After thrashing Liam to his heart's content, the old elf leisurely walked back to his rocking chair and sat down, once again feeding some things to the little fox.
Liam shook his head helplessly at this scene and slowly got up. He ate some berries to recover his stamina, health, and energy and took a few breaths to calm himself down.
The training hadn't even started, so he still had a long way to go. There was no point in getting frustrated now.
Since he had already committed to this and even struggled a lot to get to this position, Liam decided that he might as well give it his all and play the part.
After a few minutes, he stood up and walked over to the old elf. "Master, how should I start with my training?" He put on the face of a sincere student and asked.
"Heh?" The elf coldly snorted. "First of all, don't call me Master, and second of all, all this ass-kissing isn't going to get you anywhere."
Liam's face twitched, but he controlled himself and patiently waited for the old elf to get on with his attitude. Thankfully, after the few humiliating words, he finally got to the point.
"Do you know how to use your mana core?"
"Huh?"
"You have somehow scraped together a semi-decent mana core, but I doubt you know how to utilize it properly." The elf blew on his nails and absent-mindedly mumbled while continuing to feed another berry to the little fox.
Liam's eyes widened. He did not understand what the elf was talking about, but he was eager to know more about it. His mana core already gave him a significant power boost, and if it could be used even better?
Not to mention, he still had the big question looming over him. "Your highness, what is wrong with my mana core? How is it corrupted?"
"Hmmm. Don't think about that right now. You will not be able to understand it. Your foundation itself is so shaky. I suggest you worry about that first."
Liam once again nodded. He had in fact made painstaking efforts to make sure his foundation was solid, but here the elf was telling him the opposite.
Everything right now was a puzzle to him. Unfortunately, he could only wait and patiently learn whatever he could and try to make sense of the whole picture eventually.
The old elf took his own sweet time. A few more minutes later, when the fox let out a loud burp, he laughed in amusement and finally stood up from the rocking chair.
"Let's go." He scowled at Liam, signaling him to follow. The old man then started walking out of the residence onto the main street and towards the cluster of portals without any explanation.
Liam silently followed him. Soon they arrived at the junction. However, unexpectedly, the elf did not bother approaching any of the portals in the junction.
Instead, he took out some sort of medallion from his robe. Immediately a loud rumbling sound echoed, and to Liam's surprise, another portal showed up, materializing out of thin air.
This portal looked a little different from the rest in that the swirling waves of energy seemed extremely turbulent.
"Get in." The old elf gave the order without any other explanation.
Liam stepped forward and touched the portal, instantly getting sucked in. On the other side, a strange sight unfolded in front of him.
He was standing on top of some sort of austere ground, like that of a temple. Except here, the pillars were made of earth, and strange, exquisite carvings were etched on them.
There were four pillars, and the teleportation gate was located at the southern corner of this ground. Weirdly, he couldn't see beyond this.
A barrier stretched between the pillars, forming some kind of secluded space that separated these few acres of ground, perhaps about half the size of a football field.
While Liam was wondering what this place could be, the other two also arrived. The old man grunted loudly, and Luna looked around with curiosity just like Liam.
The elf then suddenly lifted his hand and aimed directly at Liam.
"What are you…"
Before Liam could respond, a cannon ball sized mana zoomed right past him, just narrowly grazing him. Everything happened too fast, and Liam could barely even react.
By the time he moved away, there was already a big cut on his cheek, blood dripping out of it, and 30% of his health had dropped. If the attack had come any closer, he would have really died.
Damn it! So this old elf was planning to kill him all along?
However, before Liam could finish the thought, the attack that had whizzed past him landed on the barrier at the back with a loud bang.
Immediately, something else happened. The barrier around the four pillars began vibrating loudly and started glowing pitch black. Realization dawned on Liam. So he did not attack him, he had simply activated this thing, whatever it was.
Soon, a strange energy seeped out of the barrier, and Liam shuddered as he felt this energy touch his being as well. The next second, a notification popped out.
<Ding. You have now entered a time space>
<Ding. Time here flows in the 10:1 ratio>
Liam's eyes widened in shock. What was this place? What does it mean, 10:1? He had a guess, but it was too frightening to think that something like this could be possible.
He looked at the old elf dazedly, who still had the same old annoyed expression. "Don't just stand around. Start training."
"Your highness… this place…"
"Hmmm… I forgot. It must be the first time for a bumpkin like you to step inside a place like this. Time flows differently here. 10 hours here is only 1 hour on the outside. I figured an idiot like you required this extra time to make something of yourself. So don't disappoint me."
Liam silently listened to the old guy berate him again with a bitter smile.
