Ever since Lin Gui first met Elvia, he had known.
This woman had a good talent for combat.
One might even say she was a genius.
The reason for his judgment was simple.
Her strength.
High-tier High Rank.
On the Akara Continent, that truly didn't amount to much.
But her age and her status made this level of strength very special.
Lin Gui remembered that Elvia was a year older than Eve.
When he first met her, she was nineteen.
Now, she was twenty.
A twenty-year-old High-tier High Rank wasn't actually considered a genius.
Especially for a physical class.
But Elvia had another status.
She was a princess of a nation.
And one with substantive power.
Managing her own forces occupied almost the vast majority of her time.
And this girl was particularly fond of enjoying herself.
Lin Gui didn't even need to ask to know...
This girl spent a pitifully small amount of time on knightly cultivation.
Among the nobility and the great upper-class families, they often raised their scions using two different methods.
The first was the cultivation path, where they focused all their effort on increasing their strength.
The second was managing the family business, effectively giving up on cultivation.
People like Diana and Charles in the Carter Royal Capital belonged to the latter category.
Charles and Diana's strength was, at most, the Mid Rank.
Yet Elvia, who was engaged in similar administrative work and was much younger than them, was already a High-tier High Rank.
That spoke volumes.
Furthermore, Shadow Blade Lynn's evaluation was... "Not bad."
This was almost a confirmation of Elvia's talent.
Shadow Blade Lynn was at the peak of the physical classes.
To have her say "Not bad" was already an incredibly high evaluation.
As his ally in a Shared-Death Contract, Lin Gui would not let Elvia waste her talent.
Lin Gui couldn't protect her forever.
In fact, later on, Lin Gui might even need her protection.
Just like that week after he had escaped the Dark Tide with Elvia.
The sending and receiving of letters at the post office was basically finished.
Almost everyone in Withered Wood Town who wanted to send letters had done so.
There were nearly a thousand letters in total, not counting other city-states not on his route.
Lin Gui was quite surprised by this.
Although he wouldn't be receiving more letters, he still planned to stay for another week.
Because the notification of completion for that Extra Commission, which rewarded a random Transcendent magic, had yet to arrive.
Moreover, no one had come to claim those four huge wooden boxes.
Lin Gui had checked the magic circuits of the wooden boxes; they hadn't been damaged during transport.
However, still no one came to claim the wooden boxes by following the guidance of the magic.
Over the next week, Lin Gui waited.
At the same time, according to Shadow Blade Lynn's requirements, he began insanely brutal training for Elvia.
Shadow Blade Lynn's appearance surprised Elvia.
When she heard the other party's identity...
Elvia nearly fell to her knees.
Hearing that the other party intended to train her and would help her reach the Transcendent rank within a month...
Elvia was ecstatic.
Then, she experienced the most agonizing training of her life.
Shadow Blade Lynn was only a spirit, and having lost all her abilities, she couldn't guide Elvia personally.
However, she could use Lin Gui to conduct the training.
Every strike from a Wind Blade became a means for Shadow Blade Lynn to judge the limits of Elvia's physical body.
Her power techniques and combat style also gradually became standardized and mainstream under Shadow Blade Lynn's cold and strict tutelage.
This ruthless and severe guidance made Elvia endure the most painful week of her life.
Every time a session ended, Lin Gui had to carry her on his back to the Adventurer's Guild to seek treatment.
Once healed, the beating would begin again.
Initially, Elvia was resistant.
But as she saw her own visible improvement, she eventually gritted her teeth and persevered.
In just one short week, Elvia had already reached the point where she could force Lin Gui to actively use the Flame Blade.
On the tenth day of their arrival in Withered Wood Town.
Inside the sparring room, the magic lamps illuminated the entire space with brilliant light.
Lin Gui stood in the center of the arena, with hundreds of magic circles rotating behind him simultaneously.
Layered and dense, they looked like a wall composed of light.
The center of every circle was aimed in the same direction.
Aimed at Elvia.
She wasn't wearing her armor.
She only wore a form-fitting black exercise suit, with her hair tied up in a high ponytail.
She held her rapier, its tip pointing toward the ground.
She took a deep breath and looked up.
“I'm ready.”
Lin Gui didn't speak.
He raised his hand.
Wind Blades fired in unison.
Not one by one, not in small groups.
Instead, dozens of Wind Blades shot out simultaneously.
The sharp sound of breaking air joined together, sounding like a massive swarm of bees vibrating their wings.
Elvia's pupils contracted slightly.
She didn't retreat.
She moved.
Step one, a sidestep.
Three Wind Blades brushed past her ear, the wind they carried blowing back the stray hairs at her temples.
Step two, a bend at the waist.
Five Wind Blades flew over her head; one of them severed a few strands of hair.
Step three, a leap.
She spun in mid-air, the tip of her sword tapping the ground to borrow force as she launched herself to the side.
Behind her, over a dozen Wind Blades pinned themselves into the spot where she had just been standing, leaving a cluster of fine cuts in the stone floor.
This time, Lin Gui didn't hold back.
The speed of the Wind Blades was pushed to the maximum.
one by one, wave after wave, they blotted out the sky.
Elvia wove through the torrent of Wind Blades.
Her body seemed as if it had no bones; every twist and every turn was perfectly timed.
Wind Blades flew under her arms, grazed past her waist, and whizzed between her legs.
She swung her sword, shattering several that drew close.
The blade traced silvery arcs under the light, every strike precisely hitting the body of a Wind Blade.
It wasn't brute force; it was finesse.
With just a light touch of the sword's tip, the Wind Blades shattered.
But there were too many Wind Blades.
one shattered, and three more took its place; three shattered, and ten more took their place.
Her movements began to lose form.
Her breathing grew heavy.
Her footsteps began to falter.
A Wind Blade grazed her shoulder, leaving a shallow bloodstain.
Another Wind Blade sliced past her calf, cutting a hole in her leggings.
Her figure swayed.
In her mind, Shadow Blade Lynn's voice rang out:
“Drop your left shoulder, shift your center of gravity to the right, and let your battle force flow through the Shao Yin meridian.”
Elvia gritted her teeth and followed the instructions.
Her body lunged violently to the right, narrowly dodging three Wind Blades fired simultaneously.
“Sword tip flicking upward, battle force flow through the Shou Tai Yin meridian.”
She swung her sword, the tip lightly flicking a Wind Blade aside, making it fly past her face.
“Retreat half a step, shift battle force to thirty percent, and gather strength in your left foot.”
She retreated, her toes tapping the ground as battle force condensed in her leg.
“Now, dash.”
Her body became like an arrow leaving a bowstring, suddenly shooting forward.
Her speed was so fast that she left a vague afterimage in the air.
Wind Blades shot at her from both sides, but she no longer dodged.
She held her blade horizontally before her, infused with battle force.
Ding, ding, ding, ding...
A series of continuous impacts rang out as Wind Blades struck the sword, being deflected and shattered.
Her speed didn't slow.
Three meters.
Two meters.
One meter.
Her fingers touched the hem of Lin Gui's mage robes.
And then...
She stopped.
She froze there, her hand still outstretched, her fingertips pinching a piece of the gray cloth.
Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over.
She wasn't crying intentionally.
She just couldn't control it.
She stood there, drenched in sweat, her hair a mess, and her clothes riddled with several cuts.
Her fingers pinched Lin Gui's mage robes, her fingertips trembling.
Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something.
But nothing came out.
Lin Gui looked at her and didn't move.
After a long while, she finally sniffled and let go.
Her voice was a bit hoarse:
“I touched you.”
Lin Gui nodded:
“Mm.”
Elvia wiped her face, the corners of her mouth curling up.
Surely this meant she could finally have a rest.
Then...
Lin Gui pulled the Staff of the Windwhisperer from behind his back.
He looked at her expressionlessly and said:
“It's time to increase the difficulty.”
The azure staff shimmered with a faint aura under the lamps.
Elvia's expression collapsed instantly.
“I...”
She started to speak.
Then she swallowed it back.
She managed two more words:
“Holy sh*t.”
That evening.
Lin Gui returned to the post office with the newly treated Elvia on his back.
She slumped against his back, her entire body as limp as a puddle of mud.
Her head rested on his shoulder, her mouth still muttering something.
It was unintelligible.
But it certainly wasn't anything good.
Shadow Blade Lynn's training for Elvia was simple.
It was to continuously push the various functions of her body to their limits.
Speed, reaction time, strength...
At the same time, she corrected many of Elvia's power techniques.
These were all very basic exercises.
But Shadow Blade Lynn knew exactly how to use Lin Gui's terrifyingly precise Wind Blades to push these exercises to the absolute limit.
The results were remarkable, but it had also caused Elvia to curse a blue streak many times.
Lin Gui ignored Elvia's complaints.
He checked the mailbox, but there were no letters to be delivered.
As he passed through the backyard, he paused.
Those four huge wooden boxes still stood quietly in the yard.
The wood grain shimmered with a dark light in the setting sun, and the magic protection was still active.
No one had come to claim them.
From the first day until now, it had been ten days.
Lin Gui's gaze turned solemn.
He couldn't stay in Withered Wood Town for too long waiting for the actual recipient to appear.
Since three days ago, many people had come to the post office to find him.
They were there to "poach" him.
Lin Gui's mastery of Levitation had made him a target for several transport teams to recruit.
But the fictional transport team behind him became an obstacle.
And his continued failure to gather any members for his transport team caused those people to grow suspicious.
It was very easy to check the status of various transport teams at the Transport Guild.
As a result, the suspicion that there was no transport team behind him grew.
People were already showing up and offering handsome prices to recruit him.
These people wouldn't act against him because he lacked a transport team; in fact, they would be ecstatic.
A masterless wandering mage who knew Levitation...
Every single one of those traits delighted a transport team.
However...
The Inspector following Lin Gui wouldn't think that way.
Nor would the nobles in the Central City-States he was to visit in the future, whose interests he might affect.
They would be even more unscrupulous in acting against him.
Therefore, he had to establish his own transport team as quickly as possible.
And the registration period for the transport team selection was very close.
Considering his estimated travel time, he could wait for three more days at most.
Once there, he would still need to find a way to meet the registration requirements.
He couldn't afford to waste any more time.
Lin Gui asked the System in his mind:
“What is the time limit for the Special Commission?”
The System replied:
【The time limit for the commission regarding the delivery of the Dalton family's goods is two months.】
【If it is not completed within two months, the commission will automatically be deemed a failure.】
Lin Gui nodded.
With two months, he would have time to go and register and then come back.
He decided to go to Coppergate City first to register for the transport team selection.
Afterward, he would return to complete the Extra Commission.
If the wooden boxes were signed for in the meantime, he wouldn't need to come back and could just keep moving forward.
If they weren't signed for...
Lin Gui looked at the wooden boxes, his gaze solemn.
He would have no choice but to open the boxes and see exactly what remarkable things were inside...
Something that could make the Dalton family ship it anonymously and even trigger a System commission.
Over the next three days.
Besides training with Elvia, Lin Gui also began to actively search for the recipient of the Dalton goods.
Recipients of System commissions, in theory, would not be simple people.
He first began searching based on the Dalton family's transport team that had died on the road.
At that time, Lin Gui could have asked around...
The only transport team under the Dalton family's name was called the Dalton Transport Team.
However, while asking and searching, Lin Gui unexpectedly discovered...
There was no proof of travel recorded at the Transport Guild regarding the arrival of the Dalton Transport Team.
While the guild had no record of their presence, it couldn't prove that the Dalton Transport Team hadn't been to Withered Wood Town.
After all, there were some transport teams that specialized in smuggled goods or illegal work.
They wouldn't register with the Transport Guild and might not even step foot inside one.
Lin Gui began to ask the lumberjacks and other low-level workers in Withered Wood Town about the members of the Dalton team.
Since Lin Gui was the one who helped them send their letters, they were very willing and even took the initiative to help him scout for information.
The result...
No one had seen a similar transport team come to Withered Wood Town.
Having worked in Withered Wood Town for so many years, it was impossible for them not to know which transport teams had visited.
After all, they were the ones who loaded the goods onto the transport teams' vehicles in Withered Wood Town.
And there were only three transport teams that regularly traveled to and from Withered Wood Town.
The Frostscar Caravan.
The Morningstar Caravan.
The Red Sand Caravan.
The investigation hit a stalemate.
Lin Gui could only give up.
Going up to the second floor and entering the bedroom, Lin Gui leaned over, preparing to set Elvia down on the bed.
However, her grip tightened, and the hands wrapped around his neck didn't loosen.
Instead, she pulled herself a bit closer.
“Don't move.”
Her voice was very soft, carrying a lingering, breathy quality.
Lin Gui paused.
“Let go.”
“I won't.”
Elvia buried her face in the crook of his neck, her voice muffled:
“This past week has been so miserable for me.”
“Every day I'm being beaten by you, and after that, I have to be lectured by that dead ghost.”
“And then I'm beaten by you again.”
She looked up, gazing at his profile.
Her lips were almost touching his ear, her warm breath hitting his neck.
“Can't you—give me some reward?”
Lin Gui turned his head and glanced at her.
That face was very close, close enough to see the tiny beads of sweat clinging to her eyelashes.
Her eyes were sparkling, carrying an intentional but very natural look of pitiful longing.
Like a cat begging for a treat.
Lin Gui was silent for a moment.
“In three days, we'll leave Withered Wood Town.”
He paused.
“When the time comes, I'll give you what you want.”
Elvia's eyes suddenly lit up.
“Really?”
“Mm.”
“You promise?”
“Mm.”
“No backing out?”
“...Mm.”
Elvia stared at him for several seconds, confirming he wasn't just placating her.
Then, she let go.
Her body fell onto the bed, sinking into the soft blankets.
She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow, her voice emerging with a hint of a smile from the gaps in the fabric:
“Then I'm going to sleep.”
“Goodnight.”
Lin Gui stood by the bed, looking down at her.
Moonlight leaked through the gaps in the curtains, falling across her spread-out golden hair.
Her breathing soon became steady, a trace of a smile still hanging on her lips.
Lin Gui stood there for a while, then turned and blew out the lamp.
The room fell into darkness.
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