memory.
The Healing Spring.
As a veteran of a second playthrough, Lynn knew that Healing Springs were scattered throughout Sleeping Dragon Valley, which had fallen into a frontline battlefield.
They functioned as field hospitals, though their effects were far superior.
As long as the victim still had a breath left in them, the Healing Spring could restore them to their peak condition.
Thinking of this, Lynn let out a sigh of relief and relaxed his tense nerves.
The good news was that he was still in Sleeping Dragon Valley.
However…
Images of what had just happened flashed through Lynn’s mind.
He could now be almost certain.
The one who had placed the curse on him was not one of the Twelve Saints of the Cult.
It was the current Bishop of the Abyssal Cult, the legendary Fallen Witch, Kalyanlana!
The thought gave Lynn another headache.
‘What did she say to me before she left?’
‘She has been… waiting for me?’
This cryptic, sudden statement left Lynn feeling bewildered.
Lynn didn’t believe his memory was so poor that he would forget something important so quickly.
Not long ago, the Sage, one of the Twelve Saints, was still sending a projection to this place to try and kill him.
In the blink of an eye, the Bishop of the Abyssal Cult found him and claimed she had been waiting for him.
He felt that the Abyssal Cult was extremely fractured, as if its left and right brains were fighting each other.
But Lynn was used to it.
After all, whether it was the descriptions in the game or Lynn’s own personal experience, one fact had been thoroughly proven — the members of the Abyssal Cult were essentially all lunatics.
Not a single one of them was normal.
Lynn felt it was more like a parting threat, similar to how a thug might say, “Come and fight me if you’ve got the guts,” after getting into a scuffle.
His anger began to rise at the thought.
‘She really has no shame.’
Furthermore, it was obvious that in the foreseeable future, they would definitely come looking for trouble again and again.
If he truly wanted to settle this once and for all and live the rest of his life in peace…
Then he had to find a way to become the legendary ninth-rank Mage and face the Fallen Witch, Kalyanlana.
And then, he would erase her from this world entirely!
He took a long breath and pushed those chaotic thoughts out of his mind for now.
Since his stamina had mostly recovered, it was about time to leave.
Sleeping Dragon Valley was, after all, the front line.
Although the fighting had temporarily ceased, the flames of war could reignite at any moment.
Leaving as soon as possible was the best course of action.
With that in mind, Lynn slowly stood up from the spring.
The moment his body completely left the water and was exposed to the air, he realized he was stark naked.
Not even a pair of underwear remained.
“…?”
Lynn froze for a moment.
‘Where are my clothes?’
He looked behind him, feeling dazed.
There, he saw Ayan holding his clothes.
Like a thief, she held them to her nose, meticulously sniffing them inch by inch.
Her beautiful face was flushed crimson, and her eyes were somewhat glazed.
Every time the tip of her nose touched Lynn’s clothes, her pink, delicate body would tremble slightly as if struck by an electric shock.
“That… idiot’s scent is so special. It smells so good…”
Ayan whispered to herself, sounding obsessed.
Her voice was muffled and unclear, so Lynn couldn’t hear her very well, but he could still vaguely recognize it as hers.
Lynn looked toward the sound.
Although the air was filled with thick mist, he could still catch glimpses of Ayan’s fair, tender body through the gaps.
Ayan seemed to sense Lynn’s gaze.
Her movements stiffened abruptly, and then, like a machine lacking oil, she turned her head toward Lynn’s direction bit by bit.
The moment their eyes met, time seemed to freeze.
“I… I-I-I-I…!”
Ayan’s face turned completely red in an instant, and she immediately hid Lynn’s clothes behind her back.
‘How did Lynn wake up so fast!’
‘I only just took his clothes off!’
Ayan’s eyes began to spin in circles.
But in the next moment, she suddenly realized that she was completely defenseless and exposed before Lynn’s eyes!
She couldn’t care about that anymore!
Setting her resolve, Ayan took three quick steps toward the edge of the pool.
Then, she took a flying leap!
Splash!
A massive plume of water sprayed everywhere.
Glub, glub, glub…
Bubbles began to rise in front of Lynn.
After a long while, the bubbles subsided.
Ayan slowly revealed half of her bright red face above the water.
“You… you didn’t see anything!”
Before Lynn could even open his mouth, Ayan shouted at him.
“Right… right…” Lynn scratched his head, feeling a bit awkward.
In truth, he hadn’t really seen anything clearly through the mist.
“Hmph… you meanie!”
Ayan said, and then, taking Lynn by surprise, she lunged at him and tackled him into the water.
In the water, Ayan’s small hands took the opportunity to roam around Lynn’s body.
She only reluctantly behaved herself once Lynn surfaced and leaned against a rock on the bank.
“Honestly, you worried me to death just now…”
Ayan’s tone was full of reproach.
“You’re such a big man, why did your presence weaken so fast? I almost thought you were going to die!”
Hearing the concern buried within her nagging, Lynn scratched his head awkwardly.
“There was a small accident.”
“Lynn really is an idiot,” Ayan said, leaning her head against Lynn’s shoulder.
“Big brother, you’re such a useless small fry~”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
Lynn didn’t bother to argue.
It was obvious that while he was unconscious, Ayan had been incredibly worried about him.
“I’m sorry for worrying you.”
“What are you saying?”
Ayan gently placed her index finger against Lynn’s lips, her expression looking a bit displeased.
“Isn’t… taking care of an idiot like you exactly what I’m supposed to do?”
As she spoke, Ayan’s starry eyes shimmered.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say, ‘1,000 years ago, it was you who always took care of and protected me.’
But in the end, Ayan swallowed those words and said nothing.
She felt that if Lynn had truly forgotten everything this time, then she would just follow the will of heaven and let everything start anew.
This time, she would no longer be the Lord of the Dragons with the ambition to conquer everything.
She was just a young girl whose heart skipped a beat because she met the man of her dreams.
An ordinary girl looking forward to starting a sweet romance with him.
That would be enough.