Quit the team, then picked up a beautiful girl with problems

Therefore, in many airspaces, there is no particularly powerful unified country or force.

The long period of isolation has worn away the will of many people. Many people no longer imagine the splendor of the outside world, but just repeatedly cultivate the land in front of them.

Occasionally, there will be people who yearn for the unknown. They are adventurers, but for a long time they are marginal people. In the eyes of the residents of the prosperous Sky Island, they are marginal people and second-rate people.

Until the Sky Knight Guild appeared.

Sky Knight refers to people who travel on airships all year round, which is basically the same as adventurer.

But three hundred years ago, after several of the most powerful Sky Knight groups took the lead in establishing a giant guild organization spanning almost the entire airspace, Sky Knights specifically referred to adventurers registered with the Sky Knight Guild.

The guild has taken over some of the functions of the Sky Island nations. If the residents of the sky want to achieve their wishes, they no longer have to rely on equally powerless relatives, friends and local forces. They only need to prepare the rewards and issue the commission to the guild, and they will pass it on to the adventurers to complete.

In just three hundred years, the Sky Knights quickly became a strong color in the sky.

Countless people rush to the blue sky one after another. No matter what they pursue is fame and glory, huge fortune, or even just a free life, they can achieve it through this identity.

"Did Leon gain glory and wealth?" Zoe asked.

The girl huddled in the quilt, holding the edge, with only half of her face exposed.

The two chatted from the yard until they went into the house to sleep.

"Did you get it...?"

Li Ang smiled with a complicated expression.

"I thought I had gained something, but in the end I just gave it away to someone else."

He looked at his palms, then slowly clenched them into fists.

"From now on, I will hold on to the part that truly belongs to me." He looked thoughtfully.

"...So, is this all the adventure is about?"

Leon turned his head and looked at the girl who was looking down from the bed. There was no concept of glory or wealth in her eyes.

If she were to go out, would she be able to blend in, or would she retain her current purity?

Li Ang shook his head. "The pursuit of these things is one reason. But even though people don't say it themselves, I think most people really want to control their lives."

Li Ang lay on the floor, looking at the ceiling, or as if looking at a place farther away.

“Each of us has things in our lives that we consider imperfect.

“In the past, perhaps because we lacked the courage or anticipated it, we were all hurt by this imperfection.

"Some of these pains may become a scar that often hurts, while others may become a thorn in the heart that requires risking one's life to remove.

“Because I’ve been hurt, I don’t want to be hurt again. Because I’ve been depressed, I want to make my life more positive.

"We rush into the blue sky with hope, wanting to truly decide why we live. But the sky is too vast, and perhaps we don't even know where we are going. So, the first step is to seek fame and wealth, right? With these, everything else will be easy to deal with."

"What kind of life does Leon want to control now?"

Zoe crawled into bed, and the sound came out through the quilt, buzzing. After asking the question, she poked her head out again.

"I want to rebuild the adventuring group, find partners, and reach the pinnacle of the Sky Knights. I might figure out what kind of life I want along the way, or maybe after I succeed. Anyway, when that day finally comes, I won't be restricted in what I want to do, right?"

Zoe listened intently, the warm light from the adventure lantern making her ruby eyes shine brightly.

Li Ang smiled at her and said, "Go to bed early. You'll have a hard time tomorrow."

"Well, I wish I could take control of my life too. Goodnight~"

The girl's smile is as beautiful as a flower.

The next morning, the fifth day since Leon returned to Satus Island, the two of them donned their gear and, carrying as many spellcasting materials as they could, descended into the basement.

With their physical fitness, clearing the rubble was not difficult. Soon, the wellhead was found, and it took some effort to find Zoe's father's notes.

Li Ang dusted off his notes and said, "Let's look at this while we rest on the road."

"Ah."

After putting away their notes, the two of them followed the well in the basement and walked into the seemingly endless darkness.

26. Beyond the Boundary of the Mortal World (Please Read)

Inside the brick and stone wellhead in the basement are downward steps and corridors. After walking up more than ten steps, the steps reach the end, and the corridor suddenly opens up, and the surroundings become like a cave.

This is the island's center channel.

The cold damp smell and the faint sour smell mixed with dust filled my nostrils. Even with the lantern lighting up, darkness still surged from all directions, as if to take away all my senses.

The road inside the mountain is just a steep slope made of steep rocks, and it is not continuous. Sometimes you need to be careful to jump over the slippery cliff, and there is a bottomless abyss below.

There are some simple steps on the slopes that were carved out by sharp tools. They should have been cut out by Zoe's father to make it easier to walk.

The steps were very short, just enough for someone of Zoe's height to step down. Recalling the photo he had seen before, Li Ang guessed that her father had cut the right distance specifically for her mother.

The girl's head scanned the cave-like landscape underground: "I've never seen such a scenery before."

"Those like this are called caves."

Li Ang pointed to the stalactites, stalagmites, and the smooth mountain surfaces that were illuminated by his adventure lantern. "Generally speaking, landforms like this are formed by the accumulation of groundwater over time."

"Generally speaking? Isn't that the case here?"

"The waters of Satus Island don't look like they could be used for something like this."

Zoe asked again what the water body meant, and Leon explained to her that it was probably a general term for various natural water bodies in a region.

He couldn't explain more, because the natural ecology of the Newbis world was very abstract. It couldn't even be called abstract, because it was something he, coming from Earth, couldn't understand.

There is no ocean in this world, and the sky islands are isolated from each other, but there is no severe shortage of water. The water cycle seems to be operating normally, and there are many natural environments similar to those on Earth.

This is all because a large number of elemental spirits are involved in the world's ecological cycle.

In the basic triangle of spirit, magic, and matter that make up the world, the smallest unit that constitutes matter is the element.

More than 96% of the elements are the four basic elements: earth, fire, water and air, also known as earth, fire, water and wind.

Because of their large proportion, most of the time when elements are mentioned, they are referred to as the four major elements by default.

Elemental spirits are bred within the elements. Their spirits are the very substance that draws magic power to them, coalescing and growing them.

Since the four elemental spirits all want to increase the total number of their own camps, but also restrain each other, resulting in a situation of increase and decrease, the world has formed a stable cycle.

In the cave before us, it is the spirit of the water element that has replaced the natural water body, giving this place a karst cave landscape.

“I feel a lot of earth spirits,” Zoe said.

In the darkness of the abyss, gusts of wind rose up. The magic power in it was so thick that it made it difficult for Leon to maintain a steady breathing rhythm. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was a direct blow of magical wind.

"Yes, this place is surrounded by earth and rocks, an environment favored by earth elemental spirits. With their vigorous pull, the magic power is very strong."

"But, this is very unusual."

Leon said, "When I first started mining, I wanted to use the Earth Spirit to summon the Mud Giant, but I found that Earth Spirits were very rare on the entire island of Satus. I thought it was because the resources here were barren and could not breed elemental spirits.

“Now it seems that they are all in this abyss.

"Elemental spirits are part of the world's cycle. They won't run around seeking profit or avoiding harm. It's possible that something has bound them here."

"Star Soul." Zoe said immediately.

"Correct."

After saying this, Zoe's expression became much more serious.

The underground passage is not very long, because Satus Island is not very big, and its vertical depth will not exceed its horizontal width. Two people can cross the island in one day, so in about an hour or two, the underground scenery begins to change dramatically.

First there was light.

Fluorescent stones began to emerge from the mountain walls. They were the size of goose eggs, contained faint magical power, and released a light that was mainly blue-green, with a little light yellow and pink.

More and more fluorescent stones appeared until the cave was illuminated as bright as day, and reflected brilliant light in Zoe's eyes as she looked around like a kitten.

Every time Lin Mengshi saw a cluster of fluorescent stones, she would almost go over to pick and choose, then start comparing the ones with round shapes, and finally choose one with great difficulty to accept, and carefully put the other one back in its original place.

At this point in the road, the terrain was flat and continuous, and Li Ang was able to distract himself and look at his notes. He wanted to see if there was more information about the Star Soul, and if he could find a way to deal with it, that would be great.

"April 293, 2

"Cha Aiyin was seriously injured, but he obtained information about the Star Soul in the ruins. We agreed to discuss it in detail in the near future.

“Zoe has started sword training, and she’s in great shape, which is great.

"But Lily...

“She never told me much about the esoteric religion, but she increasingly gazed into the sky and fell into a state of supersensory perception. She said she was seeking divine revelation.

"Do gods really exist in this world? Perhaps. I should remain in awe. Every time I see Lily in that state, even though she's already reached the legendary realm a long time ago, I can't help but tremble."

Another article full of information.

The road ahead was cut off, and a cliff appeared before them. Leon read the contents to Zoe, who was viewing the underground scenery beside him, and put away his notes.

Unlike the previous section of the island's central passage, the world here is becoming brighter and brighter. Rather than being underground, it feels more like another world.

"Wow, that's great!" he exclaimed.

In addition to the minerals that are common in the world of Newbis and more common in the center of the island, a gold-like substance also appeared among the fluorescent stones.

They covered various stones like a coating, and after reflecting the fluorescence, the entire space was as bright as day, allowing Leon and Zoe to see what was below the cliff.

The cliff is not high, only about ten meters, and there are some lizard-like four-legged monsters gnawing on minerals below.

After hearing the footsteps of the two people, they were startled and quickly crawled into a nearby hole.

"It's amazing." Zoe stared at the cliff for a long time and exclaimed.

Li Ang had only entered the island's heart passage a few times, but each time he entered, the scenery was unique.

The center of the island is a place that gives one a distinct sense of another world. Here, the essence of the earth, the secrets of the world, and the sighs of mortals converge, all declaring that the world ahead is no longer ordinary.

When she was about to jump over the cliff, Zoe suddenly screamed and hid behind Leon, not daring to stick her head out to look.

"what happened?"

"There's a ghost over there!"

Li Ang looked in the direction she said and saw a human skeleton.

The bones were not in perfect order and bore traces of being bitten by monsters. He looked around and could roughly analyze the route he had taken to escape here, and the place where that route came from had been blocked.

The blockage was man-made, and the landslide was caused by magic and weapon attacks.

"They must be the missing residents of Satus Island," Leon speculated. "Years ago, there was more than one passageway to the island's center that opened up, and some villagers mistakenly entered through it. After your parents arrived, they completely sealed off the other passageways to prevent them from entering again."

"But they couldn't explain to the villagers where the missing people had gone, so they misunderstood them."

Zoe was silent for a moment and suggested burying it. After they finished, they set off again.

After jumping over the cliff, the road ahead was not as narrow as the underground world had been imagined, but rather became wider.

There are more and more gold-like coatings, and countless beautiful minerals such as turquoise, colored crystal, quartz, and chalcedony are among them.

The beautiful stones cheered Zoe up. She was busy picking up stones, but even though she picked up some and gave up some, the ones she wanted were still too many for her arms to hold. As a result, she could see better-looking ones ahead.

Finally, she put down all the gems as if she had lost all her energy, and rushed forward again with anticipation. The metallic sound of the armor she had forged yesterday rubbing against each other echoed in the passage.

The road ahead was suddenly blocked by some rock collapse, and the two men searched for a new path between the surrounding rock walls and crevices.

They found a narrow passage that was very tight and had a rocky surface, but after a distance it turned into a cavern with sparkling gems.

The cave walls are so neat that they look like they were built by humans. There is no need to worry about anything when walking here. Li Ang opened a new page in his notes.

"April 293, 2

"After a long chat with Cha Ain, we've gotten a rough idea of Zoe's situation. She and Star Soul can be seen as needing each other; she can draw strength from the other, and so can Star Soul. However, if the young Zoe rashly comes into contact with the Star Soul, she will only become its food.

"She needs to grow up, but that doesn't mean we can just watch her grow up. We don't know what she means to the world and the organization after she obtains the power of the Star Soul.

“So Lily and I decided to go fight the organization.

"While we all regret not being able to be with Zoe as she grows up, we want her to live a carefree future even more.

"We didn't hesitate, for her sake, we were going to find out the truth about the world.

"It will be a difficult journey, perhaps to the end of the clouds and the end of the world."

After reading the notes and closing the paper, Zoe pointed diagonally upward and exclaimed, "The things in front of him suddenly occupied Leon's field of vision."

He could be sure that they had also seen the ultimate of the world in a certain sense.

27. Heart of the Island