"Nggh—this hurts like hell."

Ariel opened her eyes.

The intense pain went all the way into her bones. Even while she was unconscious, it kept tearing at her nerves. She could honestly say she woke up from pain.

But very quickly, she adapted to it and began thinking about the situation in front of her.

"I remember... I got knocked off the tower by that bastard named Zagu, didn’t I?"

It was pitch-dark all around, and there was no hole overhead from smashing through something during the fall.

And normally speaking, even with a fourth-rank martial artist’s physique, if you were unconscious with no battle qi reinforcing you, falling from nearly a thousand meters up would turn you into a puddle of meat, wouldn’t it?

"It looks like all the time I spent tempering your physical body still can play a big role when it matters."

A faint glimmer lit up on the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) ring on Ariel’s finger, and a hazy female figure slowly rose up.

"Teacher..."

Ariel wanted to turn her head, but she discovered that every single bone in her body hurt. To keep her injuries from worsening, she could only give up for the time being.

"Did you carry me here?"

"Yes."

Ariel’s teacher replied, "The commotion from your fall would easily attract other demonfolk. If we didn’t move immediately, it definitely would’ve been dangerous."

"If that’s the case, then why couldn’t you help cushion it a little?"

Ariel bared her teeth. Her whole body hurt, but the worst pain was still in her chest and abdomen.

That blow from Zagu had been solid and real. If it were some normal, ordinary fourth-rank, they’d have been thoroughly dead already.

It was only because every step of her training had gone through her teacher’s devilish regimen, making her physical stats far beyond ordinary people, that she could withstand that kind of attack, and even keep half a life after falling from nearly a thousand meters.

Wait... speaking of the chest and abdomen...

Not caring at all whether the wound would tear open again, Ariel forcefully squirmed and moved, lowering her head to look at her chest...

Sure enough, it was flat.

No, it was practically caved in. With so many ribs broken, before they recovered, the “altitude” there could only be described with a negative number.

Most importantly, her carefully made, almost crafted with her lifetime of magical expertise, striving for the most perfect shape possible—those S-rank big boobs...

They were completely gone.

Along with the beautiful dream she had painstakingly woven for the past half month.

"Waaah... damn it, Zagu, I’m going to remember this!"

Next time we meet, I’m going to twist your skullcap off and use it to honor the spirit of my S that died in the heavens!

Ariel’s eyes brimmed with hot tears as she swore silently in her heart.

"Sigh. Actually, I didn’t have a choice either."

Seeing that what enraged Ariel the most wasn’t her severe injuries, but the destruction of that lump of magical silicone, Ariel’s teacher could only rub her forehead helplessly.

"At the time, I did help you block that strike, but in that situation, I absolutely could not act."

"Why?"

"Because a demonfolk Grand Duke was right beside us."

"A demonfolk Grand Duke... Enchantress?"

Ariel’s eyes widened. "She was actually right there?"

"Yes. Either she was there from the start, or she was drawn by the commotion. In any case, if I leaked even a trace of soul power in that situation, the Enchantress Grand Duke would definitely catch it."

Ariel’s teacher sounded grave.

Her concealment ability was very strong—otherwise she wouldn’t have stayed by Ariel’s side for so long without being discovered. But even so, with a Crowned One nearby, she didn’t dare casually use her soul abilities.

Ariel could fight across ranks, but she was still only a fourth-rank martial artist. To a Crowned One, she was nothing more than a slightly larger ant. The other party wouldn’t even bother to look at her properly.

But if even a sliver of soul power that didn’t belong to her leaked from her, it would instantly draw the Enchantress Grand Duke’s attention.

Being targeted by a demonfolk Grand Duke was far more dangerous than taking Zagu’s blow head-on and falling from a thousand meters.

At least she trusted Ariel’s chest hardness... no, that’s not it—her physical constitution—she definitely wouldn’t die that easily from this level of ordeal.

Of course, even if she said she didn’t do anything, she had still secretly used a tiny amount of soul power, at a level that wouldn’t be detected, to protect Ariel’s life.

"And besides the Enchantress Grand Duke, at that time I also vaguely felt another gaze watching that place the whole time."

"Who?"

"I don’t know."

Ariel’s teacher shook her head. "But by my instinct, the owner of that gaze was the most terrifying one."

"Scarier than Enchantress... ngh..."

Ariel sucked in a cold breath, thinking, terrifying as hell.

Having one Enchantress Grand Duke show up was already enough, but in the shadows there was someone even more terrifying?

So what exactly was Miss An’s real objective? Was that ancient relic called ‘Myriad-Age Cycle’ really that important?

"Myriad-Age Cycle... what exactly is it?"

"I don’t know."

The phantom swayed. Ariel’s teacher turned her head, staring into the sky that couldn’t be seen at all right now, her expression growing even heavier.

"In fact, not long ago, several extremely terrifying auras burst out from the top of that tower. I didn’t dare actively sense it, but at that time, there were at least four beings above the Crowned One realm."

"Four... tsk—"

Ariel inhaled again, nearly sucking in enough cold air to cause global warming.

What the hell happened?

She clearly remembered that while she was still up there, it was just her working together with Miss An to deal with the so-called First Demon General Zagu.

How did it turn into a chaotic brawl among peak powerhouses after she exited the stage?!

"Feels like... I missed a really good show."

"Stop talking about a show. You should be glad you escaped with your life. A melee at that level isn’t something you can get involved in right now."

Ariel’s teacher helplessly flicked Ariel on the forehead again.

This girl always got her blood boiling whenever she ran into battles between strong people.

But this yearning for strength might itself be one of the tickets leading to strength. For Ariel to reach where she was today, that mindset had been indispensable.

"I fed you a stamina-recovery potion right away. You should be able to repair your injuries yourself now, right?"

"Basically... I guess."

Ariel braced both hands on the ground, baring her teeth as she slowly straightened up.

She wasn’t just chatting with her teacher. In reality, from the moment she woke up, she had been quietly digesting the potion’s medicinal power inside her.

A potion personally refined by her teacher was obviously no ordinary thing. If it were used on a normal martial artist with typical pulled tendons and broken bones, they’d already be singing and dancing right now, and probably rapping a few lines on the side.

But for Ariel at this moment, it only gave her enough strength to first sort out the chaotic flow of magic power and battle qi inside her.

She really was badly hurt.

Whether it was the initial head-on clash with Zagu that was basically burning her life away, or the follow-up of being knocked off the tower, both had left her with injuries severe enough to let an ordinary person die ten times over.

Those external wounds that looked ferocious and horrifying—the bone fractures, the torn flesh, the negative-number “altitude” in front of her chest... compared to this, they actually weren’t the serious part.

The important part was deeper—inside.

"Haa..."

Ariel exhaled a few breaths. The flow of magic power and battle qi in her body finally began returning to stability. Then warm currents surged. With the help of the potion’s power, it first began repairing some of the most severely damaged internal organs.

Crack crack...

At the same time, a sound like popping beans kept snapping inside Ariel’s body. Ariel was in so much pain that sweat poured down her forehead, but even so, she forced herself to endure while cursing that damn Zagu in her heart.

After a while, she lowered her head and took a look. Only then did she finally set down the stone in her heart.

The altitude was no longer negative.

Good. It hadn’t affected her highly malleable foundation. Next, it was just starting over from scratch.

With her internal injuries mostly dealt with, Ariel took off her clothes, which had become torn and soaked with blood, revealing her delicate body.

Her skin was smooth and pale like fine jade. Her waist was slender, her lower abdomen flat, her thighs tight and strong. In every way she was actually quite perfect. If she didn’t usually prefer a more androgynous style, she could be considered a pretty decent beauty.

It was just that a certain place was still, as always, a bit of a regret.

After another round of shaking her head and sighing, Ariel took out medicine from her ring, applied it to her wounds, and with difficulty wrapped herself in bandages. Only then did she put on fresh clothes.

Her magic power and battle qi were both nearly depleted and were recovering right now. And although it looked like everything had come to an end, Ariel was still in the demonfolk’s territory, where danger lurked everywhere. So she couldn’t waste her precious stamina repairing superficial wounds. She could only grit her teeth and endure the pain for a while.

"Speaking of which, where is this place?"

Ariel propped herself up against the stone wall and stood. After handling her own situation, she finally had the time to look around.

It looked like there were traces of artificial excavation, but not much. It was more like a temporary underground cave that had been opened up.

"I’m not sure."

Ariel’s teacher said, "I only avoided those demonfolk searching around, but I don’t have a detailed grasp of our exact position."

After all, with powerhouses fighting each other on the tower above, she had to maintain respect down here and keep her aura as restrained as possible.

Right now, she still wasn’t qualified to join that kind of powerhouse brawl.

"Since you’ve recovered a bit, I also have to fall into sleep for now."

"Sleep? Wh—"

Ariel froze slightly. Now that her body could finally move, she realized her teacher’s figure was actually a little dim.

She immediately understood why.

"The potion... was it something you refined on the spot, Teacher?"

"This place is very dangerous. You had to recover the most basic combat ability as quickly as possible, so you needed a high-grade potion. Otherwise right now you probably wouldn’t even be able to move... paying that kind of price is only right."

Ariel’s teacher sighed softly.

This was the downside of not having a body. In the past, she could still borrow Ariel’s body to do certain things, but when Ariel was injured to this extent, she could only do it by completely consuming her own soul power.

Having a body and not having one—those two costs were worlds apart. So just refining some high-quality healing potions made it as exhausting as using Ariel’s body to fight an enemy in a major battle.

"Thank you, Teacher... I’ll help you rebuild your body as soon as possible!"

Ariel clenched her fist, her eyes slightly red.

"We don’t need to say sentimental things between us. And this time, resting isn’t entirely because of refining potions for you. I need to sleep to recover some strength again. I have a feeling the road ahead might be even harder than we imagine."

Ariel’s teacher waved her hand.

"For now, you’ll have to rely on yourself. Remember—be careful in everything."

"Understood!"

Ariel’s teacher nodded in satisfaction. Her hazy figure quickly shrank back into the ring.

The surroundings instantly became quiet.

Quiet enough that it was like the whole world only had Ariel left.

"No matter where this is, I should find a place I can camp and rest for a bit first."

Ariel let out a long breath, temporarily driving away the loneliness rising in her chest and forcing herself to brace her spirit.

But after dealing with her injuries, a fierce exhaustion still surged up uncontrollably.

Even though she’d just been asleep.

Ariel thought back. Even if the time was short, during the day and night since she entered Gutongs Castle, she really had gone through plenty of heart-stopping events, and she hadn’t rested properly at all.

It wasn’t just physical injuries—her mental exhaustion was also extremely serious.

"I wonder how Miss An is doing."

"Waaah... and Miss Muse too. We clearly agreed already... but damn it, I can’t go find you right away..."

Given the current situation, Miss An’s plan should have failed. She hoped Miss An was safe.

And most importantly, she hoped Miss Muse wouldn’t get dragged into this incident and could stay safe.

Safely wait until she got free... and then go find them!

"Wait for me, Miss Muse! Miss An! And all you beautiful girls—I'll definitely come back and save you!"

Dragging her exhausted body, Ariel trudged through this cave step by step. The moment she thought about how this was the perfect chance for a hero saving beauties and filling up her crystal palace, she finally recovered a bit more strength.

The cave was very dark, but Ariel didn’t want to waste precious magic power on lighting, and it could also draw enemies over.

Fortunately, there wasn’t even a bat in this cave. The path was smooth and unobstructed.

"There’s wind... that means there’s an exit."

"And most importantly... there’s the sound of running water."

Ariel climbed up from the ground. After listening carefully for a moment, her mood improved a lot.

A flowing water source was indeed a good thing for her current situation.

She wouldn’t need to use magic and consume precious magic power to get water, and she could also find an exit faster—killing two birds with one stone.

Ariel sped up a little. Very soon, in the dim environment, she vaguely saw an underground river flowing.

The river wasn’t wide, and the current wasn’t fast. Ariel knelt beside it and scooped a circle of water with her hand.

"The water’s clear, and it’s not poisonous. Great."

Parched for a long time, Ariel finally couldn’t resist anymore. She cupped a handful of clear water and was about to—

"Hm?"

Ariel suddenly froze mid-motion.

Because in her palm, there wasn’t only clear water.

There was also a torn piece of cloth.

It drifted with the ripples, and it just happened to spiral right into her hand.

"This is... a piece of clothing?"

For there to be a piece of clothing in an underground dark river like this, that meant...

Ariel lifted her head, her gaze quickly tracing upstream along the river as she searched.

Searching in a dark underground cave wasn’t easy. Ariel even spent a tiny bit of magic power to light up the surroundings for this.

Finally, in the depths of the underground river, around a bend, beside the side of a huge rock, she saw a human figure rising and falling with the ripples.