Pillar of Yita

”However, Colin Ishurian seems to be doing fine; I haven’t been to both the northern and southern Colin regions and Ishurian, but in Elpaxin, I seem not to have found such a situation,” Fang Hong answered.

Rotao is the traditional sphere of influence in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) competition zone. CIS generally refers to part of the political legacy left behind after the dissolution of the Former Soviet Union two centuries ago, an organization coordinating the various independent sovereign states in the region. However, this organization has long been merely a name, and the Invokers of the former member countries usually do not claim such a title for themselves. It’s the Invokers from other regions who often like to use this name, and over time it has become a customary term.

On the other hand, the Osh Empire is mainly backed by the American competition zone, and Giant Tree Hill is in the European competition zone.

Before Kroid left Eteliria, Morning Dawn Star had always been active around Colin Ishurian, so he naturally understood that what Fang Hong said was true, and within a month, he thought it unlikely that there would’ve been any significant changes.

Therefore, he nodded, ”In any case, before you have absolute strength, prioritize protecting yourself and try not to get too involved in the disputes among Guilds, as that won’t do you any good. If you really encounter any trouble that you can’t solve, contact us immediately. You’re now a War Profession Professional, and you have plenty more time.”

”But in any case, it’s always much better to have a reliable backing, as you’ve seen what happened to Morning Dawn Star, you little rascal,” Sicape couldn’t help but interject.

Fang Hong just smiled slightly, understanding Miss Sicape’s concern, but that didn’t change his decision.

However, after hearing Kroid’s words, a name suddenly flashed through his mind – Dragonfire Guild. He always had a premonition that Dragonfire Guild’s performance was somewhat similar to those emerging Guilds Kroid mentioned.

But when it came to posing a threat to the well-established Guilds, it didn’t seem entirely the case, at least he hadn’t seen how Dragonfire Guild’s performance in the battle at Dolifen could pose any threat to the Tabopolis Knights Order.

Let alone Silver Forest Spear and Jiefulite Red Cloak Team, those with profound heritages.

Still, Fang Hong hesitated whether to tell Red Leaf about this matter, but when he checked his contact list, he found that both Red Leaf and Wu Di were out of reach.

This was because they had turned off their communicators, and Fang Hong had some understanding of the rules and regulations of the Grand Guilds. Generally, this indicated that the other party was on a confidential mission.

At that time, when Red Leaf was in the Phantom Realm of Dolifen, her communicator was in a similar state. However, Fang Hong was still somewhat surprised; it seemed unusual for Red Leaf to have just finished a secret mission and immediately plunge into another.

But as soon as he thought that her Guild might be at war with the Dragonfire Guild, he felt somewhat relieved, as all sorts of situations could occur in a state of war.

Since he wasn’t able to contact the other party, Fang Hong temporarily put the matter to the back of his mind. Besides, since they had the Grand Guild behind them, they were likely to have more channels of information than he did; perhaps they were already aware of the situations in Rotao, Giant Tree Hill, and the Osh Empire.

Coming back to his senses, he continued to chat casually with the people of Morning Dawn Star on the other side of the screen.

After the serious discussion, Kroid rarely spoke, and although Sicape chattered at him a few times for no reason, he mostly interacted with the others.

Having been with Morning Dawn Star for several months, he could say he knew every member of the group, and the last battle they fought side by side further deepened their relationship.

It was only through the others that Fang Hong learned that indeed, some people from Morning Dawn Star had survived that battle. As he had guessed, mainly those individuals who had unluckily died before entering the ruins – now it seemed rather fortunate, as at least those few had the chance to be resurrected.

It was said that some had survived inside the ruins, but most of them hadn’t reached Rodell yet. To avoid being hunted by Jiefulite Red Cloak Team and Silver Forest Spear, the survivors almost all chose a different route than Fang Hong – one that was opposite to his.

Of course, that route meant crossing the Egon Forest, which was a much more arduous journey than the direct route to the Teleportation Gate taken by Fang Hong, who, by comparison, was rather fortunate to have traversed Traveler’s Swamp in just a day and a night.

As for whether anyone ultimately fell into the hands of the Descendants of Flor and the Rainbow Alliance, Sicape and the others clearly didn’t know either. Fang Hong made a mental note of this matter; although he could momentarily set aside seeking revenge against the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team, he would not be indifferent if any members of Morning Dawn Star had fallen into their clutches.

Although the Super Competitive League dictates that Invokers should not imprison other Invokers for more than a year and that captivity conditions must comply with the Geneva Convention, rules are one thing, and Fang Hong no longer placed his trust in these superficial regulations. After all, the league also mandated that clubs must honor the spirit of their contracts, yet the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team did not take that seriously.

Moreover, it had been over a month since he leaked that scandal, and although the opposing side’s public relations were a mess, the Descendants of Flor had not received any actual punishment.

This had already caused Fang Hong to feel vaguely dissatisfied with the Super Competitive League, and this was also the reason he was reluctant to consider joining any Grand Guilds.

Stargate Port operates in Earth’s geostationary orbit, its time not matching that of Eteliria. Although Sicape repeatedly urged others not to delay Fang Hong’s rest, claiming there would be plenty of opportunities to contact him in the future, the reunion after a long absence seemed to bring endless topics of conversation, and everyone was curious about his experiences over the past days.

Especially after they watched the video of that exciting Continental League match.

So even Fang Hong himself did not notice, and inadvertently, the communication lasted more than three hours.

It wasn’t until Miss Sicape threatened severely that everyone reluctantly said their goodbyes; Fang Hong turned off the communication device and saw it was already four in the morning.

Otherworld Communication charges on a tiered basis, and the cost for four hours of video calling is painfully high. Thankfully, it’s worth the expense since, as of now, Earth’s technological means cannot achieve cross-border eavesdropping, making Otherworld Communication known as the safest way to communicate.

Of course, Stargate Port could still tinker with the communication device, but Fang Hong trusted that Miss Sicape and the others would handle the situation. Whatever details he could consider, surely the others of Morning Dawn Star wouldn’t overlook them.

He put away the communicator and lay in the hammock; he wasn’t sleepy at all, and now he felt even more spirited. Listening to the rain outside, Miss Fairy was still kneeling on his chest, flipping through the community information page by page.

Fang Hong could even see her delicate little face through the light pages, lit by the glowing screen, as she practically studied ’Earthling knowledge’ all night long, having read most of the community posts recently, and now she was starting to flip through ancient posts.

Of course, Miss Fairy was a professional lurker, only reading and not responding. Otherwise, Fang Hong’s community points wouldn’t be nearly enough for all the threads she might necropost in.

As he was admiring Miss Tata’s focused appearance with his head tilted, suddenly a ”ding-dong” alerted him to a new message in his inbox.

Fang Hong was slightly startled, thinking how quickly Miss Sicape and the others had sent another message, but upon opening it, he discovered that was not the case.

The sender’s ID was vaguely familiar to him, and after thinking for a bit, he recalled who it was:

Poster: Shana (with attachment)—

He paused for a moment, feeling an expectant twinge in his heart. Although the sender seemed mysterious to him, the training software they sent was indeed reliable. He had uploaded his test results two weeks prior but hadn’t heard back since. He was worried they might not have been satisfied with his results, yet here was a reply.

So this time, what would the sender have in store for him?

...