Chapter 405: Teacher and Student

Centuries of a complicated life had left Jilannis’s memories of the past hazy, but she still remembered the towering figure who had once set her on the path of Arcane Magic.

He had been a dashing and gentle male Elf, a man with no vices, a gentle and tireless teacher who maintained a lifelong habit of fitness and physical training—a stark contrast to most scholars.

Jilannis Galanord’s decision to study the synthesis of Magic and Martial Arts was largely due to her teacher’s influence. And like her master, she too had maintained a lifelong habit of physical fitness.

Jilannis had countless times been thankful that she had fully embraced her teacher’s lessons; otherwise, she would have died time and time again, like during her battle with the previous master of the Grip of the Vast Wave.

But now… look at him. Look at this old man before her, stooped and hunched, struggling to even stand! ‘Where is the shadow of the teacher I remember?!’

“Elves only age rapidly when they are on the verge of death…” Jilannis shook her head, unable to accept the reality before her. “Teacher, how could you…”

“This isn’t real—”

“No, my dear Jian.” The Old Elf in his twilight years looked as if a gust of wind could knock him over, yet his expression held no sadness or fear. All Jilannis saw on his face was contentment. “You have passed through all the mists I laid, pierced the illusions, and arrived at the final truth. I am too old now. I could die at any moment. Even an Elf cannot escape such a day.”

“I am so happy to see you again. After the fall of the Hailan Empire, many people spread rumors about your fate. The most credible one I heard was that you had fallen into the Elemental Plane, but I always believed that my most brilliant student would never perish so easily.”

“To see with my own eyes that you are still alive… I am truly at peace.”

“No, Teacher! There are still so many ways!” Jilannis cried out, losing her composure. She tilted her head up, fighting back tears, refusing to let them spoil this precious reunion. “Teacher, we’re Mages! I’m not the same Jian I was back then!”

“Believe me, I can keep you alive! Magic Items, Alchemy Potions, Elementalization, even becoming a Witch Demon! Whatever you want, I’ll bring it to you!”

“Don’t leave me again, I’m begging you! Just say the word. I’d resurrect the Hailan Empire and destroy the Laine Clan with my own hands all over again if that’s what it takes!”

The old man let out a hoarse laugh, opening his nearly toothless mouth. His voice was a reedy whistle. “I believe you have the power, my dear. After all, you were already one of the most powerful Mages before I left you.”

“But let’s not resurrect the Hailan Empire. Some things are better left buried in the dust of history, don’t you think?”

“Yes, you’re right. I’ll do whatever you say!” Jilannis nodded frantically. “Just stay alive, and I will make absolutely sure the Laine Clan never gets a chance to rise from the ashes!”

“Heh, Jian…” The Old Elf shook his head. He leaned on the doorframe, panting, his shriveled chest heaving violently. “That’s not important.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I have no intention of accepting. I’ve lived long enough.”

His cloudy eyes surveyed the small space pieced together by Arcane Magic, and his gaze finally fell upon the sword at Jilannis’s waist. “Truth, precision, depth, and expertise… Where did you find it?”

“My old friend. It feels like a lifetime since we last met.”

“From a Judge of the Molten Iron Barrier.” Jilannis unbuckled “Silence,” intending to return it to its rightful owner, but her teacher showed no intention of taking it. “Did you have a conflict with them? I can…”

“No, not with them. I once fought alongside them against the Abyss. I was wounded, and they sent me to the rear to recover. A Judge was holding the sword for me at the time. He later rushed off to the battlefield, and I forgot to get it back.”

“You don’t have to give it back to me. Look at the state I’m in—how could I possibly lift a sword?” the Old Elf chuckled wryly. “It’s easy to grow lazy, much harder to become diligent again. I’m a living example of that.”

“So, aren’t you going to come in and sit for a while? Keep an old man with one foot in the grave some company? Or do you have other business to attend to?”

“I…” Jilannis closed her eyes. Despite her teacher’s invitation, she couldn’t bring herself to step forward. “I tracked you here for a specific reason.”

“Do you… know about the Red Mould outside? Does its mutation have anything to do with you…?”

The Old Elf blinked, then laughed as realization dawned. “Ohhh! So that’s why you’re here. I see!”

“Surely you don’t think these old bones are capable of causing such a massive commotion!”

The aged Elder Mage slowly raised his left hand, and a deep blue Arcane Magic brilliance unfurled a vivid, life-like image before Jilannis’s eyes.

“But it wouldn’t be right to say I’m completely uninvolved. About a few months ago, I saved a group of Tiger Man from the tide of mutated Red Mould.”

“They were likely native inhabitants of this area, displaced by the spread of the Red Mould. I brought them here for a few days, just before the fungus could consume them and turn them into Spore People.”

“But as you can see, I don’t have enough resources here to support them. Keeping them here indefinitely would have been a form of slow murder, so I decided to be the bad guy.”

Jilannis nodded slightly. “You modified them, turning them into Strong Acid Tiger People who no longer fear the Red Mould, and then drove them away under various pretexts.”

“So you’ve met them?” Her teacher seemed surprised, muttering, “How… how are they doing?”

Jilannis said nothing, but the Elder Mage already knew the answer. “They lost their intelligence? Became little more than beasts?”

“The worst-case scenario.”

“The materials here are limited. You must have had your reasons,” Jilannis tried to make excuses for him, but the aged Elf had no intention of hearing them.

“Those are just excuses. Foreseeing this outcome but being powerless to change it… that is my failure.”

“But saying this now won’t change anything. Fortunately, you can still help me. You can do what I cannot.”

The Old Elf looked at his student, his gaze burning with intensity. “I’ve found the coordinates for the source of this Red Mould, but I don’t have the strength to confront it. Can you… will you do this for me?”