Chapter 282: Long Night Over
"This is where we part ways."
Raizen said, and pulled out a Tower Pearl from his inventory, and gave it to Raon so he could use it to get back.
"...You purchased something from that Hellstorm lady."
Fang Raon said.
"Curious?"
Raizen asked.
"Kind of."
Raon replied.
"A little bit of poison. If I decide to do this with Rook, this might come handy when dealing with Leon."
Raizen said and pulled out a small vial of poison from his inventory. It was sizzling inside like a pot of hot oil.
"And that will kill Leon?"
Fang Raon asked.
"It won’t. Poison simply isn’t enough to kill Divine Rankers. It will only weaken him, but anything will help against someone like Leon."
Raizen said.
"Well... good luck with that, brother."
Fang Raon said and offered him a handshake, and Raizen nodded and grabbed his hand firmly like the warrior he was.
In that moment.
They both grabbed their Tower Pearls, and destroyed them simultaneously, and instantly, purple mist shrouded them.
The purple mist took Raizen away towards the 56th floor, and the purple mist sucked Raon towards the 12th floor.
At this very moment, neither of them was aware of how much the tower would change in the upcoming weeks.
A big incident was about to happen...
And Raizen was right in the middle of it all.
...
The next morning.
The sun shone over the tall mountain, shining light over the training camp.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Mikey, the caretaker of the training camp, jogged around the outer perimeter of the camp, doing some early-morning workouts.
He thought that the morning was colder than usual. It was better like this. It felt good to let the chill wake him up.
In that moment.
As he was jogging past one of the lodges, the door opened, and then, Maquella stepped outside for fresh air.
"Good morning!"
Mikey greeted her.
"Mm."
Maquella nodded in response, and she then looked at the sight of the world around her and felt at peace.
The world stretched before her. The woods. The mountain in the distance. It was a wondrous sight.
’This world is as beautiful as ever.’
She thought.
"Good morning."
At that moment, Rock walked over with an eating stick in his mouth.
The eating stick was a thin brown stick, almost like it was made of chocolate, but it was actually called the cheap man’s food.
Farmers grew it in abundance due to its low cost and high yield, and it was very fulfilling if you just kept it in your mouth.
Therefore, Rock liked to chew it during the mornings to rejuvenate himself.
The only problem was the taste, which was pretty bland, and it didn’t really taste like anything.
"Where are the youngins?"
Maquella asked.
"I don—"
Rock was about to say "I don’t know," but then he saw his granddaughter run over with her hair tied in a ponytail.
Della looked as lovely as ever with the sunlight illuminating her soft face.
"I am not late, am I?"
She asked worryingly.
"No, you aren’t. Where is the little shit?"
Rock asked as he didn’t see Fang Raon anywhere, and Della also looked worryingly around as she was worried about his well-being.
If he were late again, Rock might literally kill him with his training!
Rock’s eyebrow twitched. About to get really angry.
But then...
The camp’s gates creaked open, and they looked alerted, as they were wondering who it could possibly be.
And at that moment, they witnessed Fang Raon enter the camp.
"Raon!"
Della shouted for him, wondering why he was outside, and then Raon noticed them and walked over to them.
"Where were you?"
Rock asked.
"Just taking a morning walk."
Fang Raon said with a tired smile.
When he used Tower Pearl, it actually didn’t take him to the training camp. It brought him down to the city.
Therefore, he had to walk all the way back here, and it took hours!
"...Did you have a busy night?"
Rock asked with a smirk.
"Ah, not really."
Fang Raon wryly smiled.
It was the busiest night of his life, and it felt like the night lasted a goddamn forever as so many things happened.
"Today, we’ll start with our training, Raon. Later in the day, you’ll continue with Maquella’s dance training."
Rock said.
"...Okay."
Fang Raon nodded with a tired look.
"Let’s get going then!"
Rock didn’t waste any time and started making his way to the gate while Raon lagged slightly behind as his feet hurt.
"Is everything alright?"
Della caught up to Raon and asked.
"Yeah. What about you, everything good?"
Fang Raon asked.
"Yeah... I read something interesting this morning. You’re playing with the second character as well?"
Della asked.
"...Yep, just helping Anna out."
Fang Raon said.
"Be careful. You might overexert yourself. After a whole day of training, you even go play the second character..."
Della said with worry.
’They have no idea that all my exhaustion also remains when I leave for the real world and go on my second character. They don’t know about my special Virtual Pod.
’They are just worried that I might burn myself out, which is also a valid concern.’
Fang Raon thought, and then he smiled.
"I’ll be fine, Della. I know my limits. I’ll stop for a while if I feel like I can’t take any more."
"...Okay."
Della said and gently touched him on the back, and then Raon nodded and walked off after Rock.
They were soon out of the way as they walked down the hill, but Della stayed at the gates for a little longer.
Just watching them go.
’I have to also go back to training.’
She summoned her grimoire and took a deep breath, and she started summoning Fireballs before extinguishing them with a flick of her wrist.
She kept doing it till her mana was almost completely depleted, and she kept doing it and doing it even when her head started to hurt.
"Ah... It hurts... I can do this... I must..."
...
"Aaaaaaaaaaargh!"
Fang Raon grabbed his head while Rock, holding a thick stick, stood behind him, shaking his head with disappointment.
"Just dodge even one of these strikes, dumbass!"
He shouted.
"It’s not that easy!"
Fang Raon said, and he took off the blindfold and dropped it to the ground.
"Ah, am I hearing complaints?"
Rock perked up his ears, and Raon looked at him briefly, but then he turned away and grabbed the blindfold from the ground.
"I’m not complaining..."
"Good, then let’s continue."
Rock lifted the stick again, but before he could strike, Fang Raon quickly raised his arms in defense.
"I need to talk to you about something!"
He said in a hurry.
"Ugh, what is it?"
Rock lowered the stick and asked with a slight hint of frustration.
"Last night... I met up with Raizen and had a lengthy conversation about Dead Redemption. I want to know more about their time with you."
Fang Raon said.
"This is not time for storytelling. We have training to do!"
Rock said.
"I know, but I want to know just one thing. Leon... How was he when you trained him?"
Fang Raon asked curiously.
"Huh, you want to know about Leon? Are you some fanboy of his? I can’t count the number of times when the youngins from Rose Records asked me all about him.
"I didn’t expect you to be like them."
Rock said, and then he sat down on a small boulder.
"Just curious... About the strongest, that’s all."
Fang Raon said.
"Hmm... What is there to say about him..."
Rock clicked his tongue, looking at the bright blue sky as he was thinking about those times, and then he said.
"Leon kind of reminds me of you."
He suddenly said.
"...Of me?"
Fang Raon said in surprise.
It was quite a huge compliment, at least that’s what he thought, as everyone would want to be compared to someone as talented and impressive as Leon.
"Yeah. He was as talentless and useless like you."
Rock said with a smirk.
"Oh..."
Immediately, he poured cold water over Fang Raon’s head.
"But for real. Leon was kind of like you. I even thought about kicking him out of my training group multiple times.
"It just felt like a waste of time to train someone like him, but I guess he was a late bloomer. Leon is also the reason why I stopped looking for talent in people.
"I only trust my gut feeling when choosing my students. That’s how I chose you."
Rock said.
"...He was that bad of a student, huh."
Fang Raon wryly smiled.
"It wasn’t that he was a bad student. He worked really hard. Harder than most, but... he just didn’t have the natural talent for it.
"I always thought that Hermes would be this generation’s greatest talent. He was a perfect student, flawless even. The best student I ever had."
Rock said.
’This Hermes guy has even been able to impress Rock to this extent? That’s crazy.’
Fang Raon thought.
"Leon proved everyone wrong. He proved me wrong. Now, he is leader of all those amazing individuals, so good for him."
Rock said.
"...You don’t like him, do you?"
Fang Raon asked.
He had a feeling that Rock really wasn’t fond of Leon for some reason.
"Why do you think that?"
Rock asked.
"...A feeling."
Fang Raon said.
"It’s nothing... You don’t need to know."
Rock said, and then he shook his head and grabbed the hard wooden stick again and smacked it to the back of Raon’s head.
SMACK!
"OUCH!"
"Dodge, you moron."
