After John left, Max walked over to Anna's side.
"You are injured?"
When he saw there was a small wound on her forehead, he felt his suppressed rage start to boil again, but Anna shook her head and said, "It's nothing serious."
Seeing it was not enough to calm him down, she took a step forward, grabbed his hand in hers, and while looking into his eyes, she said in a serious tone,.
"I know you care for , no, all of us, and want to keep us safe, but you have to know we are also mages. If you keep us sheltered, we won't be able to grow, and I want to grow stronger so instead of a burden, I could beco a shoulder that you can rely upon when in need."
"You are not a—" Max began to say when she interrupted him and spoke in a slightly raised voice,
"I know you don't think that, but… I do. When I see you fight alone, carrying all the burden and worries, I feel helpless and miserable inside. Despite wanting to help you out, carry so of your burden, I can do nothing but watch. It's frustrating."
Max stared at her in a daze. He had also thought about this matter but was afraid they would be hard, which he didn't want to see.
Anna recovered her composure after a few monts, and when she saw him blankly staring at her, she blushed and beca anxious.
'Did I anger him?' She thought and was about to say sothing when she saw Max suddenly smile bitterly and heard him say,
"I always thought I wasn't selfish enough, but now I realize I've been too selfish. Because I was afraid of seeing you getting hurt, I tried to shield you all from hardship—even though, deep down, I knew my doing so was holding you back more than helping you."
Anna shook her head, unable to bear to see him bla himself. "No, don't say that. You were just—"
Max smiled, "It's alright, Anna. I know I was wrong. I should've thought about you all too."
Taking a deep breath, he added, "Thank you for saying that and helping realize this."
Anna's beautiful eyes beca misty, but she had a smile on her lips as she nodded silently in response.
"Hey, no need to be so emotional." Max chuckled roguishly before wiping her eyes, which made Anna pout and glare at him threateningly, "Do you want to get beaten?"
Max acted afraid and quickly shook his head. "No, please forgive my transgression, milady. I shall not tease you anymore."
Anna let out an exasperated sigh and turned to walk in the direction of their inn. "Let's go back. There is nothing to explore in this town."
Max nodded and walked beside her, his hand naturally slipping into hers, which made Anna blush.
After they left, number 3 and number 4, dressed in black robes, left the inn and moved in the direction of Breeze Inn.
As they left, they didn't notice soone was watching them. It was Ling Han, who had watched everything from the crowd.
"He is a good man and has great potential, but his temper is also great." He muttered, smiling wryly. Then, he vanished from the place without anyone noticing.
…
Max and Anna had just returned to the Candle's Inn when they heard a few people nearby discuss sothing animatedly.
"Is this true? A peak emperor power in the central plains is really allowing people of the desolate region to join them?"
"Of course, it is. I heard this from two Central Plains King Mages. I an, I was nearby when they were talking about it."
"So, what kind of power is this Beast Emperor Hall? Do they have sothing to do with beasts?"
"I don't know. I just heard they had opened the recruitnt."
"As long as you are younger than 25 years and are at least a Three Star mage, you can take part in recruitnt tests to beco an outer rank disciple. If you pass, you can even take a maximum of three mbers with you whose safety the Beast Emperor Hall would ensure as long as they follow the rules."
"Then shouldn't we go and try our luck?"
"Yeah, we should, but first we have to find out where this power is situated."
"..."
"..."
"What? They didn't ntion its location so how can I know about it? It's my first ti stepping foot in the central plains."
"Let's go and ask around…"
…
"Oh? Soone is recruiting people from the desolate region? And with such lax requirents and an attractive incentive?" Anna said in surprise.
Right now, what most of the survivors wanted was to figure out a way to establish themselves in the central plains so they wouldn't starve.
However, because everything was too expensive and their services, especially the lower-ranked mages', weren't needed, coupled with the fact they were looked down on, this had beco a tall task.
So, when they suddenly hear that a force, an emperor ranked no less, was cordially inviting them to take part in the recruitnt and was even allowing them to take their companions along as long as they passed, wouldn't they imdiately flock there?
But as they say, nothing happens without a reason. So, there had to be a reason, a hidden agenda behind this, no? Otherwise, why would they suddenly beco so friendly?
"Or maybe people in the deeper regions don't really care where we are from, and it's just these border towns that treat us so badly?" She wondered.
Max shook his head, "I doubt it."
"Doesn't Gran—Es and Gene—treat us well?" She asked,
"It's because we are family. Besides, when they ca, didn't you see they didn't like to interact with anyone?" Max smiled.
Anna nodded. "You are right, but it could be because of—"
"Alright. Let's just go and ask Es." Max said, which made Anna grumble, "Why hadn't they told us anything about the Central Plains until now? If they had, we could have prepared ourselves."
"Maybe because she didn't want to increase our worries?" Max said, smiling.
While saying this, Max was about to enter the inn when he suddenly turned around, his aura flaring.
Swoosh!
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