119: Red's gratitude (4000 words)

Late at night, Hengduan Mountains.

Accompanied by heart-palpitating roars coming from deep within the dark environment.

Lister and the others carefully advanced along the mountain range's periphery toward the eastern part of the mountains.

The temperature in the mountains at night was much lower compared to outside.

However, due to wearing thick clothing and tight armor, coupled with the ceaseless flow of chi energy within their bodies,

Lister and the others did not feel the slightest chill.

This time, when entering the Hengduan Mountains again, Lister only brought Red, Spartacus, and Sejin.

Originally, Lister had not planned to bring Spartacus because his weapon was being forged and smelted at Gimel's place.

But unable to withstand his stubbornness, Lister finally agreed to let him come along. For this, he specifically borrowed Langman's longsword.

After the previous Earth Vein Surge and the sudden heavy rain, they made ample preparations before entering the mountains this time, fearing they might encounter any more unexpected events.

The Hengduan Mountains are not a very large mountain range, but once inside, one cannot help but feel their own insignificance.

As they progressed deeper, the horses' speed gradually slowed down.

Although five days had passed since the heavy rain, everything in the mountains remained extremely damp, and the muddy ground had not completely dried.

Fortunately, Lister had anticipated this and set off directly after lunch, thus effectively avoiding the possibility of arriving late.

Under the faint silver-blue moonlight, the group first crossed a distance along the mountain range near the border of Black Bear Territory.

Then they passed through Baron Kiprin Scott's territory until a small lake appeared, blocking their path.

After observing for a moment, Red spoke up: "Lord Lister, from what I understand, this small lake has existed for a long time. To its right is Viscount Saloyan Dan's territory, to its left is the outer eastern part of the Hengduan Mountains, and across from it is the northern part of the Hengduan Mountains."

"Judging by its current water level, it must have risen significantly after the heavy rain a few days ago, and the lake surface has widened considerably."

"If we want to go to the northern part of the mountains, we need to bypass the lake. Taking the side of Viscount Saloyan Dan's territory would be much safer, but it would take a lot more time."

"Hmm, I understand." Lister nodded slightly, scanning the lake surface. "But we are not going to the northern part of the mountains today; we are heading to the true eastern part. Everyone, pick up the pace."

Seeing this lake, Lister knew he was not far from his destination, and his anxious heart wished he could fly there immediately.

After about two hours or so, the group finally arrived at a region slightly north of the true eastern part of the Hengduan Mountains.

Compared to the area near Ironthorn Territory, which was densely forested, this part of the mountains had a more rugged terrain with many caves.

Since divination never provides precise locations, Lister had to let Red and the other two spread out to search while he followed Red.

About half an hour later, intense sounds of rocks splitting echoed through the dense forest, startling birds into flight everywhere, catching the attention of Lister, Red, and Sejin, who were searching.

Sensing that the commotion came from the direction Spartacus was searching, the three of them changed expressions and, without hesitation, hurriedly rushed toward the sound.

Soon after, they saw Spartacus in a small clearing.

At that moment, he was fighting a newt-like creature nearly ten meters long, over a meter tall, and four to five meters wide, covered in green, sticky skin.

"It's a Poison Bone Newt!" Red recognized it at a glance and was about to step in to help when Spartacus stopped him.

"Don't help me yet; I want to kill it alone."

"...Alright." After a moment of hesitation, he agreed but still reminded him: "Spartacus, this is the magical beast Poison Bone Newt. Its skin, claws, and saliva are all highly poisonous. Be careful not to let it get close and touch you."

Nearby, Lister and Sejin, who had been ready to intervene, also stopped upon hearing this.

Since Red, the strongest among them, was not in a hurry, they did not need to worry too much.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Since the Poison Bone Newt also had High-Rank Bronze strength, the battle between the two was extremely intense.

Although the Poison Bone Newt was large, its movement speed was not slow at all.

Every fierce charge of its body was accompanied by swift swipes of its claws.

Since Spartacus had no prior experience fighting it, he was momentarily at a slight disadvantage.

However, as the battle progressed, he fought more fiercely and became increasingly adept at handling the Poison Bone Newt's attacks.

This ability to grow rapidly in battle was truly enviable.

The Poison Bone Newt, due to its monotonous attack methods—aside from claw slashes, it could only spit a few poisonous saliva shots—

Soon, it was pierced through the head by Spartacus's sword, its life force completely extinguished.

Pulling out the sword with force, Spartacus laughed loudly and said: "Haha, that was really satisfying. Next time, I want to fight two."

"You're getting carried away!" Red glanced at him and teased: "Did you forget that you almost got hit by the Poison Bone Newt's poisonous saliva several times just now? If there were another one, you'd probably be lying on the ground already."

"Accidents happen; I was just unfamiliar with fighting the Poison Bone Newt for the first time. It won't happen again next time." Spartacus scratched the back of his head and chuckled awkwardly.

Ignoring the teacher-student lecture between the two, Lister looked up and scanned the area, quickly spotting a cave on a steep mountainside not far away.

His sixth sense told him that the cave before him was what he was looking for.

He then ordered Spartacus to stay behind and guard, while he took Red and Sejin to climb toward the cave on the mountainside.

Over ten minutes later, inside the cave.

The interior walls were formed from smooth rock surfaces, not dark or damp at all. Instead, they were bright and clear, with a pleasant faint fragrance permeating the air.

Embedded all over the rock walls were crystals emitting a watery blue light.

At the far end of the view was a stone platform covered with a large magical beast hide, and in the center of the platform lay a dark golden egg covered in patterns.

Seeing this, Lister's expression lit up with joy. After traveling for so long, he had finally found the griffon egg he had been hoping for.

Approaching it, the three of them examined it together.

After observing for a while, Red said with disbelief: "Lord Lister, if I'm not mistaken, this... is this a griffon egg?"

"A griffon egg!" Sejin, who had little knowledge and hadn't recognized what kind of egg it was, jumped in surprise upon hearing this. "Griffons are those powerful magical beasts, right? I remember some strong knights use them as mounts."

"I, Sejin, actually have such good luck to see its egg with my own eyes!"

Looking at their astonished expressions, Lister smiled faintly and said: "That's right, it is a griffon egg."

As he spoke, he leaned closer to the egg, appearing thoughtful. "If I remember correctly, judging by the patterns on the egg, it should be a Full Griffon egg."

Upon hearing this, Red and Sejin showed surprise again, but it soon turned into delight.

Because the most notable characteristic of a Full Griffon is that after hatching, it can fly directly using its wings.

This is something many other magical beasts lack, which is an advantage of the Full Griffon and also one of the reasons why it is more popular than the Half Griffon.

Overjoyed, Red was the first to speak up, congratulating and praising Lister, while Sejin, standing nearby, also reacted and joined in the congratulations.

Sejin had already learned about Lister's holy light god's favor from the 'Old Knight' and had personally experienced it.

Therefore, he knew that this stroke of luck was clearly another instance of Lister receiving the holy light god's favor, making him even more admiring and respectful of Lister in his heart.

Lister smiled without saying much. Just as he was about to put away the griffon egg, a faint light suddenly glowed inside it, and it began to tremble.

Lister was stunned for a moment before reacting, exclaiming in surprise, 'It seems the griffon egg is about to hatch.'

'I will wait at the cave entrance with Sejin.'

Red understood the theory of imprinting when a griffon egg first hatches, so he voluntarily spoke up to take his leave.

Although Sejin didn't know much, he understood that since Red said so, there must be a reason for it.

But before he could finish speaking, Lister waved his hand to stop him, saying, 'No need, Red. This griffon will be your mount in the future, so it's better for you to watch it hatch.'

'My mount? This...' Red was shocked, hardly believing his ears, as this was a Full Griffon after all.

Before he could finish speaking, Lister interrupted him with an unquestionable tone, 'Enough, don't be so hesitant. The griffon is about to hatch, hurry up.'

'Sejin, come with me to wait at the cave entrance.'

With that, he quickly led Sejin, who wore an envious expression, toward the cave entrance.

Watching Lister's retreating figure, Red, filled with gratitude, bowed respectfully and said sincerely, 'I thank Lord Lister for this generous gift!'

After the resounding voice faded in the cave, Red turned to look at the griffon egg before him.

At this moment, the light inside the griffon egg flickered more frequently, and the egg trembled more violently.

Seeing this, Red stared intently without blinking, fearing any mishap.

'Crack!'

A few minutes later, with the sound of the eggshell cracking, a creature with golden-brown wings, an eagle's head, and a lion's body emerged from the shell.

The next second, it used its eagle-like front claws to push aside the broken shell around it, then kicked with its lion-like hind paws, completely freeing itself from the eggshell.

Just as Lister had predicted, the creature inside this griffon egg was indeed a Full Griffon.

Looking at Red before it, it let out an affectionate cry, clearly regarding him as someone close.

Overjoyed, Red gently stroked its head, and it happily nuzzled against him.

At the cave entrance, Lister and Sejin chatted about some of Sejin's past experiences.

As they talked, Red walked out of the cave holding the little Full Griffon, his face unable to hide his joy.

Upon seeing the unfamiliar Lister and Sejin, the little Full Griffon examined them carefully, then sensed their auras and recognized them as people close to Red.

Especially Lister himself and the aura of a magical beast emanating from him gave it a feeling of instinctive submission deep in its bloodline.

Lister looked it over and chuckled lightly, 'Red, give it a name.'

'...Raymond. Let's call it Raymond,' Red said after a moment of thought.

'A good name.'

Hearing Lister's praise, the little Full Griffon Raymond also let out a happy cry.

Before leaving, under Lister's instructions, Red and Sejin gathered all the blue crystals, magical beast hides... and some resources clearly collected by the little Full Griffon's mother from behind the stone platform, taking everything with them.

On the way back, Spartacus's eyes were fixed on little Raymond in Red's arms, his envy almost overflowing.

As for this silly, hulking figure before him, little Raymond kept looking at him curiously.

For a while, they just stared at each other, creating a peculiar atmosphere... Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and the tasks of renovating Ironthorn Town and road construction were fully underway.

Apart from Lister occasionally checking in, Brutus was mainly responsible for supervising the work.

Since the laborers were paid every five days, receiving their money early this morning made them completely trust Lister and work even harder.

This was naturally done intentionally by Lister to prevent the laborers' enthusiasm from waning, as people tend to grow weary after working for long periods.

Under the dazzling morning sun, the training ground in the military camp echoed with heavy grunts and the clashing of metal.

Today was a practical combat assessment specially arranged by Lister, with all knights and Soldiers participating without exception.

At the moment, those fighting in the arena were the Apprentice Knights newly selected from the last recruitment, all very young.

Moreover, Lister remembered them well, as they were the two babbling youths he had seen on the street during the recruitment.

Among them, the clever youth with capable sisters was Pierre Lilt, who, according to the divination, had the talent to become at least a Silver Knight.

He lived up to his strong talent, progressing quickly in his Breathing Technique training and having condensed a Fighting Spirit Seed just yesterday.

The honest youth he was currently fighting, though much more robust in build, was being completely suppressed by him.

Knowing that continuing would lead to certain defeat, the honest youth abandoned his wooden shield and swung his sword with all his might at Pierre, aiming to decide the outcome with one strike.

Seeing this, Pierre curled the corner of his mouth and nimbly sidestepped, easily dodging the honest youth's fatal blow.

The next second, a whooshing sound was heard as his wooden sword struck the back of the honest youth's neck with lightning speed.

However, the force was controlled, merely causing the honest youth to stumble forward and fall to the ground.

Although the honest youth had never won against Pierre since they became Apprentice Knights together.

And having lost again today, he harbored no negative feelings. Instead, he took Pierre's outstretched hand, stood up, and said with a smile:

'Pierre, you're getting more and more impressive. I need to work harder too.'

'Keep it up, Ryan! I believe you'll definitely become stronger,' Pierre encouraged sincerely, then immediately boasted, 'But you still won't surpass me, haha.'

Ryan Rijief pouted, unwilling to continue the conversation with him.

But the next second, seeing the figure approaching behind Pierre, he grinned and looked at Pierre with sympathy, saying, 'Pierre, you're on your own.'

With that, without giving Pierre a chance to speak, he dashed off to the sidelines.

Seeing the strange expressions of those around him, Pierre turned around sharply, and his previously beaming proud smile instantly fell.

'Aier Sidi!'