The Innkeeper

Chapter 2285: Secret token

Three years. For three, long, grueling years, the couple fought. The battlefield was cruel and merciless, often bringing them despair and heartache. In the morning they ate with comrades, and at night they buried them. The couple, tool, had nearly died more than once.

The only reason they survived was simply because of all the cheat-like techniques and tricks they’d been taught by Cliff.

The experience humbled them, and once again taught them about an entirely different facet of life. On the battlefield, the difference between the noble and vassal races became even more apparent.

The number of noble races was actually quite high in the army, though all of them were at the Foundation realm. However, the casualties were higher among the vassals. This wasn’t because of discrimination, or because of poor planning.

It was simply because the vassal races were weaker, and had lower survivability than the noble races. The battles were intense, and the stakes incredibly high, so there was no room for favoritism or discrimination on the battlefield. Each strategy was optimized for the best results.

Even though the generals did their best to minimize casualties, some would always die in each battle, and the vassal races would always be the highest among them.

On two separate occasions within those three years, the battlefield they were in had been attacked by the Armored Wyvern. On both occasions, they only survived because Cliff warned them ahead of time. He did not provide any other kind of help.

It was... an incredibly difficult experience, and yet the results of surviving were tremendous. They gained a multitude of points from completing many quests. Not only that, River also became a Knight Paladin, his powers growing stronger as he did. Pearl, too, grew to the Mid stage Foundation realm.

Their cooperation with each other earned recognition, and they became famous for their effectiveness, which was both good and bad. It was good because they were rewarded according to their merits. It was bad because they were sent on more dangerous missions, befitting their strength and skills.

The only reason that they were able to leave the battlefield after three years was because the two of them were informed that they had been recruited for a special mission. They were confused, until they learned that the mission sent them to the lands of the Oolin.

It seemed like the Oolin might have made some progress in their investigation.

Thus, they said farewell to all the comrades they had made - the ones who were still alive at least - and ventured off.

On their journey, River, once again, asked Cliff if he could become Cliff’s disciple. The idea came to him after they passed their five year mark from when Cliff gave them the ten year deadline.

River said that if he could become Cliff’s disciple instead of someone who he casually guided, then reaching the Golden core realm within the time limit would be easy. Unfortunately, he was always rejected.

"Don’t bother. Don’t you have it great as things are right now? Just enjoy your benefits, and don’t think of unnecessary things. First off, I have no intentions of taking disciples. Secondly, even if I did, someone whose first instinct is to run when they hear about a wyvern attack are definitely not qualified."

River had long noticed that Cliff had a strong bias against wyverns, considering them worthy of only death. That wasn’t too strange - everyone he met on the battlefield only hoped that the wyvern would die one day. Cliff was the only one who seemed to think that the wyvern wasn’t too strong, though.

"Even the noble races can’t do anything to that wyvern. They say wyverns are a subrace of dragons. How could it be so easy to fight them?" River asked, feeling helpless.

Instead of answering, Cliff gave him a disdainful look and then disappeared, no longer answering his questions. Pearl only smiled faintly, already used to it.

Unlike River, she had long realized that Cliff’s background was far more mysterious than any of them realized. She had long begun to consider whether his boasting was actually just boasting. What if it was all true, but they were too weak to imagine it?

She could not help but wonder how her family had come into contact with the necklace within which he resided, but it was already a story lost to time. What remained true, however, was that it was a very old heirloom. In that case, had Cliff been residing within that necklace all that time?

It sounded impossible, but if he was an immortal...

"Instead of asking for more things for Cliff, we should really be asking if there is anything more we can do for him," said Pearl as she looked at River who was showing a regretful expression. "He has already done a lot for us. Who else can enjoy the benefits that we have?"

River sighed, but then nodded. He had to agree. He should not be too greedy.

After a few seconds, Cliff’s voice rang in their heads once more.

"If you want to do something, submit that wyverns reverse scale to the necklace. Consider it a special quest worth 8000 points. If you manage to do that, I’ll also give you guys a small hint about something you’ve been overlooking."

The two of them were startled, and stared at each other. What had they been overlooking? In what context? They wanted to know, but Cliff would not answer since it was meant to be as a reward, or unless they figured it out on their own.

While they pondered Cliff’s words, they finally reached the Oolin territory, and once again met the same elder who revealed to them what he had learned about Karev’s disappearance.

"A secret realm?" River and Pearl asked together, surprised.

"Yes," the Oolin elder said, sounding exhausted. "It was a secret, but as it happened the secret was revealed some time ago in the Upper Battlefield. Apparently, Karev and another member from the Oolin race discovered tokens which will serve as entrance tokens to some kind of secret realm that is scheduled to open sometime in the future. For the sake of those tokens... the two of them have been hunted by countless people. By now, it’s basically impossible to ascertain their actual situation."

Author’s Note: A lot of people have varied opinions of this arc, so I’ll speed through most of it. However, there are several important parts where I will need to slow down again. Please bear with me, and trust the process.

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