Chapter 69: The Dawn Before Death Arrives

The continuous heavy rain had been falling for three days. As dawn broke, it marked the beginning of the fourth rainy day. Lüti, by the light of a fire in the cave, idly played with the hourglass in her hand. Of their group of four, only two remained. It was the seventh day since they entered the Datamu Canyon, and also the seventh day since they had been paired up in twos.

Taolisi was snoring loudly against the cave wall, while Teacher Jie Xi slept further inside. Lüti looked at the big, fat Taolisi. Despite his constant foul mouth, he was quite a gentleman, always taking the initiative to find food, cook, gather firewood, and start fires, leaving Lüti with little to do.

Since entering the canyon, Bingzhiye had left them on the first night and never returned. The next day, Bimoye also disappeared and never came back. For these two top students of the entire academy, Teacher Jie Xi was both angry and worried. Despite searching for a long time, he couldn't find them, unsure whether they had left the canyon or met with some accident inside.

Raindrops fell like a curtain at the cave entrance. This was a small cave on the waist of a small stone mountain, with a tiny shrub forest below, no larger than a mu. They had been hiding from the rain in this cave for two days. Outside the cave, there were a few bird nests on the branches, and they had stayed in the cave for two days without going out, relying on these nests.

Taolisi turned over, feeling uncomfortable and sat up.

Lüti said, "You just went to sleep a little while ago, why are you up again? Go back to sleep."

"Damn it, how can I sleep? These past few days, eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating, I was hoping to lose some weight during this practical training, but I feel like I've gained weight instead. Shit!" Taolisi snatched the hourglass, and the sand had only leaked halfway, indicating it was only a little past three, not yet four. Taolisi said, "You sleep, I can't. What a lousy weather!"

Jie Xi, who was sleeping on the ground, opened one eye, glanced at them, and went back to sleep. He didn't care how long they stayed in the cave, as long as they were still in the Datamu Canyon. The exam was about survival, and even if they stayed in the cave for a month, it would still count as survival.

Lüti shook her head, "I can't sleep either. Why don't we chat?"

"Sure, about what?" Taolisi was happy to have company.

Lüti thought for a moment and said, "Let's talk about professions. What do you think is the most powerful profession?"

"Magician! I love magicians the most." Taolisi was happy for a moment, then became disappointed, "Unfortunately, my eight elemental talents are all mediocre, with none standing out, so I had to choose to be a knight."

"Mediocre? No, no, don't say that. You should say they are well-balanced, right?" Lüti smiled at him.

Taolisi also smiled.

Lüti continued, "If they are well-balanced, many people would choose to be warriors. Why didn't you?"

"Damn." Taolisi shook his head, "My family said it had no future and wouldn't let me." After a moment, he said, "Let me tell you a secret, but you can't tell anyone."

"What?"

Taolisi said, "My family wasn't always nobility. When my grandfather was around, we were bandits. Later, our bandit group grew larger, and the local forces tried to eliminate us several times but failed. This incident alarmed the empire, which sent a large army. However, they didn't come to kill my grandfather and his men but to recruit them. My grandfather knew that with his thousands of brothers, they couldn't escape the army's encirclement, so he surrendered. As a result, they were incorporated into the empire and sent to the front lines to fight. Surprisingly, they performed well and became minor nobles. After that, my grandfather and his men became proud of their new status, considering their past as bandits a disgrace, and forbade the family from mentioning it."

Lüti covered her mouth and giggled, "So that's why you always use foul language."

Taolisi laughed heartily, "I learned it from my grandfather. He always thought he was a noble, but he couldn't change his foul mouth, and he always spoke in a jumbled way."

The two laughed together, and when they heard the teacher's snoring get louder, they lowered their voices.

"So, what about you? What do you want to do in the future?" Taolisi asked.

"In the future?" Lüti said, "Of course, I want to be a magician. I'm already 15, and it's a bit late to switch to something else."

"No, no, I mean, what do you want to do in the future? Be a teacher, wander like a mercenary, or do something else?"

"Oh, that." Lüti said, "I'm studying architectural art at the academy, so I want to work in that field. My dream is to design a palace as magnificent and beautiful as the Saint Iho Palace."

"Wow, quite... quite artistic, such a grand building!" Taolisi was very impressed and suddenly asked, "What is the Saint Iho Palace like?"

"Uh... you've never seen it?"

Taolisi chuckled, "No, no, I haven't. Even if I had, I wouldn't recognize it. Ha ha ha."

Lüti also laughed, "You're quite straightforward, unlike some people who pretend to know a lot about things they've never seen."

"Knowing is knowing, and not knowing is not knowing. What's the point of pretending?" Taolisi said, "But I do pretend to know things I like, not wanting to be less knowledgeable than others. Like last time when I bought a weapon and saw a good gun. I didn't know how good it was, and I ended up making a fool of myself. But it's okay, damn it, I learned something from it, so I guess I still gained something."

"Ha ha, you're really interesting. I know someone named Xibao, who knows nothing about dragons but pretends to be an expert, even considering the Spineback Dragon and Ironback Dragon as distant relatives of dragons. People call them dragons because of their ferocity. This person was introduced to me by my father as a boyfriend, but because of this, I felt we didn't get along, so we broke up."

"Damn, such a man is no good. It's better to break up. It's better to break up." Taolisi said, "When people don't see eye to eye, it's awkward to stay together."

"Besides architecture, your main career goal is to become a mage, right?"

Lüti shook her head, "I don't have the confidence to become an outstanding mage. In my heart, architectural art is the most important. I study magic just to make a living in difficult times. For someone like me with no talent, becoming a mage is impossible. Only someone like Bimoye or Bingzhiye could achieve that."

Mentioning those two, Taolisi became unhappy, "Pfft, they are too arrogant. They don't take this group seriously and left as soon as they entered the canyon. I wonder if they are dead yet, best if they were eaten by a Tyrant Lizard!"

"Ha ha, yeah, they are too much."

The two continued to talk about life and ideals until dawn.

Jie Xi, lying inside the cave, couldn't sleep. He suddenly thought that when a man and a woman talk about life and ideals, they often become very happy, and it's not far from falling in love: "At 14 or 15, it's the age when young men and women start to think about love. I feel like I'm just an extra in this cave. When will this damn rain stop?"

Outside the cave, in the shrub forest below, several giant frog lizards that were still moving suddenly became stiff and fell to the ground, their bellies up, dead. The surrounding magical beasts, feeding in the rain, all looked at a cluster of red shrubs with great fear, growling lowly, showing absolute hostility.

The dead magical beasts had no visible wounds and showed no signs of poisoning. A giant frog that was partially exposed outside the red shrubs moved a few times, as if being dragged in, and soon, a few streaks of fresh red blood flowed out with the rain.

Not long after, a very strange magical beast walked out, making a sound like a rooster crowing. The magical beasts that heard this sound trembled in fear, their eyes showing a fear that was hard to imagine. The agile magical beasts had already fled quickly, while others were about to escape but suddenly stiffened, just like the giant frog, as if they had lost their souls. A winding lightning bolt in the sky, like a roaring dragon, roared, and the magical beasts fell to the ground, dead instantly...

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