Chapter 268 Rima's choice[5]
Guidance from a six-star mage? Moreover, it wasn't an ordinary six-star mage but a sonic-type mage. Rima's heart thumped like drums when she heard this.
The most shocked among them was Belen. It was because she had the most information about the elves, and thus she knew although it was rare for elves to allow humans in their cities, it was even rarer for elves to take humans as their disciples.
Everyone in the world knew that the elves had the best affinity with natural elements. Thanks to this, almost every member of the elf race would have the potential to reach the three-star realm by the time they matured. This was why the elf race was always one of the strongest races.
Since the elves had expertise in natural elements, everyone wanted to learn from them as it would help them reach higher in terms of strength.
Therefore, the majority of people would visit Elvin cities in order to find a master to learn from. However, because the elves were a peace-loving race, they usually didn't take anyone since it would disturb their normal lives.
However, people didn't give up just because of this and continued trying their luck to learn from them. Because they were pestering them too much, the elves resigned and started taking them as their disciples, most of whom were humans.
Everything was good until around fifty thousand years ago when the then leader of elves, a supreme mage, took three people as her direct disciples. Two of them were humans, and one was an elf.
The three of them were only four-star mages when the elf leader took them as her disciples. She taught them to the best of her ability, and after a few years, the three of them became monarch-ranked mages.
At that time, The demons, under the leadership of five supreme mages of the demon race, attacked the continent. Because after the continent was divided into two parts, there was a rule that whenever demons attacked, every race would reunite to fight them off. Naturally, the elves also participated.
Although the united force was able to repel the invading demons, same as always, a few supreme mages died or were severely injured. The elf leader was one among those injured ones and needed a few years to recuperate.
At this time, a tragedy happened that caused the elves to turn hostile to humans.
The elf leader had a daughter who was an unmatched beauty and was crowned as the number one beauty in the world at that time. Countless men across the races were in love with her. Naturally, the elf leader's two human disciples weren't an exception.
In fact, they were in deep love with her because, unlike other men, they could easily interact with her since they were her mother's disciples. The elf leader also knew this but didn't stop them from pursuing her since they were extraordinary among men and had a chance of becoming a supreme mage.
However, her daughter was in love with her third disciple, who was her childhood friend. Naturally, she rejected them when they proposed to her.
This caused them to be furious at their fellow disciple and wanted to kill him so that they would have a chance to make her theirs, but they couldn't do anything to him because if the elf princess found out, she would never agree to become their woman and as for their master, she would be furious and might even kill them.
Therefore when the elf leader went to recuperate in seclusion, they finally couldn't suppress their animal nature. They killed their fellow disciple and forced themselves on the elf princess, which caused her to commit suicide.
When the Elf leader found out her daughter had died, she flew into a rage and killed them. However, this didn't quench her anger, and she went ahead and killed everyone related to them. From then on, elves became hostile to humans and disallowed the entry of humans into their cities. As for taking them as their disciple, it naturally stopped.
As time passed, although they allowed humans in their cities for trade or travel purposes, it was only after they were granted permission from the high-ranking elves. Because the interaction between races started again, although some humans managed to become elves' disciples, their total number didn't exceed two digits in the last ten thousand years.
So, it was natural that Belen was shocked when she heard that Rima could take an elf as her master and a six-star mage no less.
Even though Max, Leticia, and Rima didn't know the whole story, they knew that elves didn't let humans become their disciples. So, they were also dumbfounded by the old elf woman's words.
"G-Granny, are you s-serious?" Rima asked, nervously looking at the old woman. Max and company also turned to her.
"Of course, I'm serious." The old woman smiled.
"Senior, I thought elves didn't take humans as disciples..." Belen couldn't help but ask.
"In normal cases, we don't. However, this little lady's situation is different since we will recommend her." The elf woman replied.
"But... can I be allowed into the city? I heard that only high-ranking elves of the cities could grant the permission." Rima asked.
"Big sister, you don't know, my grandparents are respected very much in our city. Moreover, my parents are current lords of the city. No one will stop her if big sister goes with us." Arya excitedly said.
"I see." Rima nodded in understanding, and her eyes flashed with excitement.
Belen, on the other hand, was shocked once again by this revelation. From what she knew, the rulers of an Elvin city. even if it wasn't big, were four-star mages at the very least.
"So, why wasn't anyone protecting you guys when you came to travel outside your city?" She asked. If her parent were rulers of the city, they should have sent some people to protect them, right?
The elf couple took a deep look at Belen. They realized that among all of them, this girl knew most about them.
They then looked at Arya, and a wry smile appeared on their faces. The old woman sighed, "Arya's father didn't allow her to go out when she asked him. So, she took her brother and sneaked out alone. When we came to take her back, she threatened us that if we didn't let her see at least one human city, she would sneak out again.
We were helpless. Moreover, because this area was relatively remote and we had a group of two-star mages protecting us, we thought that there wouldn't be any problem. However, who would have thought that we would be ambushed by those dark mages? All of our two-star guards died protecting us."
After hearing this, Arya's eyes teared up, and a guilty expression appeared on her face as she said in a low voice, "...I'm sorry, grandma. Arya won't do anything like this again."
The elf couple looked at her lovingly and caressed her tiny head, "It's okay. We don't blame you. So, don't feel guilty." Meanwhile, her brother, who looked to be the same age as her, grabbed her hand to show his support.
The old woman then glanced at Rima, "So, tell me, little lady. Are you willing to go with us?"
Hearing this, Rima hesitantly glanced at Max. The elf couple, Belen and Leticia, also glanced at him.
Max felt warmth in his heart when he saw this. He knew she was asking for his opinion and was sure that if he refused, she wouldn't go with them.
However, he felt conflicted. He didn't want her to go with them because of his selfish reasons. At the same time, he knew that it was a rare opportunity for her.
If she stayed with him, although he would be able to help her raise her cultivation and give her a few more sonic elemental spells, he wouldn't be able to help her with other things, such as comprehension of the sonic elemental spells, which was her weakness due to her using Mana spells.
However, If she went with them, under the guidance of a mighty six-star sonic-type mage, not only would her cultivation would rise, she would become skilled in using her elemental spells.
After staying silent for a while, he turned to the old woman and asked, "Currently, she is a middle-stage two-star mage. If she stays with me, her cultivation speed would be very fast. She wouldn't take more than a year to break through to the three-star realm. Tell me, if she goes with you, how long would it take for her to do the same?"
"Hm?" The elf couple looked at him with surprised expressions. Less than a year to break through to the three-star realm from the middle-stage two-star realm?