Discussion and the Mark

Through his conversation with Xia Duo and Moen, Starlight finally pieced together the general sequence of events.

It turned out that after that soul-stirring battle, he had been unconscious for a full two days and two nights.

At that time, all four of them had been affected by Taros’s soul attack and fallen unconscious. The powerful tremors also caused the already crumbling underground tomb to collapse completely.

Fortunately, they had miraculously avoided all the falling rocks and emerged unscathed.

The massive noise from District One quickly alerted the Violet City-State. Strange, the President of the Adventurers Guild, and the City Lord, Grand Duke Joseph, rushed to the scene.

Amidst the ruins, they found the four unconscious youths and quickly brought them back to the city.

According to President Strange’s description, he found no trace of Taros underground. This clearly contradicted what the four had seen before collapsing, making the whole affair somewhat mysterious.

To prevent any accidents, Strange decided to keep them at the Adventurers Guild for isolated observation. Until the accident site was thoroughly investigated, they were not allowed to leave the guild.

For registered adventurers like Po Kong and Starlight, this was relatively straightforward, but the identities of Xia Duo and Moen were more complicated.

In recent years, the relationship between the human kingdoms and the elves had not been as harmonious as before; one could even say that small frictions broke out frequently.

Xia Duo and her companion had come to the Violet City-State to find several clansmen who had mysteriously disappeared. As luck would have it, they had not reported to the diplomatic department at all and lacked a legal identity.

How did the two of them appear at the scene of the accident? Why were they involved in this dispute? Did they have other ulterior motives? These were all questions that the Adventurers Guild and the City Lord’s Mansion were eager to clarify.

If it were in the past, Moen’s status as a Nature Priest could have been used. After all, this profession was equivalent in status to the mid-to-high levels of the human church, and her words carried some weight.

However, due to the current relationship between humans and elves, the officials of the Violet City-State had begun to doubt Moen’s identity. After all, her every word and action could be seen as an expression of the elven stance.

Influenced by various factors, they had no choice but to cooperate with the humans’ actions.

“That’s roughly how it is. We can’t leave here until the incident is fully investigated. However, I suspect it shouldn't take too long.”

After Xia Duo finished speaking, she spread her hands helplessly.

Since the four of them had passed out at the end, they knew nothing about what had happened during their coma.

“Speaking of which, it is indeed a bit strange. I don’t think Taros would suddenly show mercy and let us go. Could it be that the last magic he cast was just a final burst of energy, trying to take a few of us down with him?”

Starlight frowned, carefully recalling the black shadow he saw before fainting, his heart filled with doubt.

“I think you guys shouldn't overthink it! Personally, I’m more inclined to believe that guy fled with his tail between his legs. After all, he was only a remnant soul in the end, wasn't he? Even if he’s not dead, he probably won’t amount to much anymore.”

Compared to Starlight and Xia Duo’s worries, Po Kong was much more optimistic. According to him, if anything was going to happen, it already had, and there was no point in obsessing over it afterward.

“Um... Mr. Po Kong, please don’t get so excited. If you keep moving like that, your wounds will reopen.”

Moen sighed helplessly as she watched the lively Po Kong.

“By the way, Moen, can’t you really use a spell to heal my injuries all at once? It’s so inconvenient to be wrapped up like this!” Po Kong complained.

“No! I should have explained that if you rely on magic to recover from every injury, it’s very likely to affect your lifespan. Besides, the injuries on your body are not ordinary ones...” Moen explained patiently.

Starlight looked at his three companions and suddenly remembered that he was still holding the crescent-shaped hair ornament.

But when he turned his hand over, he discovered a strange mark had appeared on his right wrist at some point.

The center of the mark was a black pattern resembling a spark, and surrounding this pattern was a circle of deep blue lines, as if someone had tattooed a strange design onto his wrist.

“What is this?”

Just as he was wondering, Noah’s voice suddenly rang in his mind.

“Kid, you’ve hit the jackpot this time. This is a treasure left behind by that fellow Taros. Although his strength had not yet recovered to its peak, he was once an Ancient God, after all.”

“Left by Taros?! Won’t there be any problems?”

Upon hearing Noah’s reply, Starlight’s heart tightened. Although he knew Noah would never harm him, the thought of that Ancient God of Darkness leaving something on his body made him feel uneasy.

“Don’t worry, that guy has completely disappeared. This mark seals the elemental mark he left behind as the Ancient God of Darkness. It will be of great help to your future cultivation!” Noah reassured him.

“Elemental mark? ...What’s that?” Starlight became increasingly curious.

“You can think of it as something a level lower than a Godhead. Not only can this thing improve your affinity and condensation speed for the dark element, but it also contains some of Taros’s experience in elemental control. Isn't your goal to learn from those Grand Archmages? With this thing, you won’t even need to look for the one from the dark system. Once you fully master what’s in this mark, you can at least reach the Saint Rank in the dark element!”

“There’s actually such a good thing? Then how did this mark get here? Noah, don’t tell me he really had a change of heart before he died?”

After hearing Noah’s explanation, Starlight’s heart was filled with waves of shock. He had never known such a miraculous thing existed; he hadn't even heard of it in books.

As a trace left by an Ancient God, even if this mark was incomplete, it was enough to benefit many mages for a lifetime.

“Ahem, after that fellow unleashed the Soul Blast, he was also weakened to the extreme. He originally intended to directly possess you as his next vessel, but he didn't expect a Saint Rank soul to be hidden by your side.”

“So, Noah, you dispersed the last remnant soul of Taros? And then you conveniently placed this elemental mark on me?”

To be honest, Starlight didn't entirely believe Noah’s story because he vaguely remembered that their soul link had been severed at the time. Without it, how could Noah have defeated Taros’s remnant soul?

“Sigh... fine, stop overthinking. I naturally have my own ways... You just need to know that Taros is completely dead.”

Seeing that Starlight still looked doubtful, Noah sighed helplessly and then solemnly cautioned him.

“Also, try not to show this mark in front of others. Although I don’t think many people can recognize it, you must understand the principle that ‘an innocent man attracts trouble for the treasure he carries.’”

After giving these instructions, Noah went silent.