Waterfall Shangzhen, Shangcheng District.

In a deserted training ground, the weeds all over the place are showing buds, turning green from yellow to green, and overnight dewdrops hang on the tip of the grass, shining brightly in the splendid spring light.

At this time, two figures, one black and one white, passed through the jungle, crossed the wooden fence, faced the warm spring breeze, and came to this abandoned training ground.

Thorne looked at the rotten archery target, the empty weapon rack, and a few collapsed cabins in the corner, and couldn't help but recall the image of training here when he first entered the game:

"Rangers are vigilant fighters, masters of bows, arrows and sharp blades. They are good at guerrilla raids and quick and quiet solutions to opponents. What is the difference between meaningless brute force and those northern barbarians?"

"No! The posture of holding the sword is wrong. When thrusting forward, the arm must be balanced with the blade of the sword. That's right. Then hurry up and thrust hard!"

"Transmit the power to the entire sword body, the arm and the sword form a straight line, as high as the shoulder, and the force reaches the blade!"

"Stealth produces a silent rhythm, a rhythm that only the best rangers and rogues can understand, the rhythm that a wizard can perceive magic and a paladin who perceives approaching evil."

"When you find your prey, do you greet the enemy with a rain of galloping arrows, or with twinkling blades in your hand?"

…………

In a year before the game has changed dramatically, for Thorne, it should be the best memory in the world.

It is a pity that the once bustling training ground has become desolate in just a few months.

The vicissitudes of life have drowned out all traces of the Dragonborn Lord of Falls, as well as the footprints of most half-elves left here.

"Have you made up your mind?" Thorne withdrew his gaze, looked at the half-elf girl beside him, and asked.

"It's decided, just do it! Evasion is a form of cowardice. The more fearful you are, the more afraid you will become. The key to solving the problem is to face it bravely. So I don't want our compatriots to remain silent like this." The half-elf girl looked at the abandoned training ground and said with a firm expression:

"After all, Pushang Town is also our Pushang Town. We have the right and obligation to protect everything in Pushang Town. For the future of Pushang Town and to accommodate all half-elves wandering children, we half-elves must protect Pushang Town for the future. do one's best!"

"Okay, you are the half-elf leader of the upper city now, you naturally have the right to decide any affairs, then everything will follow your arrangement." Thorne glanced at the strong half-elf girl in front of him with relief, and then clicked head, walked to a big tree, looked up at the rusty alarm bell.

"Clang clang!"

The rapid bell tolls enveloped the entire Upper City. Most of the half-elf Ranger Druids living in the Upper City were stunned when they heard the familiar rallying sound, and their expressions flashed in a trance.

Immediately afterwards, he quickly ran back to the room, picked up the sharp blades and bows and arrows hanging on the wall, and walked towards the abandoned training ground in the upper city.

As one after another vigorous figures galloped through the jungle, in just a moment, the ranger druids in the upper city came to this grassy training ground with their weapons and equipment and their animal companions.

Thorne stood in front of the crowd, pacing back and forth, looking at all the half-elf ranger druids who had arrived.

After a tragic battle last year in Shangcheng District of Waterfall Town, there were only about 110 professionals who could take up arms and fight.

Most of them are members of the Longbow Guard, specializing in bow shooting, and only a few are lone walkers of the wilderness, wandering the emerald fields to hunt down the evils that threaten civilization.

And these are the people who survived the tragic slaughter. They have rich combat experience. Most of them have reached the extraordinary rank and belong to the second-order professional. the power of.

After all, no matter how high-level the players in the lower city are, they have only stayed in the game for a little over two years. And these half-elf aboriginal residents with a lifespan of around 180 years old have lived in this world for decades, and their comprehensive quality is currently unmatched by the current player group.

"Thorn, what's the matter with suddenly calling us here today?" A middle-aged half-elf ranger stepped forward, first glanced at Lilia, who was standing quietly, and then asked Thorne.

"Our new leader in Uptown has some important things to announce, so I gathered you here." Thorne smiled and explained to the crowd.

"Are you going to join the battle with the Hobgoblin? If so, that would be great." A half-elf with a longbow said.

"That's right! The evil gnomes are threatening the safety of Pushang Town all the time. As a member of Pushang Town, we should defend against foreign enemies, and we can't let those outsiders in Xiacheng laugh at us as a group of shrinking heads. turtle."

"We are wilderness rangers, and our mission is to maintain the safety of Pushang Town in the wilderness, so for the future development of Pushang Town and to absorb all our half-elf compatriots, we must stand up bravely and resist all foreign enemies."

"Yes! How a group of half-elves who can only escape to absorb their compatriots wandering in the wilderness, how to make the upper city lively. They will only think that we are a group of cowardly refugees, not brave protesters, our Our compatriots will despise us!"

"I don't want my descendants to hide in the bushes for the rest of their lives. We must take the initiative to accept the world, not passively allow the world to adapt to us."

Looking at the passionate half-elf warriors, Lilia moved to the front of the crowd and said with a firm expression:

"We are a group of lonely wanderers who can neither integrate into human society nor adapt to the life of elves, so we half elves long to have a territory of our own, and based on this, we will accept all the wandering compatriots and build a real estate that belongs to us. own home.

Today, we have our own territory and have gathered many compatriots from all over the world. But the hobgoblins of the Tranquil Forest, the gnolls of the Great Swordscar Mountains, and the various evil races of the Emerald Fields threaten our safety.

And our mission is to fight endlessly with all the enemies who try to threaten the town of Falls, and use our lives to protect a piece of pure land belonging to the half-elves.

As the new leader of the half-elves, my compatriots, I need you to pick up the sharp blades and bows and arrows in your hands and jointly protect the homeland on which we live. "

"Guard the waterfall to the town! Guard the waterfall to the town! Guard the waterfall to the town!" Several older half-elf rangers immediately raised their sharp blades and bows and arrows and shouted.

"Wait a minute!" Suddenly, an untimely voice interrupted the lively atmosphere.

As soon as he finished speaking, two rangers wearing light green cloaks and holding long swords came out, and one of them asked Lilia: "As a half-elf leader, don't you think your strength and age are too young? Is it? I don't think you can lead us to protect everything in Fallstown."

"That's right! It's not that we don't trust you, it's just that I don't believe that a little girl who is only seventeen or eighteen years old can shoulder such a big mission." Another ranger also echoed:

"As a ranger and pastor of Melika, I have wandered in the middle of the continent and the wasteland of the North, and the ones that really belong to our half-elf's own territory, except for some small villages that are precarious, are really too few, so I don't want to put this All hope rests on a little girl."

A ranger with the unicorn holy emblem stepped out of the crowd again, first glanced at Lilia, and then said slowly.

"Zeros, then do you mean to let you undertake this mission? Or are you doubting the decision of leader Oster before his death." A middle-aged Druid stepped out and asked sharply.

"Uncle Thabo, I'm not questioning the decision of the leader of Oster, I'm just telling the truth. After all, the half-elves in the entire Upper Town are living beings, I just don't want them to make innocent sacrifices." Zelos, the ranger of the horned beast holy emblem, looked at the middle-aged druid and said calmly.

"I will help her until she has the ability to become a real half-elf leader. After all, this is the decision of the leader of Oster before his death, so we must respect the last wish of a deceased." Thorne stopped the desire The middle-aged Druid who spoke, took a few steps forward and said slowly.

"With your strength?" Another ranger questioned: "You two years ago were just an outsider who was even afraid of goblins. With your current strength, you think you can protect her. ?"

"Why can't you protect it?" The middle-aged Druid Tabo glared at the questioning ranger, pointed at Thorne and said:

"As a stalker of the Way of Silence, Thorne personally smashed the 'deer feast' of Mara worshipers in the Barren Skull Mountains more than two months ago, killing more than forty Mara believers. Isn't that enough to prove his strength?"

As soon as the middle-aged Druid Tabo's voice fell, the entire training ground fell into a brief calm, followed by the amazed glances that swept over Thorne frequently, and the whispered conversation.

"But I still want to test Thorne's strength. Only in this way will I be convinced." The ranger Zelos, who wore the unicorn and said the holy emblem, came out and looked at Thorne with a strong fighting intent in his eyes: "You should Won't refuse my somewhat rude request, stalker of the Way of Silent."

"Of course not." Thorne moved his right hand to the hilt of the sword, pulled out the Demon Slayer gently, looked at Zelos and said with a smile.

Zelos, a level 10 ranger who once wandered in the wasteland of the Northland, since he came to the town of Falls, under the recommendation of the leader of Oster, he has successfully worked as a priest of Melika, and Thorne is naturally very clear about this information.

"That's offended." The corner of Zelos' mouth curled into a smile, accompanied by the slight flickering of the unicorn holy emblem on his chest, the whole body was immediately enveloped in an almost invisible protective force field, and he immediately drew out the double swords around his waist. , turned into a swift shadow, and took the lead in attacking Thorne.

——“Steel Soul School (Stance Skill): Bright and Pure Body!”

Thorne's eyes narrowed slightly, and he immediately locked onto Zelos' figure. Just as the opponent's sharp blade was about to approach, he suddenly spun and dodged, facing the piercing sound of breaking the sky, worthy of dodging the two swords. The pincer attack of the blade appeared behind Zelos.

- "Insight Strike!"

——“Qi Qi Slash!”

Immediately afterwards, Thorne instantly locked onto the almost invisible protective force field of Zelos, and the long sword in his hand was suddenly enveloped in a layer of fierce energy of Qi, and then with a scorching sound of breaking through the air, he slashed out with a sword.

"Crack!"

A sound like the cracking of an eggshell sounded, and the protective force field around Zelos shattered into pieces. The sharp blade quickly slashed a shallow wound on his back, and the red blood slowly oozes out.

"Thank you for being merciful." A cold sweat flashed across Zelos' forehead, and he immediately put his two swords in the scabbard calmly, stepped back a few steps in a row, and after pulling away, thanked Thorne.

"It's you who underestimated the enemy." Thorne took a deep breath, calmed down the effect of overusing the "Qi Lifting Slash" just now, then looked around the crowd and said:

"Lilia is now our new leader. This is the dying wish of the leader of Oster. We all have a common goal, so I hope you can unite together to build a home that belongs to the half-elf race. While tempering yourself, accept those half-elf vagabonds who have been rejected."

After Thorne finished speaking, his tone paused, and then he continued: "Moreover, I will obtain the assistance of equipment and materials for the two lords in the lower city."

"The rest of the specific matters, you can arrange it yourself. If you encounter any difficulties that are difficult to solve and I am not here, you can send a message to the human warlock living in the tower, and she will help you." Thorne said to the person beside him. The half-elf girl explained something and saw Lilia nodded lightly.

He turned to look at the middle-aged druid named Tabo again: "Uncle Tabo, I can't promise to stay in the town of Falls every day, so Lilia will bother you for your help in the future."

"Don't worry, Thorne, Lilia's father and I are close friends, you can go as far as you can, as long as you come back from time to time." Tabo patted Thorne on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"It will definitely be, after all, this is my forever 'home'." Thorne smiled, bowed to the middle-aged Druid Tabo, and turned to leave.

Thorne walked in the dense jungle in the upper city, feeling the faint fragrance of the finely broken leaves, looking at the mottled brilliance of the sun falling through the leaves on the ground, his heavy heart couldn't help but relax a little. .

"How is it? Is it all resolved?" At this time, Andrina, who was waiting in front of the dragon beast, looked at Thorne and asked.

"Well, it's handled well. After all, the reason why half-elf races live in seclusion in the upper city is because they are rejected by society. If no one is willing to reject them, few people are willing to be alone." Thorne nodded. head, walking and saying:

"The only hope now is that the upper city can slowly accommodate more half-elf vagabonds from all over the world, and the lower city will not focus on the land of the upper city."

"Then I'm relieved, you know, your expression of silence yesterday was too scary. I believe that you are going to seek shortcoming." Andrina said with a smile, pulling Thorne's arm.

Just as they quickened their pace to leave, two figures walked out from another path.

"Mr. Alanis, are you ready to go back?" Thorne stopped, looked at the two and said.

"That's right, we're going back to Port Cullin." Alanis glanced at Irene, who was hidden in the cloak beside him, and gave Thorne a gentle smile: "After all, it's been too long here."

"Then, farewell, I wish you a smooth journey." Thorne replied.

"Stalker of the Way of Silence, yes, I am very satisfied with you. This brooch is given to you, representing the friendship of our harpists. Maybe it will help you when you travel the continent."

Alanis looked at Thorne, nodded with satisfaction, threw him a brooch with a smile, and turned away with Irene.