The moment the announcer called a start to the fight, Arran's opponent launched a series of furious attacks at him, striking over a dozen times in an instant.
Arran only barely managed to fend off all the attacks, with several almost slipping past his defense.
Even as he desperately defended himself, he was shocked at the difference between their previous fights and the current one.
His opponent was incomparably stronger than the last time they had faced each other — not only did he show far more skill, he was also very clearly an unusually strong Body Refiner.
Arran stumbled back several paces, parrying the man's attacks as well as he could. Yet even as he defended, he was losing ground, his opponent attacking relentlessly and not leaving him even the slightest chance to counter.
Panicked by the unexpected onslaught, he knew that the way things were going, he would soon lo
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"…this is white witchflower. You can tell it apart from white dragonflower by looking at the edges of the leaves, which should be serrate rather than dentate. White witchflower is a powerful poison, while white dragonflower has potent healing properties. Now, if you look at the…"Arran suppressed a yawn, trying his best to feign interest.Snowcloud was usually cold and quiet, barely speaking at all for hours on end. Yet whenever they encountered plants and flowers she deemed interesting, she would launch into lengthy monologues on their medicinal properties and how to tell them apart.To Arran, all the plants still looked the same, and the main thing he had learned so far was that he had no interest in herbalism whatsoever.Between Snowcloud's silence and her enthusiastic lectures on the local vegetation, he thought he preferred the former. At least when she was silent, he didn't have t
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Arran followed Snowcloud out of the inn, and in short order, they had left the city behind."How long can you run before you get tired?" she asked him."As long as I need to," Arran said. Although he had never tested the limits of his endurance, he knew that even running at a sprint for hours did not leave him noticeably tired."Then follow me," she said. In an instant, she dashed off along the road, her moonlit silhouette almost disappearing in the distance before Arran could even respond.Immediately, he followed, sprinting after her. He caught up a few moments later, then slowed his pace to match hers as he ran beside her."Why are we in such a hurry?" he asked.Although he did not know the reason, he would have been a fool not to understand that she was fleeing something. And anything that was cause enough for her to flee would certainly be a danger to hi
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They ran until Arran lost track of the days and nights, crossing so many hills and forests that he thought they should be several hundreds of miles from the border, if not more.Snowcloud's potion kept them awake while they ran, but as the days progressed, it began to exact a toll well beyond its disgusting taste.As the days passed, Arran's coordination seemed to weaken gradually, and he would fall regularly, tripping over roots and rocks that he normally would have seen a hundred paces away. It seemed that although the potion kept him from feeling tired, it did little to cure the actual effects of his lack of sleep.In those rare moments when they weren't running, Arran's vision would sometimes randomly turn blurry, as if the world was still moving around him. Worse still was that at times, he would see shadowy figures at the edges of his vision that vanished the moment he tried to look at them.At