"Nothing. I just wanted to train outside for a bit. However, what's up with these teams? Are they going to hunt demons?" Max asked.
"You want to go outside? It's dangerous for you alone even if you've broken through to the three-star — Wait! You've broken through to the high-stage already?" Ryan's eyes suddenly widened in surprise when he noticed Max's cultivation base.
"Oh?" Old man Raku also looked at Max in surprise.
"What are you? A monster?" Ryan asked, giving him an incredulous look.
He was already surprised when he saw Max had already broken through to the three-star realm and had even advanced to mid-stage. However, just a few hours later, he had already advanced to the next stage? How could he not be surprised?
When Garima — who was following him — heard Ryan's exclamation, she raised her brows. She then scanned him with her soul sense and a surprised expression appeared on her face, too.
She hadn't noticed it previously because her thoughts were somewhere else, but now that she checked, she immediately noticed he had indeed broken through to the high-stage three-star realm.
'This guy, he is really… abnormal.'
She thought, her brows raised. Within a week, he had advanced from early-stage three-star to high-stage three-star realm. This speed was even faster than what she had when she was a three-star mage.
Max smiled modestly in response while inwardly feeling a little proud, "I was just a bit lucky." He said. Indeed, it was his luck to have the system.
"You don't need to be so modest, brat. I know you must be feeling proud in your heart." Ryan scoffed, seeing through his act, and then said,
"Although it's a good thing to have a higher cultivation, you shouldn't rush it lest your mana core becomes unstable. And I don't think I need to tell you that an unstable mana core means disaster to us mages, right?"
Old man Raku also chimed in, "He is right, kid. You shouldn't be hasty."
Max felt warm in his heart when he heard this and nodded, "Don't worry, uncle Ryan, grandpa Raku, I know this."
"Tch! I wasted my breath on you." Ryan clicked his tongue.
"…"
Max was speechless.
Old man Raku smiled. "It's good as long as you know. Now, since you want to go out and train, why don't you go with these warriors? Going alone would be dangerous."
Max thought for a moment and nodded. "Alright. I'll go with them."
Old man Raku then glanced at over ten teams of ten warriors in front of him and asked, "Which one of you would like to take this kid with you?"
None of the teams responded. Clearly, they were unwilling to let him accompany them.
"Hm? Didn't you hear what Lord Raku asked?" Ryan narrowed his eyes at them.
Immediately, everyone sweated and one of the team leaders who was closest to Ryan reluctantly said, "He can come with us, lord Raku, lord Commander."
Seeing this, Max smiled bitterly. Did they think he would be a burden to them?
"Good." Ryan nodded and then glanced at Max. "Go with them, kid, and show them you aren't as useless as you seem."
"…To them, of course." He added when he realised what he had said.
Max's expression darkened. Did he look useless? He didn't think so.
"Alright. You guys can move now. Make sure to return before nightfall." Ryan said to the teams.
"Yes, lord Commander!" Everyone acknowledged and rushed out of the city. Max nodded at the old man Raku, ignoring Ryan, and followed after the team he was supposed to go.
After leaving the city, all teams moved in different directions.
Meanwhile, old man Raku glanced at Ryan and said, "Do you have to tease that kid so much?"
"Haha. I just have fun teasing him and he also knows this, so don't worry lord Raku." Ryan laughed carefreely.
After a moment, he asked, "But do you think we should have stopped him from going out? What if those two blame us if something were to happen to him?"
Just as old man Raku was about to respond.
Whoosh!
They saw a blur streaking across the sky, heading in the direction Max's group went.
"It seems you don't have to worry about it now." Old man Raku smiled.
"Yeah. But it makes me wonder, just what does that kid have that a king mage is willing to babysit him?" Ryan said, feeling curious.
"Hm?" Old man Raku narrowed his eyes. "You don't need to think about that."
"Of course."
As Max's group of eleven moved through the forest, Max was surprised to see that he could barely keep up with them without using his mana.
Seeing him fall behind, the Elves laughed mockingly while their leader glanced back at Max and said, "Don't fall back. If something happened to you, I'm afraid Lord Raku and Lord Ryan would blame us."
Others snickered when they heard this.
Although Max could understand why they were so averse to him, it didn't mean he could endure their mockery. Therefore, he circulated his mana around his feet and shot forward, leaving the group behind in a moment.
"Tsk! What a show-off! Doesn't he know he should save as much mana as he can so he'll have enough when we encounter the demons?" Someone clicked their tongue and spoke in disdain.
Max, of course, knew this. That's why he only planned to use his mana to catch up to them and wanted to slow down, but just then, his eyes narrowed. He immediately stopped and shouted,
"Be alert! Demons are ahead of us."
"Hm?" Everyone frowned when they heard this and they focused their senses, but didn't notice anything amiss.
Therefore, the elf who had just mocked Max said rudely, "Kid, why are you raising a false alarm? Do you think we wouldn't know if there is someone ahead of us? Do you really think we Elves, who are blessed by nature, aren't as good as you when it came to sen—"
Suddenly, he stopped speaking because,
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A group of eight demons appear in front of them. As soon as they appeared, they attacked, catching the arrogant elves off guard.
A few of them took direct hit and got severe injuries. Only Max, who was already alert, the team leader and five others who were at the back of the group, managed to dodge.
"Kekeke! You should've listened to him."
