The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

Its huge, crystal-clear face was unusually calm, without the slightest hint of embarrassment or panic at being exposed.

It was too lazy to even admit it, but said directly and calmly:

"Just tell me, would you rather have your butt spanked into eight pieces, or learn a brand new psychic power, and," it paused, "a complete set of introductory psychic power courses, and countless practical training opportunities as well?"

Li Yin was suddenly stunned and speechless.

"If you choose the former," it flapped its wings, "we can play chase again right away."

"No——" Li Yin immediately shook his head. The dragon's extremely thoughtful analysis of the pros and cons made him immediately understand his situation.

"No need..." He lowered his eyebrows and eyes, and the indignation he had just felt was instantly gone, and he said dejectedly.

"Thank you..." He added at the end.

The dragon nodded with satisfaction.

"Don't be so dejected," it consoled Li Yin earnestly, "This is indeed a rare learning opportunity."

This made Li Yin seem to be not distressed, but happy... Li Yin knew that exchanging a psychic spell for an errand was indeed a very cost-effective deal for him as a psychic novice. However, the fact that he was schemed by this dragon from beginning to end made him not happy at all. What's more, the one who comforted him at this moment was the culprit, this sanctimonious and cunning dragon!

The giant dragon flapped its wings and rose high into the sky.

"Also," it cleared its throat twice, and its voice, coming from high in the sky, suddenly became extremely serious, "This is also a chance given to you by the great dragon, so that you can make up for the mistakes you made and atone for your sins!"

"Atonement?" Li Yin suddenly looked up, looking surprised.

“You didn’t think this giant dragon had forgotten, did you?” Saga’s towering body floated in the sky, her huge face looking down, her expression was very unfriendly, and her tone became quite angry, “Human insect, you were the most diligent in stabbing these elite warriors of this giant dragon, and you caused the most damage!”

Li Yin was stunned for a moment, then he let out a long sigh.

Now he was completely speechless.

The dragon changed direction and flew towards the interior of the dark elf city. After a few loud and distant howls, its huge figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.

As he was staring at the giant dragon's figure gradually disappearing into the distance, Li Yin suddenly felt a hand patting his shoulder.

He turned around and found that Du Feiya was looking at him with a smile.

"Don't be so depressed," she comforted him, "In fact, this deal is quite good. You can learn a psychic magic by working as a tinker for a while."

She winked playfully, "If I didn't have this talent, I would have wanted to steal this business from you."

Li Yin was amused by her appearance and smiled slightly.

"Moreover," Du Feiya then added, "What Shajia said does make sense."

"Indeed, we destroyed its constructs."

"Although you didn't destroy these constructs by yourself, but... just consider it as a favor to me and make up for my share."

Li Yin nodded, then said angrily: "Actually, I understand what you said, but... I feel a little unwilling to be played around by this guy."

"To put it another way," Du Feiya's lips curled up slightly, and two shallow dimples appeared on both sides of her fair face, "It can obviously use force to force us, but it chose to go to great lengths to deal with us, and even threw out bait to lure you into being deceived. Isn't this... a kind of preferential treatment?"

Li Yin nodded. He had to admit that what Du Feiya said made sense. However, when he thought of the Sapphire Dragon's huge grinning face that looked very human, he still felt a faint resentment in his heart.

In the following days, he carried this resentment with him and devoted himself to repairing the constructs that he had previously destroyed...

As the repair work progressed, Li Yin had to admit that the dragon's so-called "observation and learning" was reasonable. The dragon's level of making astral constructs was far superior to his. Whether it was the complexity of the logic core and energy core, or the performance of the astral body, it was far beyond his reach. In comparison, the little man he created was as simple and crude as a doll made of mud.

The performance of the ectoplasm body is related to the psychic strength of the creator. Li Yin tried again and again, and was sure that with his current psychic strength, he could not shape the ectoplasm to be as strong as the dragon, so he gave up. However, the observation and study of the complex structure of the logic core and the energy core gave him a real improvement. Because these parts were severely damaged, and Li Yin's existing theoretical and technical foundations could not completely repair them, he had to frequently ask the dragon for advice. In this process, Li Yin intentionally or unintentionally hinted that he had a history of blowing the construct into pieces. The dragon also intentionally or unintentionally hinted that it planned to beat Li Yin's butt into eight pieces. In the end, the man and the dragon each took a step back. Li Yin promised that he would repair it carefully and not be careless. The cunning dragon also put away the "master style" in the clouds and mist, and answered all the questions he raised in detail. As each construct was repaired, Li Yin's theoretical level and practical experience continued to improve. The astral constructs he made were able to perform more intense movements and execute a variety of increasingly complex commands...

Chapter 194: Questioning

However, Li Yin still did not agree with the dragon's theory of "learning from mistakes". In his opinion, if these constructs were intact, he would definitely be able to learn more by observing and learning...

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At the same time, a few hundred kilometers away, in another dark elf city above the lost dark elf city.

In the meeting hall of the Borginia family, Madam Sylvia sat on the high throne. At the bottom of the steps, standing in two rows on the left and right were her favorite daughters.

The eldest daughter Anakta stood in the first position on her left, the second daughter Kelul stood on the right, and the other daughters were arranged in order... There was only one exception, and that was her tenth daughter Cassia, who was standing in the middle of the hall at this moment, bearing the questioning gazes of many sisters and her mother.

She had to explain for this mission that the family had placed high hopes on, for her undeniable failure, and for the heavy losses that this foolish failure had brought to the family.

"Thirty elite dark elf soldiers, three hundred carefully selected strong slaves--" Her third sister Mephina was the first to attack. She gritted her teeth and shouted at the top of her lungs, as if those thirty dark elf soldiers and even the three hundred "carefully selected" slaves were her own daughters and granddaughters. No... Even if her own daughters and granddaughters met with an unexpected disaster, she would not be so angry. However, she is very good at exaggerating her emotions to mobilize the senses of other people around her, which is one of her strengths. Just like those slaves used as cannon fodder would not be "carefully selected", when necessary, she does not mind adding a little detail and strengthening some emotions. For example, this time, she was very happy to let her younger sister, other sisters, and even the mistress realize the seriousness of this failure, and she did not hesitate to spend a little more effort for this.

"You set out with the most elite troops of our Borgia family," she said bitterly and indignantly, "You left with a proud and proud attitude, with shining armor and helmets, but when you came back, you were covered in dust and alone, like a defeated wild dog."

"You might as well not come back." She stretched out a hand and pointed at Cassia, who was standing silently in the middle of the hall with her head down, trembling all over. "You lost all our troops there. You might as well die there with them, and be buried with the soldiers who lost their lives because of your stupidity and weakness!"

In fact, not all of them - according to the information received before the meeting, Cassia was not alone. She was accompanied by a female dark elf named Myrcella. However, in the face of huge losses, no one cared about this tiny "survival", and no one thought that they "should" care about this "survival". Many of them even thought that it would be better for this cheap little thing to die there together. Among those who held this idea was Sylvia's second daughter, Korul, the biological mother of the dark elf instructor Myrcella.

The second princess of Borgia had a particularly strong opinion of this "dead leftover". As soon as she learned that Cassia had returned in defeat, she summoned her own daughter. During the intimate meeting between mother and daughter, she told her daughter almost directly that she did not have to bear any responsibility for the defeat - as long as she was willing to clarify the facts and put all the faults on the person who should really bear the responsibility, their failed and incompetent commander. As a mother, she was very happy to protect her daughter's interests and innocence, and mediate for her in front of the mistress.

However, in the face of her sincere concern, her stupid seventh daughter actually said that the commander was not wrong, and the enemy they faced this time was too powerful. Not only that, she shamelessly asked her to plead for that little bitch - that was her own sister!

When she thought of this, Korul was furious. How could she, who had been so wise all her life, give birth to such a useless and cowardly daughter?

Of course, what she didn't know was that outside the door of the meeting hall, Myrcella, who was waiting outside with Cassia for interrogation, was also feeling miserable. How could she not understand her mother's good intentions, but her life had been bound to Cassia through magic, and if one prospered, they would not necessarily prosper together, but if one suffered, they would suffer 100%. So when she heard that her mother wanted to kill Cassia, she felt like she was struck by lightning, because that meant that her own death was approaching. So she not only rejected her mother's plan without hesitation, but also tearfully told her about Cassia's difficulties and asked her to say a few good words for her in front of the mistress. Of course, judging from Kolu's furious expression at the time, Myrcella knew that her request was like kicking a tiger's ass.

She didn't dare to tell her mother the truth about why she was so devoted to Cassia. Since Cassia dared to cast this spell on her and send her back to her mother, it meant that she had absolute confidence in this spell. If her mother was helpless in the face of this spell, Myrcella knew that her mother would never settle her down first and then take the trouble to find a solution for her. In contrast, she had a simpler and clearer solution: if Myrcella was useless, she naturally had other daughters who were useful - the dark elves had no shortage of daughters!

At that time, Myrcella, who had become both her own mother and her aunt who had been betrayed - a thorn in the eyes of the two princesses, was truly doomed!

However, the current situation is not optimistic. Myrcella walked back and forth outside the door, but her eyes never left the gap between the two golden doors in front of her. She didn't know how Princess Cassia was doing now. She knew very well that a good show was going on inside. Just like her mother, the other princesses would not miss the opportunity to bring down a competitor among them. Especially since the princess who got into trouble was their mother's most beloved youngest daughter.

Mircella clasped her hands on her chest and prayed silently in her heart, hoping that the "little bitch" Cassia could get through this difficult time, because only in this way would she have hope of survival.

In the meeting hall, Cassia bowed her head and nodded, responding to the accusations from the sisters without saying a word. After a long time, when the accusations came to an end, she slowly raised her head and cast her eyes towards the mistress sitting on the high seat.

"Your sisters are very angry about your failure this time." Madam Sylvia folded her hands in front of her knees, her scarlet eyes slightly rolled down, and she glanced at Cassia coldly. Her voice was flat, but perhaps because of her frosty white face, Cassia felt a chill in her heart when she heard it.

"Me too," she said.

The chill in Cassia's heart grew even stronger, and she felt as if her entire heart was about to freeze.

"Your sisters' voices convey the same anger I do."

"As for you—it's your turn now, Cassia, my favorite little daughter. Have you nothing to say in your defense?"

Cassia took a deep breath.

"The intelligence was wrong," she said, meeting the mistress's icy, arresting gaze again, unwavering.

"That abandoned city-state is not an ownerless place. There is a giant dragon living in it."

As soon as these words came out, there was a slight hissing sound around. Sylvia's eyes swept across the faces of her daughters one by one. They all had different expressions, but each of them was clearly filled with doubt and panic. The oppression brought by a giant dragon, even though it was just a piece of news, not its existence itself, was clearly revealed.

Most of them probably didn't know the news until now. Although the failure of the Borgia family had spread all over the city with her little daughter's dusty return, the relevant information was probably already on the desks of the matriarchs of various families. But the specific details of the failure had not been revealed. Cassia did a good job in this regard. She had not been overwhelmed by the huge failure. She was not like some brainless survivors of the failure of other families, who were still in great panic at the city gate and told every passing spider or gecko about their failure.

Including the servant who survived with her, it should be because of her prior restraint that she did not make this stupid mistake. Otherwise, it would be in line with what Korul said just now - it would be better for them to die there with the other soldiers.

"A giant dragon..." After a while, the elves came back to their senses. Sylvia's eldest daughter, Anakta, who was wearing a black and red corseted dress, sighed softly. The towering silver-gray hair crown and high bun made her plump and beautiful face look quite majestic.

“This is truly an extraordinary adversary.”

"It seems that there is a major problem with our intelligence work."

Sylvia looked at her daughter calmly. As the eldest daughter, Anakta was indeed quite like an elder sister, and did not take advantage of her younger sister from the beginning, but...

"However," Anakta squinted his eyes and looked at his younger sister with great authority.

"Cassia, you don't think that because your opponent is a dragon, you have no responsibility for this defeat at all? You can completely shirk your fault, right?"

She spoke slowly and calmly, not as anxiously or angrily as Korul, but every word she said was like a heavy hammer, hitting Cassia's heart.

"My opponent is a giant dragon—" Cassia said coldly in her heart, "So you still want me to reflect on my responsibilities?"

On both sides of the hall, the other sisters also silently gave their little sister a little sporadic, gloating sympathy in their hearts. At this moment, their thoughts were roughly the same as Cassia's. They all imagined that if they were in Cassia's current position, if their enemy was a dragon, then what exactly did they do wrong, and what exactly should they do to win this victory?

Is there really such a "correct" way? Perhaps this method only exists in the fantasy of that bitch Anakta?

However, fortunately, at this moment, they were not standing in the middle of the hall, so they quickly and spontaneously put away the playful sympathy in their hearts, and all thought that their eldest sister was right. They were ready to agree with her brilliant insights and help their unrepentant little sister review her unforgivable mistakes.

"No, sister, and mistress, I have never thought of it this way."

Unexpectedly, before they could speak, Cassia took the lead in admitting her mistake.

"I never think that if the enemy is too strong, I am not at fault at all."

"No, from the moment I luckily saved my life from the giant dragon's mouth until now, I have been very clear every minute and every second. Even though the enemy is a giant dragon, I still bear the unshirkable responsibility for this failure!"

Her expression was heavy and her voice was hard, and every word she spoke was like a file, cutting deeply into her heart filled with guilt.

The reason why she did this was very simple - everyone would plot against her, and everyone would hope that she would be doomed this time, but Anakta would not.

Anakta would not have done that, not because her plump chest was filled with an extremely strong love for her sister.

Family affection? Dark elves do not believe in this kind of encumbering thing that weak people use to rely on each other and bind each other in order to increase their chances of survival.

The two sides are secretly allies - of course Cassia does not believe in so-called alliances, but she believes in actual interests.

She is the youngest daughter of the family, not yet fully grown, and her succession order poses no threat to Anakta, the eldest daughter. Her fall will not bring any benefits to the eldest sister. On the contrary, it is the wisest choice to win her over and form an alliance with her to check and balance the other sisters. There is no better "friend" than a "mercenary" who does not need to be paid. Therefore, no matter from which angle, Cassia can't find any reason for Anakta to deal with her.

The meaning of Anakta's seemingly aggressive words just now was very simple, and Cassia understood it without much thought.

Her elder sister seemed to be pressing her step by step, not giving her any chance, but in fact she was retreating by giving her a way out. She was intentionally reminding her that if she didn't take the initiative to review her mistakes, other sisters would be happy to help her review them, and they would guarantee that they would be more detailed and richer than what she could find on her own.

On the other hand, if she had already made a self-examination, it would be inappropriate for other sisters to not forgive her. The mistress is not blind. She can see who is seriously discussing and solving problems, and who is using the organization to trap her sisters. She can tolerate moderate use of the issue, but she cannot tolerate overly obvious use of force. Because the latter is clearly using her authority to use her as a tool.

Chapter 195 Review

The mistress likes authority and she also likes intrigues, but she doesn't like it when her authority becomes someone else's intrigue.

No dark elf would tolerate such a thing.

Therefore, Cassia continued her solemn self-examination:

"Although the enemy is powerful and invincible, if I can understand the situation before confronting it head-on, I can at least avoid a fierce collision with it and bring back our family's precious power as intact as possible."

“I can do nothing about failure itself, but I have an unshirkable responsibility for the heavy losses caused by failure.”

After she said this, there was a long silence in the air.

"That's right," Sylvia said after a long while when she saw no one said anything.

“No one can maintain victory forever, but how to preserve strength in failure, avoid total defeat, and wait for a comeback in the future is an eternal learning.”

"I am glad that you are not so foolish as to neglect this knowledge, nor so weak as to evade your responsibilities."

"However," she paused, and then continued, "since you have made a mistake, you should accept the punishment. This point -"

She looked around, her eyes sweeping over each of her daughters, "None of you can be an exception."

"Since you are well aware of the responsibility you should bear for this failure." She retracted her gaze and looked down at her little daughter in the middle of the hall again, with a cold smile on her lips, "Then I guess you are ready to accept punishment?"

Even if you are not ready, you have to accept it... Cassia thought gloomily in her heart, but responded coldly: "Please punish me, my lady."

"Fifty lashes," Sylvia rested her hands on her knees, her long black nails crossed like spider claws. She spoke in a clear voice, and issued her sentence with an unquestionable coldness, "confinement for three months, reduction of annual pension by 50%, and all other possible income will be deducted, for a period of... ten years."

Cassia frowned slightly and clenched her teeth.

Fifty lashes, although painful, only lasted for a while, and it would pass after a little bit of forbearance. Three months of confinement was not a long time from the perspective of the elves. However, the funds provided by the family were halved to ten years, which meant that the development of her personal power would be greatly compressed within ten years. For the dark elves who were changing rapidly and competing fiercely, this punishment was too heavy.

Ten years, she was the youngest among all the sisters, and she remained in the same place for another ten years. After ten years, would she still have any competitiveness in this family? Perhaps within a few years, she would lose her power and fall into a ravine in the underground world under the conspiracy of one of her sisters, or be deliberately sent into the enemy's trap and become a slave to ugly creatures such as gray dwarves and mind flayers...

"My Lady Madam," she swallowed her fear and worry into her throat and forced herself to speak according to the predetermined plan.

"Why, do you have any opinion about my punishment?" her mother asked in a deep voice.

"No, your punishment is very fair, strict, reasonable and appropriate." Cassia said respectfully, "I accept it completely."

"However, now that I have received the punishment I deserve, I hope we won't waste any more time on a loser like me. I have something very important to report to you for you and your sisters to consider and decide."

"Our previous sacrifices," she took a deep breath, "were not in vain."

"We went into the deepest part of the city and conducted a detailed investigation of the city."

"The city's buildings are well preserved, without any signs of major disasters or wars. There are even construct troops in the city that are maintained by magic and are still functioning. They are wearing sets of adamantine equipment, which are extremely luxurious."

"——We defeated that army." She did not forget to state her own achievements in passing, trying to gain leniency as much as possible.

Her procrastination caused obvious dissatisfaction from her fourth sister, Rowena.

"What on earth are you trying to say?" she snapped impatiently. "We are not standing here to listen to you using these insignificant victories to exonerate yourself."

"Please forgive me, Madam and my sisters," Cassia lowered her head slightly, suppressing the fierceness in her eyes deep in her heart, "I didn't mean to do this."

She raised her head and looked directly into the mistress's eyes again, "What I want to say is that we still have a chance."

"Because this city is well preserved, if we can capture it, we will have the treasures of the entire city."