Chapter 277: 277

A massive tower stood on the main road near the Adventurers’ Association. The shape of the tower resembled that of a colossal sword piercing through the clouds. It had more than ten stories and was completely encased in metal. There were few structures of comparable height in the entire City of Steel. There were layers of surrounding walls outside the tower, and adventurers in Holy Sword uniforms patrolled the gate.

That was the starting point for the Holy Sword adventurers.

At that moment, two carriages came from the outside and stopped in front of the adventurer team. A few people got out of the first carriage quickly; the first person was Blake, who was carrying Clyde on his shoulder.

Clyde’s aura was significantly weaker than when he was at the Adventurers’ Association. A white cloth was wrapped around his mouth, and a rope bound his body. He had ceased to struggle. Additionally, a couple of adventurers rode with Blake in the first carriage.

After those adventurers got out of the carriage, they walked to the next one and knelt on one knee respectfully. “Lady Swordmistress, we have arrived.”

Christina pulled the carriage’s curtains open and exited expressionlessly. Her boots made a loud sound as they tapped on the ground.

“Lady Swordmistress, should I send Claude to an ordinary member’s lounge or our underground prison?”

Blake had carried Claude toward Christina as she exited the carriage and asked that question. Christina had said that she wanted to demote Claude from the vice-captain position to an ordinary member when they were in the Adventurer’s Association. He knew that she would always keep her word. It was impossible to change her decision, especially one she made in front of so many people.

“Send him to the common staff lounge. After all, we did not manage to rope that boy into our team, so we don’t need to punish him anymore! It’s a pity that we almost succeeded.”

“Lady Swordmistress, there’s something I don’t understand. May I ask?”

Blake hesitated for a while when he saw Christina still seemed regretful when she mentioned Watson, but he dared to ask.

“What’s the matter?”

“Since you want that boy, Watson, to become our vice-captain, why did you hold back when you attacked him? Are you afraid of hurting him?”

Blake had that doubt from the start. However, he did not ask about it at the Adventurers’ Association. If Christina had feared that Watson would get hurt, she would not have suggested that arrangement. If she had held back after agreeing to that test, was it not putting the cart before the horse?

As for Christina’s decision to appoint Watson as vice-captain, he did feel strange about it. Watson possessed considerable strength. He had sent Claude flying pretty easily, and it was not an easy feat. He must be a silver=tier elite, if not a gold-tier one. It was really commendable that he achieved that at such a young age. However, that was not why she wanted him as the vice-captain.

One could take Claude as an example. If he had not rushed into things head first and caused conflict with the other adventurer teams to establish his authority, he would still be the Holy Sword’s vice-captain.

Christina did not make things up when she mentioned the Holy Sword adventurer team’s creed—virtue took precedence over talent. That was also one of the reasons the swordswoman was popular among adventurers.

“Blake, did you really think I hold back just now?”

Christina did not answer Blake’s question, but she asked him a question in return.

“You mean, you didn’t hold back? How is that possible?”

Blake was shocked.

Christina was a platinum-tier elite, and the weapon in her hand was the rare platinum-tier weapon in the kingdom—the Sky Severing Blade. The sword was a platinum-tier weapon that the late king had used when he founded the Holy Dragon Kingdom. At that time, there were four particularly powerful platinum-tier weapons in the kingdom—the dark-elemental weapon, the Sky Severing Blade, the World Shield armor, the Eternal Rising Amulet jewelry, and the Pen of Truth.

Other than the Pen of Truth, which the royal family had always controlled, the other three tools were given to great nobles and elites who had made significant contributions to the kingdom. The Sky Severing Blade had been given to the sword saint’s family.

The Sky Severing Blade was powerful enough by itself. Still, in Christina’s hands, its unleashed power was not something that not even an ordinary platinum-tier elite would not be able to withstand. The result was the same if they had used a defensive skill, but Watson had not done anything at all. Perhaps he had done something that the naked eye could not see, or maybe he was not even a young man. He could be an elite who had lived for a very long time, albeit he had looked very young.

Blake deemed that acceptable. Christina turned her head and gazed in the direction of the Adventurers’ Association just as his thoughts were running wild. “Why not? You should know that two of our members approached me before I visited the Adventurers’ Association and informed me that something weird had occurred in the maze.”

“I know. The number of changes in the maze has increased several times over the past few years. Many of our members have seen that incident, and the injuries have increased too. I wonder if that has to do with Watson?”

“The two members who found me said that when they were exploring the underground maze’s tenth floor when they encountered a mutation in the maze and fell into the lower floors. It was about the 14th or 15th floor where they encountered the Evil-eyed monster. They should have died there, but a youth named Watson had saved them. Do you know how Watson killed the Evil-eyed monster? According to the two members, he killed it with only one kick.”

Christina cast a sidelong glance toward Blake. “Do you now understand why I want to appoint Watson as our vice-captain?”

Virtue was more important than ability. That was a principle that her father had taught her when she was young. She had always kept it in mind, but when her ability reached a certain level, that point would be shaken.

“That’s impossible, Lady Swordmistress. Are you sure that the two members did not exaggerate the truth?” Blake exclaimed.

He knew about the Evil-eye Monster. It was a gold-tier beast that often appeared on the maze’s 14th or 15th floor. Even he would have a headache if he encountered it. It was bizarre for such a monster to appear on the 14th or 15th floor.

Due to the large number of people in the Holy Sword adventurer team and their varying strengths, they were divided into a few teams. Gold-tier experts like him would follow Christina to attack the monsters, while other silver-tier or bronze-tier members would explore the other floors.

Generally, adventurers who had only explored the tenth floor were usually considered the weakest team in the Holy Sword adventurer team. They would only be bronze-tier; they would die if they faced the Evil-eye Monster. As for Watson killing the monster with one kick, he did not believe it. Even a peak gold-tier elite could not kill the beast with one kick.

“At first, I thought that the two members were exaggerating or that they were hallucinating during a life-or-death situation. So, I went to the Adventurers’ Association to confront him.”

“The outcome was exactly what you saw just now. I did not hold back, and that youth simply deflected my attack. There is just one explanation for this. That young man has platinum-tier strength, and he is stronger than me! My father once said that the world is vast, far more than anything we have seen. There are an infinite number of geniuses in the world, and if you want to advance, you must interact with talented individuals continuously.

“I did not believe that before, so when my father asked me to go to the Royal Academy to study, I rejected him because I was too old. I ran here to challenge the record that he had left behind! Rather than living peacefully with a bunch of mediocre people, I think it would be better to spend more time on cultivation. But now, it seems like my father is right. I’ve met a youth whose strength far surpasses mine in the City of Steel. I still don’t know what the Royal Academy, which has gathered all the geniuses in the country, is like. I used to be proud of being a member of the sword saint family, but now it seems like I’m just a frog who doesn’t know that the sky is blue.”