Mystical Journey

Blackboard City

The city which was once referred to as the Blackboard City had fallen more and more into desolation and disarray. The prosperous streets and alleys were full of rubbish, and broken pieces of newspapers were scattered all over the ground. Some wild dogs and cats were still looking for food residues in the trash, and whimpering sounds could be heard from time to time.

The vagrants and wanderers who had never appeared squatted and wandered in the depths of the alley, fighting with the wild dogs for food.

The ruined walls of the building, the dark and dirty streets on the green belt, and the occasionally-agitated curses coming from the vehicles that passed by.

Garen walked slowly in this capital, Blackboard City. From the teleportation point, he arrived here straight away without any delay at all. Fila and the Seventh Divine Wind General from back then, as well as the biochemist Bamente, had surely left this place.

Coming here, Garen's only wish was merely to have a look at the current Blackboard Academy and to visit his previous professor.

He slowly walked down the street.

"Hehe... Kid, people from outside who pass through this place have to pay a protection fee... Do you understand the rules?" A few thugs came out of the alley and stopped in front of Garen. They wore an aura of teasing and malice on their faces.

The few remaining passersby around hurried to flee and pretended not to have seen anything at all.

Garen's black, top-grade clothing looked no different from the rich young master wandering on the outside. His smile was mild, but it gave people a kind of pretentious feel.

He recalled that once, he did not know who had told him that if he did not know how to be nice to the people around you, then just keep on smiling. By doing this, it would let those who were genuinely thinking of you know that you were doing well and there was no need to worry…

"Protection fee?" Garen looked at the three bullies in front of him. "When does Blackboard City have this kind of thing there?"

Looking at the calm and composed Garen, something seemed amiss. The few bullies started to have a bad feeling.

"Our boss is..." Boom!

A muffled sound was heard. The three bullies flew out at the same time, slamming into the sides of the walls. The sound of their bones being cracked burst out. Before they could even shout out in pain, it was unknown whether they were dead or alive. Blood slowly flowed down from the three people and formed a small bloody puddle on the ground.

Garen did not even lift his hands. This was only one-hundredth of his One Time Fist Pressure. One Time Fist Pressure would not increase any power but evenly dispersed the force from the fist into the vacuum around it, instantly breaking out the same force in all directions.

It was not merely a little power of the fist.

"Was it still a little over?" Garen frowned slightly. He had originally intended to keep them alive, but he did not expect one-hundredth of One Time Fist Pressure to be this heavy...

Boom.

There was a light sound of windows closing in the upper floors.

The surroundings suddenly became emptier. The entire street became increasingly desolate; several cars darted pass in an accelerated speed as if the drivers were fleeing for their lives.

Garen put his hands in his pockets and looked at the city that had become even more desolate due to the war. If this place had become as such, let alone other places.

"Go and see Celine's residence first..."

As soon as he thought of it, Garen went a little further to stop a taxi.

Once in the car, he mentioned the name of the place Celine's house was at.

"That place... Oh, the original villa district of the Academy," The driver was a chubby, middle-aged man with a crew cut and he had a black, knife-like leather by his side. He looked at Garen from the rear-view mirror.

"Are you a student of the Academy?" He asked as he started the car. "Your temperament does not look like the average person."

"How is it over there now?" Garen smiled and asked.

"Still okay. In the war these recent years, many have died. The Academy has rushed to recruit a lot of freshmen, but it has become a bit messy," The driver replied casually. "Now, even an ordinary bully will not dare to go to that place. That place is filled with powerhouses with Willpower. Ordinary people who go there are just looking for a beating. In the beginning, I have also mingled over there, but I did not expect that in the blink of an eye..."

The driver began to talk incessantly. Although he looked fierce, no one would expect him to actually be such a long-winded person. He could not get to the point after talking for half a day, and he immediately began to talk about his brilliant years back then.

Garen was not impatient. Instead, he sat quietly looking out the window.

It was really regrettable that this once-prosperous city had become dilapidated to this extent in such a short period of time.

Along the way with the driver's babble, Garen finally arrived at the villa district near Blackboard Academy.

He got out of the car and paid with a black card that had been prepared beforehand. This black card was previously stolen from a rich man. The order here had been chaotic to a point where even the number of soldiers was far from enough. Not to mention, the police was also lacking in quantity. The social order could only be maintained at a basic level.

Garen knew the way well and went around the path with ease. He soon saw Celine's villa in the middle among rows of small white villas.

This place was vacant and there were not many people living in. It was afternoon. With the dark clouds in the sky, the snow falling and the lights dim, it was still dead silent here, seemingly deserted. Only a villa was spotted with lights on in a far distance away.

Garen followed the road in the district. On his way, he did not see anyone else except for the broken streetlights. The entire district had almost become a dead city.

Walking to the door of Celine's villa, there were specks of thick dust on the ground everywhere. The self-defense guarding system of the villa had also stopped monitoring and defending for a long time. The entire villa was dark and unusually quiet.

Reaching out his hand and with a light flicker, the door creaked open. Garen slowly entered inside.

The huge living room was pitch-black. Only the metal armor figure of an ancient knight reflected a faint silver glimmer.

The air was filled with strong dust particles.

"Sure enough, there was no one..." Garen sighed. With a thought, a cold wind instantly rolled up in the villa, promptly blowing all the dust out of the house and gathering it in a corner.

The entire villa suddenly became much cleaner.

After wandering around the villa, Garen entered the basement again and looked at the place he had constantly trained with Celine back then. It was also dusty. He gazed at the familiar furnishing, but the people had completely left. It came upon him that he had not contacted Celine for a long time. Presumably, she had completely abandoned this house.

Many years ago, Celine returned the news that Nonosiva's parents and sister had been completely settled down in the most peaceful center, the Freshwater Galaxy. Celine herself had also followed the Professor to the Freshwater Galaxy, and could only send back news once in a long time because the distance was too far away. Now that the long-distance Stargate was completely sealed off, there was absolutely no way of knowing what had happened.

"Freshwater Galaxy. Don't know how they are doing..." Garen thought of Baylon again, who was destined to become the younger brother or sister of Royal Star. If it went according to history, she might soon be returning from Four-Star Alliance.

Just when they returned, there would be an eruption of an enormous energy tide. This grand occasion was just as nice as a good opportunity for him to devour energy. Garen came back at this crucial time for this exact reason, not only for revenge.

Moving about Celine's basement, the familiar environment was still there, but the person was no longer here anymore. He himself could not escape from this vortex.

"If there is no relationship with Red Moon, no relationship with Baylon, perhaps whitewashing1 to become a pilot is also a good evasion method. Unfortunately… Life isn't so kind as to allow so many 'if's. The moment I am noticed by White King, I will absolutely be the target to be used for coercion."

Garen left the villa. His heart was still unable to calm down.

Walking along the path toward the outside of the villa district, he finally saw a few people: three men and a woman. The three men were dragging a girl toward the darker area. Their lustful laughter was mixed with the girl's horrified crying sound. Obviously, they were not up to something good. Sure enough, the trouble that the driver mentioned was no ordinary because, among the three men, there was actually one who had Willpower fluctuation.

"Is the impact of the war really this big?"

Garen sighed.

"Even this city has decayed to such a point in just a few years' time..."

His voice traveled from far into the ears of the four people. It was calm as if the event occurring before him was irrelevant. It was like he was watching a movie with total stillness.

"Who's there!?" One of the three men pulling the girl shouted loudly and glared at Garen with a warning.

"Don't meddle in, or else..." He did not finish his sentence, but the threatening message behind it was obvious.

"Help! Save me!" The girl seemed to have found hope and cried out loudly for help. "As long as you save me, I can give you money, Universal Units! One hundred thousand, one million! Please! Save me... "

Pap!

The man who spoke gave her a hard smack across the face.

"Bitch, back then when I pursued you, you were unwilling and humiliated me with all kinds of way. You looked down on me, eh? What about now? Hehe!"

He grabbed the girl's hair.

"Aren't you virtuous? Aren't you a goddess? Why are you crying like this now? Didn't you look down on me? Ah! Now you know how to seek help?"

The man laughed sinisterly.

"Let go of Nolan!" In the quietness, a quivering female voice suddenly rang out from the darkness not far away.

A black-haired girl in a white tunic dress slowly walked out of the darkness. She also held a pair of high heels in her hand. Her black, clean single ponytail and her delicate, fair face gave out a simple yet elegant aura.

It was only that the girl now looked abnormally discomposed. Her forehead was slightly sweaty and her breathing was a bit too quick. It was apparent that she ran over here. Parts of the black tights on her legs were torn.

"Tesna!" The girl who was held was instantly overjoyed. "Save me, quickly save me! These fellows are crazy!"

"Tesna, nothing concerns you here. You had better not butt in," The man warned fiercely.

The response he received was the white dress girl doing a run-up to give him a ferocious elbow strike.

The lightning-like elbow accurately struck the tall man who had come forward from behind to block her. He was the one with Willpower, clearly the man's bodyguard.

"Spin axis!"

Tesna's elbow was blocked, but her arms suddenly straightened out, changing to a knife-hand to strike the other party's neck.

"What?" Garen viewed from his peripherals. The girl's moves faintly resembled his Twelve Flying Dragon Fist. When he taught Celine at the beginning, he did not restrict her from teaching others this fist technique. However, he only did not expect to encounter someone who knew this fist technique in this vicinity by chance.