Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Lorena’s words aligned with the conjecture Yang Yu had formed while in the Elf Forest.

It was with this conjecture that Yang Yu had convinced the people of the Elf Clan that Bai Jin was being persecuted and managed to covertly deal with the matter of Bai Jin being an elf who could use magic.

Lorena had personally experienced the transformation, and Yang Yu hoped to gather more information from her,

”Miss Lorena, may I ask, how did it feel when your hair changed from blond to black?

If you feel this invades your privacy, I apologize.”

”It’s nothing significant.”

Lorena’s face showed no displeasure; instead, she turned back with an enthusiastic smile to Yang Yu and his companions.

Memories resurfacing, Lorena’s gaze returned to the bustling street, speaking with a hint of nostalgia,

”I was once a faithful believer of the goddess, born in an ordinary elf village, living there for who knows how long.

Suddenly, one day, an old man with white-streaked hair appeared in the village.

From him, we heard about the grandeur of the world and, thus, we made up our minds to leave the Elf Forest and travel far and wide.

During my travels, I encountered all sorts of magic.

The dazzling and colorful magic was far more interesting than the Holy Light.

So, I began to delve into magic, shamelessly begging to learn under some renowned magicians how to control magic.

Initially, it was really difficult, especially for us elves who had no foundation in magic and were extremely lacking in magic power.

However, elves can live for a very long time.

Even with poor talent, as long as one is willing to put in the time, it’s possible to slowly grasp the techniques of using magic.

It only took me thirty years to learn sixth-tier magic.”

Thirty years, that’s equivalent to a third or even a half of a human life.

Only those blessed with longevity can talk about such spans so casually.

Internally scoffing at the thought, Yang Yu and his companions crossed through the crowd, following Lorena to a storage facility.

Handing over the documents to the storage keeper, Lorena led Yang Yu and the others deeper into the facility, continuing to recount her past to them.

”But at that time, sixth-tier magic had reached my limit.

This is what people often refer to as the so-called bottleneck.

But my bottleneck seemed different from that of ordinary people.

The reason I hit a bottleneck wasn’t that I couldn’t understand the techniques or rules or anything else; it was because two powers within me were clashing.

The more I learned magic, the more I felt something trying to devour the power inside me, and this instilled a faint fear in me.

This fear persisted for a very long time.

It seemed that without making a choice, it would continue indefinitely.

’No matter what, I want this unease to disappear quickly!’

Many elves who had studied magic often found themselves haunted by this thought.

The solution was actually quite simple.

In the end, I abandoned the Holy Light and chose to embrace magic.

My magic improved, but I could no longer use the Holy Light.”

Opening the panel, Yang Yu checked Lorena’s attributes again, and under the special section, she still had the [Blessed by the Goddess LV.5] mark.

”Really can’t use it at all anymore?”

”I’ve tried many times, it really doesn’t work.”

Following Lorena’s steps, Yang Yu arrived at an important area guarded by heavily armed soldiers.

Lorena explained their purpose to the soldiers on duty, asking them to bring out the valuable weapons stored there.

During this time, Miss Lorena explained somewhat lonesomely why she couldn’t use Holy Light anymore:

”When we used Holy Light, there was always something inside that would respond to us, but after embracing magic, that thing no longer responds.

Our iconic golden hair began to slowly transform into black hair, and our bodies, which had once stopped growing, began to develop again slowly.

I also used to feel insecure about my figure, but not anymore.”

”Then, do you know how long black-haired elves can live?” Yang Yu asked.

”I don’t know. So far, I have not seen any elf die of old age.”

Several burly Beastmen carried out two locked Treasure Boxes for Yang Yu, carefully unlocking them.

A shield, all over red, and a sword emitting a faint blue light appeared before Yang Yu.

The Shield was roughly one meter high, a medium-large V-shaped Shield with regular serrated edges, each one like the talons of a giant dragon; the surface resembled closely-packed dragon scales, and in the middle was a cross-shaped black depression.

The length of the sword was a bit peculiar, from the tip of the blade to the hilt, about the distance from Yang Yu’s fingertip to his elbow; neither long nor short.

The body of the sword, a blend of cyan and silver, formed waves near the hilt, while the hilt itself, like a heavy golden anchor, seemed to convey a sense of historical weight.

Lorena waved her hand to send the nearby Beastmen guards aside:

”General Potato, you know more about Equipment than I do, please proceed.”

Yang Yu didn’t stand on ceremony; he directly picked up the sword and Shield and checked their specific attributes.

[Flame Dragon’s Shield

Quality: Epic

Defense +300, HP +500, Defense +5%, Damage Reduction +5%

Active Skill: [Flame Dragon Fury], raise the shield into a defensive stance for 10 seconds, if an enemy touches the Shield, it will spew hot flames to continuously inflict damage to enemies in front.]

[Rapid Wave Ripple Sword

Quality: Epic

Base Attack +100, Strength +100, Strength +5%, Intelligence +100, Intelligence +5%, MP +300, +10% Water attribute damage

Passive Skill —— Wave Cutting: The following skills will be enhanced.

[Wave Cutting]— Has a broader attack range

...

...]

Wielding the sword and Shield, these two pieces of Epic Equipment weren’t hard to use but were far from excellent.

First, the Shield was too heavy, affecting defensive movements to some extent; second, the sword had too specific a focus, the attributes added to the white value were too scattered. Both Intelligence and Water attribute damage were attributes Yang Yu didn’t need.

As expected, one couldn’t so easily obtain good equipment.

Considering the versatility of the sword... and since we’re still in wartime, the good equipment had already been rewarded, Yang Yu couldn’t ask for too much.

These two pieces of Equipment, he could barely accept.

At least, when facing the enemy, he could fight without worrying about the weapons getting damaged.

”To be valued by His Majesty and the Prime Minister is truly an honor I’ve received thrice over. Although these weapons have some minor flaws, overall, they are not bad.

I now entrust you with the treasures I obtained from the Underground Maze.

If I find better swords and Shields in the future, I hope to pawn these pieces of Equipment and get the good ones first-hand.”

Lorena’s face showed a sweet smile:

”I will relay the message to the Prime Minister. Please keep striving, General Potato; we look forward to your performance.

After this war is over, if you would still honor me with a dinner invitation, I would be delighted to dine with you.

Of course, that is if your lady partner agrees.”