I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Over there, Mason finally finished ordering.

The waiter took away the menu, and she lay on the table, idly twirling her fingers. Her long, fiery red hair spread out on the table like a burning flame.

Suddenly remembering something, she lowered her voice and said to Alex with a gossipy excitement, "By the way, when you came in just now, didn't you think that gray-clad man in the corner looked familiar?"

Alex thought for a moment, "I think... I've seen him at the Adventurers' Guild? That newbie?"

"Yes! That's him! That F-rank newcomer! You even told him, 'The Western Territory is dangerous, don't leave the city alone,' in a tone of a senior caring for a junior."

"Oh, it's him." Alex smiled, picked up his water glass and took a sip. "He brought a friend over for dinner, right?"

Mason glanced back at the mountain of plates piled on the table, his lips twitching. "Friend? That girl ate enough food for over a dozen people by herself? How many days has she been starving?"

Bruno said in a deep voice, "Even dwarf girls can eat this much. The girls in our tribe can eat half a sheep in one meal."

Mason rested his chin on his hand, his gaze shifting back and forth between the plates on the table and Lilith. "But she's not a dwarf. And look how covered up she is, is there something she's hiding? Like a scar on her face? Or is she actually a man dressed as a woman? Or perhaps—"

"Mason," Alex's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a hint of warning, "Don't gossip about others. How they eat is their business."

Mason stuck out his tongue and said nothing more.

But she couldn't help glancing at that table again.

Legolas never joined the conversation; he simply sipped his tea quietly, the tea swirling gently in the cup, reflecting his amber eyes.

His gaze occasionally swept over the table piled high with plates, then settled on the gray figure.

That person had an indescribable aura about him, a sense of alienation that said, "I am here, but I do not belong here," as if everything in this world was related to him, yet none of it was.

He had only ever seen this kind of temperament in the old elves.

He looked away, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.

Ji Tian's table.

A waiter approached, carrying several exquisite food boxes with gold labels bearing the words "Golden Acorn" that shimmered under the lights.

His expression was somewhat subtle, probably because it was the first time he had encountered a customer who wanted to pack up the entire table of food.

"Sir, would you like us to pack up these untouched dishes?"

Ji Tian said decisively, "Pack it up."

Lilith peeked out from under the table, her eyes wide: "You can even get it to go?"

"You paid for it, why didn't you pack it up?" Ji Tian glanced at the almost untouched plates. "Wasting food is a waste of your cultivation."

The waiter nodded and quickly packed the dishes into the food box.

Lilith watched his retreating figure, then glanced at the "plate mountain" opposite her, and suddenly realized that although this master was strange, ridiculously strange, at least he didn't waste food, which was better than many humans.

"Master."

"Um?"

"You just said that the hero wouldn't cut me."

"right."

"If he knew my identity, wouldn't he still not kill me?"

Ji Tian remained silent for a moment, the tea in his cup swayed gently, and then returned to stillness.

"have no idea."

Lilith's fingers clenched tightly in her pocket, and her nails left several crescent-shaped marks on her palm.

"...Then why are you still so calm? Aren't you afraid he'll cut you down too? That's the Hero's Sword, the Holy Sword, the legendary weapon that can slay the Demon King with a single strike—"

"Because his sword might not be faster than mine."

Lilith paused for a moment.

She looked up at Ji Tian's face—still expressionless, yet it gave her a sense of peace, like a mountain. If you ask it if it's afraid of the wind, it won't answer you, because it has stood in the wind for ten thousand years.

She lowered her head, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

The hood concealed her expression, but it couldn't hide her crescent-shaped eyes.

"Master~"

"What's wrong?"

"That 'cultivation' you mentioned earlier, if I learn it, can I become as strong as you?"

"able."

"Then I'll learn, I'll learn until I drop, I'll learn until the end of time."

"Very good, very energetic!"

Ji Tian was very satisfied. It seemed that his stress test had been effective. "In less than five years, you will definitely be able to stand on your own."

Lilith's expression froze for a second.

A picture flashed through her mind:

She sat alone in the restaurant, a table full of food in front of her. The waiter handed her the bill, and when she opened her pocket, all she found was air and dust.

Her voice trailed off, like a punctured balloon, "...Well, Master, does our sect offer any 'disciple benefits'? Like room and board included?"

"Yes, but you'll need to abstain from grains once you reach a higher cultivation level." Ji Tian stood up, picked up the packed food box, and walked towards the door.

Lilith quickly followed, jogging to catch up with him. Her hood swayed in the wind, and a few strands of silver-white hair slipped out from the edge, shimmering in the sunlight.

As she passed the table of the Brave Squad, her heart pounded at its fastest, as if a thousand wild horses were galloping through her mind.

She walked so fast it was like she was racing, yet she dared not run, afraid that running would make too much noise and attract attention.

Alex looked up and saw the young man in the gray coat and the silver-haired girl in the cloak behind him passing by.

He smiled and nodded at Ji Tian.

Ji Tian nodded, without stopping.

Lilith kept her head down, her hood covering most of her face, revealing only a small section of her pale chin and a few strands of silver hair ruffled by the wind.

As she passed Alex, she felt that the holy sword was like a burning sun.

The scorching light pierced through the sword sheath, through the cloak, through her skin, and shone straight into her bones.

Her blood froze in that moment, her soul left her body, and only one thought remained in her mind—

"I am a stone, I am a stone, I am a stone, I am a stone..."

step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

They've moved on.

Lilith stood in the doorway, panting heavily, like a fish just pulled from the water.

Her face was flushed red, and a fine layer of sweat beaded on her forehead. Her silvery-white hair clung to her cheeks, making her look like she had just finished a marathon.

"Master... I survived... I actually survived... Is my heart still beating? Can you check for me? I can't feel it anymore."

"He's jumping."

"Is it really jumping? Or is it just a temporary spike in activity? Or is it just my imagination? Are you sure it's still working properly?"

"Sure."

"I actually survived..." Lilith took a deep breath, pulled her hood down, almost covering her entire face, leaving only a small part of her nose showing.

She followed behind Ji Tian for a couple of steps, then suddenly said, "Master, you just said, 'His sword isn't necessarily faster than mine'—can you really be faster than the hero?"

"I've never played it, so I don't know."

"You spoke with such confidence. I almost believed you just now!"

"We cannot lose our momentum."

Lilith stared at his back for three seconds.

Powerful, desolate, and lonely.

It seemed that nothing could truly move him; he was more ruthless than a demon and more oblivious than an elf.

She jogged after him, skipping and hopping around him, her hood billowing in the wind, revealing a few strands of silver-white hair and a small patch of her fair forehead.

Her steps were light and quick, like she was dancing, each step bathed in sunlight.

"Master."

"What's wrong?"

"I think you're a pretty reliable person, even though you're strange—outrageously strange, so strange that I want to write you into a book as a negative example. When it really matters, you can really step up."

"right."

"You just don't talk much. So little that I feel like you're practicing some kind of 'silence is golden' technique."

"Um."

In reality, he devoted most of his energy to deducing the path of nightmares, hoping to create his own inner demon tribulation.

"Can you say something else? Like praising me? Like 'Lilith, you're amazing,' 'Lilith, you're very talented,' 'Lilith, you're the smartest student I've ever had'—something like that will do."

"cannot."

Lilith took a deep breath and swallowed back the air that was rising in her throat.

Looking at the straight back of that figure in front of her, she felt that the world wasn't so scary after all.

Just follow this person.

As long as you follow your master.

Although my master is taciturn, expressionless, and clueless about romance, he can stuff people to death when he treats them to a meal, can infuriate people with his words, and can beat people to death with his violence...

"Master, what are we eating tomorrow?"

"casual."

"Could I have one more small cake? Just one, the tiny kind, the kind you can finish in one bite—"

"We packed up the leftovers from today."

Lilith's voice held a hint of disappointment, but it quickly brightened again. "...Oh. Then reheat it tomorrow? Will it still taste good cold? Will it get hard? If it gets hard, can we steam it? Will steaming turn it into something else? Like, a cake turning into a steamed bun?"

"Won't."

How do you know? Have you tried it?

"no."

"Then how do you know you won't?"

"Because cake and steamed bun are two different things."

"Maybe there's some kind of magic that can turn a small cake into a steamed bun."

"Maybe."

"Master, you really have no imagination."

"Yes."

……