Chapter 190 - Casual Chat Over Drinks

Chapter 190: Chapter 179: Casual Chat Over DrinksJust a few minutes later, a table full of fine dishes and drinks was brought into the council hall.

"Sit!"

After a few cups of liquor, Lan’s eyes started to sway.

Lock Fan shrugged helplessly, "My dad can’t hold his liquor, you guys take note."

"What’s there to take note of!" Lan slapped Lock Fan on the head. "Is that how you speak about your old man?"

Although Lan was drunk and slurring, it didn’t hinder his relentless complaints, "Initially, I asked you to stay at home and learn military strategy from your uncle, but you insisted on going to Kains Academy. Look, after all the detours, you’re still back, why did you even bother leaving?"

"I don’t want to just sit at headquarters being a behind-the-scenes strategist!" Lock Fan covered his head, a displeased look in his eyes.

Lu Hong coughed lightly and was organizing his words when Lan directed his irritation towards him, "Cough what? Just spit it out!"

"Well..." Lu Hong said, "Lock Fan is a great warrior, you should respect his choices."

"Respect?" Lan spat, "What do you know, he is the only male descendant of our Lan family this generation. If anything happens to him, wouldn’t our Lan family be doomed?"

"But you can’t just confine him to the house!" Lu Hong said sternly, "He has the potential to become very strong!"

"Do you need to tell me that?" Lan rolled his eyes and continued, "Of course my son is formidable—after all, the Lan family owns the Black Elites mercenary group, we own one-fifth of the Romandi Continent. All he has to do is keep this family business and be a carefree soil emperor, isn’t that great?!"

"But that’s not what he wants," Lu Hong pushed back, unyielding.

Confronted by Lu Hong’s resistance, the drunk Lan surprisingly didn’t erupt in anger but fell silent instead and after a lengthy pause, continued, "He’s just like I used to be, but it’s not good."

"What’s so bad about being like you?" Lock Fan puzzled.

Lan took another swig and said, "Your old man used to be dead-set on making it big outside, even got involved in what’s that? That... the Roland Knight."

"Dad? You were there too?"

"Nonsense!" Lan said, "Who wouldn’t want to marry a queen?"

Back then, Lan was in his thirties and Nono’s mother had just ascended to the queen’s throne. Full of ambition, Lan joined the selection of the Roland Knight, with the Endless Forest being the fourth stage of assessment, but during the adventure in the Endless Forest, Lan faced enemies everywhere. Demon beasts didn’t harm him much, yet he almost died by the blades of his own kinsmen.

Obviously, Lan got ousted and the crushed Lan completely quenched his fervor, choosing to return to Romandi and take over the family business.

"Old man, you were so careless outside," Lock Fan scorned after hearing Lan’s story, "If it had been me, I definitely wouldn’t have been knocked out like that."

"Heh," Lan scoffed coldly, "You know nothing!"

Downing another bowl of liquor, Lan continued, "All people of the Lan family are missing something here," tapping his head, "it’s the same for me and your aunt. Your old man is just impulsive; otherwise, why would I end up with these disabilities?"

"Disabled? Dad! You’re injured? How come I didn’t know?" Lock Fan exclaimed, frantically bustling around Lan.

"Stop fussing," Lan pushed Lock Fan away, "They’re old wounds. I once made a bet with the vice-captain of the Star Mercenaries and fell right into their trap."

What trap? Well, Lan was foolish. At that time, at the peak of his life, having reached the Third Transition Peak, he was full of spirit and looked down on all the heroes in the world.

The vice-captain of the Star Mercenaries didn’t confront him directly, proposing a bet instead.

Just a bet—why would Lan be afraid?

"A bet is a bet, anything will do."

The vice-captain of the Star Mercenary Group made a simple bet, stating that there was a task in the mercenary hall that Lu Hong couldn’t complete.

Of course, Lu Hong didn’t believe it. He had already reached the Third Transition Peak, what couldn’t he complete?

As it turned out, the vice-captain of the Star Mercenary Group indeed unearthed a huge task—three hundred million Gold Coins as a reward for acquiring the Imperial Seal of the Beastman Empire.

Just an Imperial Seal, Lu Hong took on the task with nonchalance and soon set out for the Beastman Empire.

Lu Hong, who was at the Third Transition Peak, was indeed skilled and successfully sneaked into the Beastmen Palace. Just as he was about to steal the Imperial Seal under the cover of night, he discovered that Emperor Tai’e was sleeping in the Proclamation Hall that very night.

Tai’e, upon seeing someone trying to steal, was certainly not pleased. A fierce fight ensued between the two, the might of the Lion King was something Lu Hong would never forget in his life. Although he managed to escape with the Imperial Seal by chance, he was severely injured by Tai’e, destroying three of his magic power nodes, causing his strength to plummet from Third Transition Peak to the early stage of Third Transition. After so much time, he had only managed to recover to the mid-stage, with no hope of advancing further.

Lu Hong initially planned to use the Imperial Seal to extract some resources from Orc City to take back, but that very night, Tai’e announced to the nation, claiming he had observed celestial signs and decided the previous Imperial Seal wasn’t aesthetically pleasing enough, ordering a redesign and declaring all previous documents stamped with the old seal invalid from that night forward.

Now, stealing the Imperial Seal was in vain, and he was also incapacitated. Moreover, the one who issued the bounty had disappeared, and he only received fifty million in advance payment.

"Dad, don’t you think this is a trap someone set up for you?" Even Lock Fan guessed it.

"You’re smarter." Lu Hong sighed, "I’m just not good at scheming, and I’m worried you’ll end up like me, harmed by others without even knowing why until death."

"Don’t worry, I won’t." Lock Fan spoke confidently, which surprisingly reassured Lu Hong. It seemed his son had truly grown up.

"Ah!" Lu Hong looked at Lu Hong again, "Although Lock Fan has been back for some time, I have never really talked to him about anything. I guess today I owe it to you."

"Uh... I don’t think I said anything?" Lu Hong awkwardly realized.

"You’re too polite, Uncle Lan." Regardless, it was better to go along with him.

"I don’t like owing people anything. I heard from Lock Fan that you joined the selection for Roland’s Knights?"

"Yes, in a few days, I will enter the Endless Forest to participate in the trials."

"The Endless...Forest..." Lu Hong pondered for a moment, as if organizing his thoughts, "It’s a dangerous place."

"Do you know what the Endless Forest is?"

Seeing everyone shake their heads, Lu Hong continued, "It is a dimension, a realm higher ranked than Sacred Empire. It is the highest-ranking dimension discovered by the empire or any Sacred Empire forces, where anyone who enters will be suppressed by at least two levels."

Lock Fan exclaimed, "A continent higher than Sacred Empire? All those dimensions?"

"Not exactly." Lu Hong shook his head, "It is researched to be the first dimension under the gods, its size never fully explored by anyone; it can be assumed to be infinite, hence the name Endless Forest."

"It is a paradise for demon beasts, where three Heavenly God level demon beasts have been found sleeping deep within the Endless Forest." Lu Hong emphasized to Lu Hong, "Remember, absolutely remember, do not judge any demon beast in the Endless Forest based on the levels known to you now. A low-level ’Bouncing Bunny’ from Sacred Empire, unchanged in appearance, could turn out to be a Level 11 top-tier demon beast in the Endless Forest."

"Ah?" Lu Hong hadn’t looked at the information given by Nono yet, and now, based on what Lu Hong had said, he suddenly felt he needed to stay up late and study.

"Don’t be surprised; this is very normal in the Endless Forest. But you also don’t need to worry too much, the area where you will be active has been demarcated by the empire, and particularly high-level demon beasts have already been cleared out. However, if you still go in with the same old mindset, you will definitely suffer a great loss, or even death." As he spoke, Lu Hong showed a hint of embarrassment, "I was nearly poisoned to death by a cauliflower snake back then; the cauliflower snakes in Sacred Empire are non-toxic and harmless, yet the one I encountered in the Endless Forest, just half a meter in size, spat out a thick phlegm that could directly flip a ten-ton earth dragon. Can you believe it?!"

"So that’s why it has become an imperial training ground?" Lu Hong asked further.

Lu Hong shook his head, "It’s mainly because it’s brimming with countless demon beasts, making it easy to train coordination. Moreover, not only the Sacred Empire, but the Beastman Empire and Snowy Region also station troops there perennially. In this hike, you will face two major enemies, one is the knife from behind, and the other is the scouts from other countries."

"The Endless Forest is a natural battlefield, where the competing powers incessantly fight and hunt monsters, crucial for their contention for the Star Sea," Lu Hong sighed, "Regrettably, the coordinates to the Endless Forest dimension are controlled solely by them."