Chapter 63: Honorary Elder 1

“You... you... you...”

Darkya was so angry that her face turned bright red.

And the worst part was...

Kent had said those ambiguous words right in front of so many people.

The expressions of everyone around them immediately changed.

They looked at Darkya differently.

Some were surprised.

Some were amused.

Some looked like they had already misunderstood something.

Darkya was so furious that she almost pulled out her weapon and challenged Kent to a duel.

Unfortunately...

She did not have a weapon with her.

Of course, if her fingernails and teeth were excluded.

Besides...

Kent was now the greatest hero of Muan City.

The entire city owed him a great debt.

Even Darkya could only swallow her anger.

Kent was extremely pleased with himself.

However, he did not show it.

Instead, he deliberately put on a confused expression.

He slowly walked around Darkya.

Once.

Twice.

He carefully looked her up and down.

Then he made several strange clicking sounds.

“Hmm...”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk...”

After examining her for a while, Kent suddenly sighed.

Then he said:

“You should leave.”

Everyone around them stopped.

Even Darkya blinked in confusion.

She stared at Kent.

“What?”

“You want me to leave?”

“Why?”

She could not understand.

According to everything she knew about humans...

Humans were famous for greed and desire.

Was Kent planning some kind of trick?

After witnessing how he dealt with the kobolds, Darkya had developed a slight fear of his strange methods.

There was an old saying:

“It is not thieves you should fear.”

“It is those who keep thinking about stealing from you.”

So she decided she had to understand what Kent was planning.

“Forget it.”

Kent looked away.

“It’s nothing.”

He shook his head.

His expression made it look like he wanted to say something but was unwilling to speak.

The more he acted like this...

The more uneasy Darkya became.

“What do you mean, forget it?”

“Is there something you don’t want to say?”

“Something embarrassing?”

Her curiosity had been completely awakened.

And curiosity...

Was something that could even kill a cat.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

Kent looked at her seriously.

“You really want me to say it?”

Darkya firmly nodded.

“Yes.”

“Tell me.”

Kent sighed.

He made an expression of helplessness.

As if he truly did not want to say it.

“It’s nothing complicated.”

“Think about it.”

“You wear that mask all day long.”

“There must be some reason.”

“Maybe...”

“You have some kind of facial problem.”

“Perhaps you are so ugly that you could scare someone to death.”

“If you become my servant...”

“And I accidentally see your face at night...”

“What if I die from fright?”

“I still want to live for many more years.”

Darkya froze.

For several seconds, she simply stared at him.

Then...

With a sharp motion...

She removed her mask.

Her beautiful face was revealed.

She pointed at herself angrily.

“I’m ugly?”

“Do I look ugly to you?”

“Look carefully!”

“Do I look like someone who could scare people?”

“I’ll tell you right now.”

“My name is Darkya.”

“And I am extremely beautiful.”

“This mask is an advanced alchemy creation.”

“It is not something I wear to hide my appearance!”

For elves, beauty was not merely appearance.

It was part of their identity.

Among all insults, being called ugly was one of the things they hated most.

And Darkya was not just any elf.

She was a powerful Level-Eight Magic Archer.

Her pride and dignity were even stronger.

Kent looked carefully at her face.

Then he nodded.

“Hmm.”

“Not bad.”

“You actually have some beauty.”

“Since that is the case...”

“You can leave.”

Darkya’s anger suddenly disappeared.

Because she finally realized...

Kent had been provoking her from the beginning.

But even Kent had to admit...

Darkya was indeed beautiful.

Perhaps because she had lived underground for so long, her skin was unusually pale.

But that did not reduce her charm.

Her face had sharp, elegant lines.

Her complexion was almost porcelain white.

Her large black eyes were bright and deep.

Her delicate lips were naturally red.

Her long eyelashes gave her an almost unreal appearance.

The only problem...

Was her temper.

Kent silently evaluated her.

Around ninety points.

The only drawbacks were her slightly large and pointed ears.

But then again...

If her ears were not pointed...

She would not be an elf.

Only then did Darkya understand what had happened.

She covered her face with both hands.

Then she ran away in embarrassment.

She was actually crying.

Kent stood there awkwardly.

He had not expected such a reaction.

The people around him also looked at him strangely.

But most of them...

Were looking at Kent with envy.

At that moment, Kobi walked over.

He lowered his voice and whispered:

“Do you know?”

“Darkya once made an oath.”

“Whoever could make her voluntarily remove her mask...”

“She would marry that person.”

Kobi sighed.

“Tsk, tsk.”

“If I had known this method worked...”

“I would have tried it myself.”

The tone of pure envy in Kobi’s voice made Kent extremely uncomfortable.

He looked at the dwarf.

Then thought silently.

Why does everyone around me seem to know more about this than I do?

“Someone like you?”

“Kobi, she would beat you half to death.”

Kent rolled his eyes.

But deep inside...

A certain desire was still quietly stirring.

“Hmph.”

“Don’t get any ideas.”

Kobi immediately warned him.

“Dark elves marry dark elves.”

“That has always been the tradition.”

“There has never been intermarriage with other races.”

“So forget about it.”

Kent rolled his eyes.

Then he patted Kobi on the shoulder.

“But wait.”

“Has there really never been anyone from another race who married a dark elf?”

“There has.”

“How could there not be?”

Kobi answered confidently.

However...

His expression became slightly strange.

Kent felt relieved.

“Really?”

“Who was it?”

Kobi thought for a moment before explaining.

“If someone wants to marry a dark elf...”

“They must become an Honorary Elder of the elven race.”

“An Honorary Elder refers to someone who has made an enormous contribution to the dark elf race.”

“Someone who has saved the elves from a great crisis.”

“In the history of the Underdark...”

“There was only one such case.”

“When the elves first entered the Underdark, there was a human.”

“He was an eighth-level Space Mage.”

“That Space Mage became the guardian of the entrance to the Underdark.”

“Because of his contribution, he was recognized as an Honorary Elder.”

“However...”

“After marrying a dark elf, he died only a few years later.”

Kent was silent for a moment.

Then he sighed.

“I was only joking.”

“Elves can live for thousands of years.”

“I’m not even sure whether I can become a legendary mage.”

“I don’t want my wife to spend the rest of her life as a widow.”

“Besides...”

“I already have a girlfriend.”

In reality, Kent was only slightly reluctant.

It was no different from seeing a beautiful woman walking down the street and wanting to look twice.

After living two lives, Kent understood very clearly.

There were some thoughts a person could have.

And there were some thoughts that should remain only thoughts.

Kobi looked at him.

Then he curled his lips in disdain.

Inside, he muttered:

Humans really are hypocritical.

The following days passed peacefully.

No powerful magical beasts appeared nearby.

And Kent devoted his time to another subject.

The kobold mages.

These kobold mages had greatly attracted Kent’s curiosity.

The first thing that surprised him was their casting method.

They could release magic instantly.

No chanting.

No preparation.

No complicated spell construction.

They simply released the spell.

And their magic types were extremely strange.

Acid.

Wind blades.

Earth spikes.

Poisonous smoke.

Their abilities were a complete mixture of different elements.

Almost like a chaotic collection of every type of magic.

But the thing Kent cared about most...

Was how kobold mages achieved instant casting.

After countless observations, he finally discovered the secret.

The kobolds did not rely on traditional magic systems.

Instead...

They drew strange patterns on their bodies.

The materials used were equally unusual.

The blood from the hearts of fire-element magical beasts.

Unknown beetles.

Strange plants.

Various mineral powders.

The kobolds mixed these materials together.

Then they used needles to carve specific patterns onto their skin.

If the process succeeded...

That kobold would gain the ability to release fire magic instantly.

Kent became completely absorbed in his research.

To him, this was an entirely new magical system.

A completely different path from human magic.

He was currently studying the patterns carefully when suddenly...

Someone shouted from outside the laboratory.

“Kent!”

Kent immediately became irritated.

His research had reached a critical stage.

Being interrupted at this moment was extremely annoying.

“Kent!”

“Someone from the Elven capital has arrived.”

“They seem to want to discuss something with you.”

Kobi stood outside the laboratory.

His expression was extremely strange.

Almost as if...

He had heard something unbelievable.

Kent frowned.

“The Elven capital?”

“What do they want with me?”

Kobi looked at him.

Then slowly said:

“I think...”

“It is probably something very important.”

Kent was equally confused.

He knew that every major race in the Underdark had its own capital city.

However...

Those great cities were all located on the second layer of the underground world.

The distance between the first and second layers was enormous.

Even if someone could fly, it would still take several days to travel between them.

And besides...

Flying was almost impossible in the Underdark.

The environment itself restricted aerial movement.

Only some special magical beasts, such as creatures similar to bats, could move freely through the underground skies.

Because of this, Kent had never paid much attention to the distance between underground cities.

So he completely failed to notice Kobi’s strange expression.

“Wait here for a moment.”

“I’ll go prepare myself.”

Kent could not figure out what was happening.

After thinking for a while, he simply gave up.

He turned to Kobi and spoke.

Then he returned to his laboratory.

Inside the laboratory, Kent first dealt with another problem.

The kobold mages.

He locked several of them inside specially prepared confinement chambers.

Then he looked at them seriously.

“I’ll give you one more day to think about it.”

“If you still refuse to cooperate...”

“You will all die.”

Kent was also helpless.

These kobolds were completely different from the kobolds he remembered from games.

They were not timid creatures.

They were not cowardly.

Instead...

They possessed an almost frightening determination to die.

And their loyalty was equally shocking.

Even after all this time, Kent still had no idea what the strange patterns carved onto the kobold mages’ bodies actually represented.

What kind of power did they contain?

What was the principle behind them?

How did they allow instant spell casting?

He had no answers.

And Kent did not dare experiment recklessly.

A single mistake could kill the kobold mage.

Or worse...

Destroy the very thing he was trying to study.

Fortunately, an alchemist’s laboratory had no shortage of special facilities.

Among them were dedicated areas for imprisoning magical creatures.

For now, Kent had only one option.

Keep the kobold mages alive.

Study them slowly.

Find the secret behind their strange magic system.

Only then could he understand what hidden knowledge was contained within those mysterious patterns.