Chapter 1788 Weeping Canyon

Life was like that.

You could train your body tirelessly to turn it into a tenacious, resilient tool. You could practice swordsmanship and archery until your hands bled, temper your observation skills and analytical thinking, and test yourself against countless opponents in real combat to turn shallow knowledge into deeply rooted experience.

And then, you can still die because of nothing but bad luck.

Rain felt resentful as she plummeted into a bottomless abyss, surrounded by an avalanche of shattered stone.

But no, that was not true... her current predicament was not due to misfortune. She was at fault. It was her who had not been cautious enough, perceptive enough, and smart enough. All the signs had been there — the cracks in the stone, the weathered state of the canyon walls, the devastating power of the Tyrant's blows. She should have put two and two together.

She should have done better.

So, Rain had no one to blame but herself.

Still... still!

She was indignant.

To die like that, it was really unfair!

All these thoughts flashed through her mind in the span of a moment. Then, she gritted her teeth and tried to think of a way to survive.

First things first... the fall itself would not kill her just yet. The bottom of the canyon was far away, and she could survive bouncing off its walls once or twice. The most pressing threat were the falling boulders — they were massive and heavy enough to turn Rain into a pancake, or at least smash her skull open.

Raising her arms, she tried to shield her head. A moment later, something slammed into her forearms, and she felt sharp pain. Luckily, the boulder was not large enough to crush her, so her bones weren't even broken.

The next one, though...

Catching a glimpse of it, Rain shuddered.

It was like a wall of rough rock was pursuing her, mere moments away from colliding with her fragile body. There was no chance to evade.

A moment before she was crushed by the massive slab of stone, however, something strange happened. The darkness seemed to touch it lightly, and the enormous boulder shattered into a million pieces.

Instead of being killed, Rain was simply showered by small pieces of debris.

'Teacher...'

Her teacher rarely helped her directly. However, it seemed that he was unwilling to let his student perish so senselessly, and interfered — just like he had interfered to keep the porters and surveyors from being ravaged by the Tyrant.

'I take back all the bad words I've called him!'

There was no time to feel touched, but Rain still felt a strange warmth in her heart.

Then, she turned her head to find the only source of salvation there was, apart from her eccentric shadow companion...

Tamar of Sorrow.

The Legacy girl could take two steps on the air, so if anyone could help Rain survive, it was her.

If she would even bother wasting her time to save a mundane porter, of course. It would be much easier, not to mention safer, to only worry about herself and let Rain fall to her death.

'Where is she?'

Everything was happening so fast, but time also seemed to slow down. Plummeting into the wailing darkness, Rain looked around feverishly and tried to catch a glimpse of Young Lady Tamar.

But she could not see her...

However, that was not because Tamar was nowhere to be seen. Rather, it was because Rain was looking too far.

She did not expect that the Legacy was nearly upon her, and only realized it when something blocked her vision.

'What...'

Then, Rain gasped as something hard rammed into her abdomen.

She studied the sky for a bit, then flinched and sat up.

She was laying on the solid ground, surrounded by the vast expanse of the Moonriver Plain.

There was a small fire crackling near, with her teacher warming his pale hands over it.

The battered figure of Tamar of Sorrow was laying on the other side of the fire. She seemed to be in a rough shape, and still unconscious.

Rain blinked slowly.

'We're alive.'

That was good news.

The bad news was that she had no idea how they had escaped the canyon, and where they were. She vaguely remembered being surrounded by soft darkness and carried by the raging current, but then... at some point, she must have passed out.

It was hard to differentiate one part of the plain from the other, but Rain did not think that she recognized the surroundings. The members of the survey team were nowhere in sight, as well.

Letting out a deep sigh, she turned to her teacher and asked hoarsely:

"What happened?"

He looked at her and smiled.

"Well... you two fell into the river, and I fished you out."

Rain nodded slowly.

"How far were we carried by the current?"

He shrugged.

"Pretty far."

'...It's okay.'

Since both of them were alive, the situation could still be salvaged. They could find the survey team... maybe... and return to the main camp of the road crew. Or proceed to one of the advanced camps on their own.

Or...

Rain looked at her teacher and forced out a smile.

"Teacher... you are so kind and powerful! Can't you... you know... take us back?"

He responded with a smile of his own.

"Oh... sure, I can!"

However, his voice was a little sinister.

"Look at that poor girl, Tamar... she's barely alive. It would be really kind of me to take you both back, wouldn't it? One might even say that only a heartless monster wouldn't. So I really should... ah, but I won't."

Rain's smile grew a little forced.

"What? Really? Come on... it won't even be that hard for you..."

Her teacher nodded.

"Really! If you want to get out of here alive... well, what can I say? All you need to do is Awaken. Do that, and you'll be fine."

With that, he gave her a pleasant smile and disappeared into her shadow. A moment later, his voice resounded from the darkness:

"Alternatively... that Lord of Shadows, he seems to know what's what. You can ask him for help!"

Rain stared at her shadow incredulously, then took a deep breath.

'I take back everything I took back! That... that petty bastard!’