“Why is it you?”
Lin Gui’s question slipped out instinctively, his head still heavy and groggy.
Eve tilted her head slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips.
“Why can’t it be me?”
Her voice was soft but carried a trace of playfulness.
Lin Gui propped himself up and rubbed his aching forehead.
At the right moment, Eve handed him a rough wooden mug.
Inside was a dark green, viscous liquid that was faintly bubbling.
It gave off a strange, pungent odor—a mix of peppermint, bitter-root, and some kind of sharp mineral.
“What is this? Where did it come from?”
Lin Gui took the mug and asked with a frown.
“A dwarven specialty for sobering up,” Eve said, her purple eyes blinking after shedding their disguise.
“I asked Leader Grom for it. He said it works very well.”
Lin Gui took a skeptical sip.
The intense bitterness and a cooling sensation rushed to his head instantly, making him shudder.
It certainly made him feel much clearer.
“Where is Theia?” he asked.
Eve let out a soft laugh and pointed toward the other side of the room.
“She originally wanted to wait until you fell asleep and then come over for a ‘sneak attack.’”
“But the moment she reached the door, she ended up collapsing from the alcohol herself.”
“I put her over there.”
Lin Gui followed her finger and looked over.
On another narrow dwarven bed, Theia was fast asleep on her back, completely devoid of decorum.
Her long silvery-white hair was spread out in a mess, one leg hung over the edge of the bed, and she was muttering something incoherently in her sleep.
Lin Gui’s mouth twitched slightly.
She wanted to get someone else drunk, but she ended up falling first.
As a top-tier ranger among her peers, Theia’s vision, archery, and stealth were impeccable.
But as an elf...
She was lively, talkative, scatterbrained, and loved reading strange novels.
She had none of the legendary elven coldness and elegance at all.
It seemed environment truly could change a race's characteristics.
Lin Gui rubbed his brow.
After all, no one would likely expect an elf—especially one as exceptionally beautiful as her—to actively attempt a “night raid” on a human.
“So,” he looked at Eve, speaking half-jokingly, “Are you also here for a ‘night raid,’ Saintess?”
Eve smiled softly.
She sat on the edge of the bed, her short pale-gold hair shimmering softly in the dim light.
“If you were truly dead to the world in a drunken stupor,” she admitted candidly, “then I would be.”
“But since you are awake now,” her purple eyes narrowed slightly into a crescent shape, “it is no longer a raid.”
Lin Gui looked at Eve, speechless.
So you actually did have that thought.
Just then, a strange and ethereal song drifted in from outside the window.
The voice was low and resonant, as if rising from the depths of the earth.
It carried the solemnity of a prayer but was mixed with a free-spirited, joyful rhythm.
It felt like a farewell, yet also a celebration.
“Do you want to go out and see?” Eve asked softly.
Lin Gui shook his head. “Without a dwarven leader leading us, it’s easy to cause trouble.”
“Our relationship with Copperhammer hasn't spread to every corner of the city yet.”
Eve blinked mischievously. “Wouldn't it be fine if they didn't find us?”
Lin Gui raised an eyebrow.
He was also curious about the origin of that singing.
After a moment of silence, he nodded.
First, he pulled Theia’s leg off the side of the bed and tucked it back under the blanket, then he straightened her splayed posture a bit so she wouldn't catch a cold.
Afterward, he grabbed an old broom from behind the door.
Shroud of the Gloomy Night spread out silently, enveloping both him and Eve.
The two merged into the shadows and drifted out of their lodging without a sound, flying above the city of iron and rock.
The fires of the forges below flickered, and the passages crisscrossed like a labyrinth.
Soon, they found the source of the singing—
It came from an open plaza at the very bottom and center of the city.
A massive bonfire was roaring.
Lin Gui controlled the broom and descended quietly toward it.
The singing became clearer. It was dwarven language that he could not understand—ancient, rhythmic, and full of power.
Many dwarves had gathered by the bonfire.
They stood in a massive circle, facing the center.
A massive iron monument, over ten meters high, stood in the middle.
The monument was pitch black, covered in hammer marks and mottled inscriptions.
The firelight made it look like a burning giant.
A dwarf in dark robes with a snow-white beard stood before the monument.
He held a stone hammer engraved with runes and was leading the others in the chant.
Eve leaned into Lin Gui’s ear, her breath warm:
“That is a dwarven priest.”
“They believe in the God of Fire and Forge, who is also the Guide of Heroic Spirits.”
“He is praying for the warriors who died in battle today.”
“May their souls return to the forge of the Netherworld Sea to find rest and be reforged.”
Lin Gui was somewhat surprised. “You understand the dwarven language?”
Eve’s voice was as light as a breeze:
“The most tragic and heroic chapters of the Holy Scripture were originally modeled after dwarven heroic elegies.”
Within their view, the priest finished his chanting.
He solemnly took two identity tags forged from iron.
Then, he raised a massive forge hammer high into the air.
Under the gaze and chorus of everyone—
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
He hammered the identity tags deep into the iron monument, blow by blow.
Every strike was incredibly heavy, sending sparks flying in every direction.
It was as if he were not nailing them into iron, but branding the names into the bloodline memory of the race.
Lin Gui watched quietly.
It seemed this was what Copperhammer had once mentioned—
The Shield Monument of Heroic Spirits.
The solemn and fiery farewell ceremony continued.
Until the final hammer fell, the singing gradually subsided.
The bonfire crackled, reflecting off solemn and resolute faces.
In Lin Gui's mind, the notification for task completion sounded.
【Ding! The Weekly Commission has been completed!】
【Content: Successfully delivered 200 letters to designated recipients in the Carter Royal Capital.】
【Sign-off Progress: 7 letters total signed (Current Progress: 70%)】
【Distributing rewards...】
【You have successfully delivered 7 letters and obtained 7x Random Novice Magic.】
【Duplicate magic will automatically be converted into corresponding proficiency.】
【Congratulations to the Host for obtaining:】
【Novice Demon Magic: Enchantment LV7→7】
【Novice soul magic: Clarity LV9→10】
【Extra Reward: Mana Reserve +1500】
【Host: Lin Gui】
【Rank: Mid-tier High Rank mage → High-tier High Rank mage】
【Mana Reserve: (4950/7256). 12,744 mana points required for the next stage.】
【Ding! A new round of Weekly Commissions is being generated.】
【Final Destination: Avalon, the Land of Freedom.】
【Beginning retrieval of the number of letters collected by the Host...】
【Time remaining for retrieval: 6 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes】
------「May every longing cross the darkness and reach the other shore」------
The mana within his body surged. In just a few months, Lin Gui had risen from Low-tier High Rank to High-tier High Rank.
But Lin Gui knew that the speed of this advancement would slow down hereafter.
This was because the mana required to increase a major rank was far too high.
Moving up a minor tier only required about a thousand mana points, while a major rank leap required tens of thousands.
This was exactly why the gap between major ranks was so massive—the difference in Mana Reserve was simply too large.
Furthermore, the system’s mana rewards were basically fixed.
Lin Gui expected he would have to cross half the continent before he could accumulate the mana needed for the next rank breakthrough.
Along with the rank advancement, the proficiency of several of Lin Gui’s spells also increased.
The Novice soul magic spell "Clarity" had reached level 10, the maximum proficiency.
Lin Gui could now use chantless casting for it as well.
But compared to the system's rewards, what was even more striking was the unbelievably low number of sign-offs.
Out of 200 letters, only 7 had been signed, yet the system had deemed the task complete.
That meant the other 193 recipients had all passed away during the time since Copperhammer and his kin left.
Scanning his surroundings, Lin Gui finally spotted a familiar dwarf near the public cemetery not far from the Shield Monument of Heroic Spirits.
It was Grom.
He was currently opening the letters one by one and reading their contents aloud to the tombstones.
Rate on N.U.
