Bear School Astartes-Chapter 859 - 842: Anxious

According to Mentos’s later report, Lann was in a coma for two and a half days, without any awareness.

When he woke up, the salty spray of the Mediterranean was hitting the side of the Adrestia, shattering into a mist.

There were no surprises or twists.

To be cautious, Cassandra specifically avoided areas where battles between the Peloponnesian and Delian Leagues were frequent, as well as pirate-infested waters, while plotting the course over the past two days.

Normally, when encountering these folks, Cassandra would charge right in, and the hold would be filled with loot, ready to be sold at the next port, making the wallet bulge.

The Demon Hunter dressed up and climbed the stairs from the cabin to the deck.

The moment he showed his head, the mist formed by the shattered waves brought a refreshing dampness to his nostrils.

The radiant Mediterranean sun, the blue sea, and the occasional small islands with their white sandy beaches... all of this brought clarity to his still somewhat dizzy mind.

"Meow!"

Rong Buqiu, who had been curiously looking around from the rail around the command seat, saw Lann’s head pop up and quickly trotted over, climbing onto his shoulder and rubbing his face with its tilted head.

"Oh, thank the Celestial God!"

Barnabas also walked over.

"I really can’t imagine what illness could knock someone like you out for a few days. I always thought it was sunstroke, and I even knew a few home remedies for it. But Cassandra was firmly against that idea."

Illness? Is that what Cassandra said to others?

Lann nodded at this explanation and quickly pushed Barnabas’s head to the side, leaving the one-eyed old sailor puzzled.

Ha! Sunstroke? I think you’re the one with sunstroke!

Soon after, Herodotus and Cassandra descended from the command seat as well.

The Hawk Trainer looked at Lann’s head with concern, to which Lann responded with a reassuring smile.

Generally speaking, Lann’s smile was dazzling. It was enough to make little ones like Ciri and Phoebe too shy to look directly at him.

But for old hands like Cassandra... Lann noticed the Hawk Trainer licking her lips aggressively.

The group celebrated Lann’s ’recovery’, and Cassandra’s acting made Lann feel like he had underestimated her.

Then, at the next island’s port, Lann was disembarked from the ship.

There’s nothing to fuss about; warriors aren’t ones to dawdle, and he and Cassandra had already made an agreement. Once the Hawk Trainer’s quest for her family concluded, they’d have plenty of time to spend together.

As for friends like Herodotus and Barnabas, people who grew up in a maritime civilization like Ancient Greece were used to farewells and didn’t dwell excessively on partings.

After all, in a maritime civilization, not setting sail would mean living in poverty until death; anyone might drop everything to set sail tomorrow in hopes of making a name for themselves.

And for someone like Lann, Barnabas and Herodotus believed it was absolutely impossible for anything to go wrong, and he would soon achieve great things.

Partings are just a matter of time.

-----------------

The sky globe, like shattered glass, rose once more over the lake in front of the Da Gun Altar.

Then came the sound of a wide cloak catching the whirlwind.

"Whoosh~ Swish!"

Lann leaped out of the sky globe fissure, riding the Qilin.

The earlier sound of wind was from the Magic Horse Harness Rune Cloth on the Qilin being caught in the wind while the magic kept it firmly on the horse’s back.

As the Qilin ran, the wide, heavy, silken rune cloth made it look like a swift and airy white cloud.

If the scene were right, Lann felt that with a painter’s touch, it could be a fine piece of a legendary-themed oil painting.

The Qilin’s noble and graceful demeanor seemed to be a species-wide trait, unaltered by individual laziness or slackness.

At least this Qilin friend of his perfectly embodied it.

When Lann summoned it, the creature was in the Mediterranean, having killed a whale and dragged it ashore nearby.

There seemed to be some humans living on the shore, and the beast was nonchalantly using its lightning to roast the whale meat.

Every now and then, it would dive into the sea to fetch some seaweed as garnish.

Lann guessed that it wouldn’t be long before the myth of ’Zeus descended again, this time turning into a noble and long-horned steed’ would spread from the Aegean Sea.

Thinking of this, Lann, who had been busy dealing with the Athenian plague, was annoyed.

Why should this slacker of a creature live so comfortably?

With a "slap", Lann dismounted and couldn’t resist giving the Qilin a thump on its long neck.

For the body of an Ancient Dragon, it wouldn’t be a big deal even if Lann took a hammer the size of large stone blocks and smashed it.

Even in an exaggerated world of monsters, elite hunters’ hunts are all about skillful takedowns, never about competing physically with the monsters.

But after taking the hit, the Qilin suddenly turned its head, and those eyes, like rubies, stared at Lann as if it had seen a ghost.

After a moment, it seemed to finally comprehend.

It suddenly began pawing with its hooves, tossing its mane, and whinnying frantically.

A bit like dogs before they bark at each other in a lion dance.

It was clearly looking to communicate.

Lann, bewildered, looked at the raving Qilin, forming a variation of the Yakxi Rune in his hand and casting it.

"Are you still in your growth phase?"

The Qilin’s big head swayed from side to side near Lann, puffing out warm air from its moist nostrils.

"But this power is increasing way too fast!"

The Demon Hunter looked at his fist, with which he’d just thumped the Qilin, clasping it in bewilderment.

Though Lann had been progressing, it was mostly about integrating knowledge from many worlds.

His base strength, after the surgery on his bones and muscles was done, and fully developed, didn’t change much.

Enhancement surgery is like that, unlike training. After the surgery, you have the capabilities the procedure grants, and generally, nothing else appears.

But with the Holy Chant Gland implanted, Lann now could feel his physique constantly getting strengthened.

Only, this growth in muscle strength and bone density was so natural that he hardly noticed it himself.

But from the Qilin’s perspective, they had only been apart for less than a month, under three weeks!

Yet, upon meeting again... what’s with this extra few hundred kilograms of punch force?!

It had just thought Lann was genuinely furious and hitting it hard!

Only from the Demon Hunter’s expression did it realize that this new strength was just Lann’s level of a ’playful thump’!

"Don’t stay silent!"

The Qilin pranced around Lann, like a dog anxious by its food bowl at mealtime.

"Speak! There’s an easy way to get stronger, and you’re not telling me, right? Right?!"

One must admit to racial advantages and traits.

Even when a Qilin is so anxious it’s jumping up and down, unless one understands what it means, it still feels like a noble and graceful steed.

It’s as if its demeanor has been integrated into its everyday actions.

But Lann understood Qilin’s speech, so the Demon Hunter instead turned his face toward Rong Buqiu at his feet.

He smirked, revealing a joyful smile, and extended his thumb on his fist, pointing at the Qilin.

"Hey, it’s panicking!"