Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 473 Stealing the Bet That Night

A swarm of poisonous bees burst forth from the forest, their buzzing wings creating a thunderous roar that sent chills down one's spine.

But Frilian remained unmoved and calmly raised her wand.

Suppressed magic surged into the staff, drawing a silver-white magic circle.

[Scorching Flame Breathing Magic]

The magic circle unleashed a fierce flame that shot 20 meters away, turning the swarming swarm of poisonous bees into specks of fire.

As flames swept across the swarm, the enormous beehive in the forest was eventually engulfed in flames and fell completely still.

Xia Zuo walked up, ignoring the scorching heat, and casually tore open the outer shell of the beehive, revealing the inner honeycomb filled with golden honey.

Under the intense heat, the honey released an amazing aroma, causing Xia Zuo and Frilian to show expressions of intoxication.

The little elf loved sweets the most, so she hugged her magic wand and came over, took the honeycomb block that Xia Zuo handed her, and took a big bite.

The warm honey was incredibly sweet, and Frillie happily squinted her eyes, savoring the ultimate sweetness with complete concentration.

The druid, who considered himself a proponent of the natural balance school, did not exterminate the hive. Instead, he left the queen bee intact, one-tenth of the larvae about to hatch, and enough honey to feed them.

Then, Xia Zuo cut off the remaining honeycomb and put it into a large bucket, then manually centrifuged it to separate the honey.

Beeswax and bee pupae:

Finally, he sealed the honey and beeswax separately, while coating the bee pupae with specially purchased flour and deep-frying them into a golden-brown delicacy.

At first, Frilian was resistant. She was a noble elf, how could she eat insects?

But the irresistible power of the "it smells so good" principle was hard to resist. Soon, the little elf succumbed to the deliciousness of the sweet fried bee pupae and began to covet the remaining one-tenth of the bee pupae.

However, thinking about turning back, Frillie gave up.

She's always moving forward, Frillie!

Not counting the part of the journey where Lord Xia Zuo dragged her to destroy the beehive, she was forced to do that!

As evening approached, fog rolled in on the road, turning the already dim visibility into complete darkness.

Frillie threw all the bee larvae in her hand into her mouth, clapped her hands, and raised her wand.

The elves' eyes have night vision, so such dim vision is not natural at all, not to mention that there would be no thick fog at dusk.

Just as Frilian was on high alert, she heard someone calling her name from behind.

"Frilian————"

The voice was familiar, and the image of her master automatically appeared in Frillie's mind.

The next moment, Flame's figure appeared from the thick fog. She was so young and beautiful, with such a dashing and heroic temperament. She was exactly the same Flame who left the deepest impression on Frilian when she killed three demons and destroyed a small hill with one blow.

A look of longing and tenderness appeared in Frilian's eyes as she murmured, "Teacher—"

Flame smiled and took a step closer: "Frilian, it's been a long time."

Frillie's voice trembled slightly with a sob: "Yes, it's been a long time, Ms. Flame."

Flame continued to approach, one step, two steps, three steps, until she was within reach. Suddenly, Frilian's magic wand activated the [Anti-Magic Beam], instantly piercing Flame's chest and turning her into a twisted and shattered phantom.

After the illusion faded, a monster with a full head of white hair and blank facial features was revealed.

The monster's upper body was that of a male elf, while its lower body was a thick cloud of black smoke.

Because it was hit in a vital spot by the [Demon-Slaying Beam], it is now rapidly turning into ashes.

This scene perfectly matched Xia Zuo's impression of how demons and demons died. He smiled and asked, "Frilian, how did you recognize this demon?"

Frillie shook her head: "Mr. Shazo, I'm not stupid."

"My teacher has been dead for over a year. Even if she were alive, she would look like an old woman with white hair. How could I possibly be fooled?"

"and----"

Xia Zuo asked curiously, "And what?"

Frillie replied, "My teacher taught me that greetings aren't spoken, but rather done with magical attacks."

"Those who can be blocked are naturally teachers, and those who cannot are naturally demons."

This time, Xia Zuo was dumbfounded: "————A very good idea."

Frillie observed it for a while, and even after the monster had completely turned to ashes, she still couldn't recognize what kind of monster it was.

So she asked, "Mr. Xia Zuo, what kind of monster is this?"

Xia Zuo replied, "I don't know. This kind of monster isn't in the Elf monster encyclopedia. It must be a newly appeared monster species recently."

Frillie asked curiously, "Aren't the monsters fixed?"

"No," Xia Zuo replied. "The types of monsters are constantly being updated. The Elven 'Magic Map Encyclopedia' records more than 4000 kinds of monsters, but at least 3400 kinds of monsters have not appeared for 300 years."

"In response to the changes and development of the elves, the monsters are also constantly changing."

Frillie nodded: "Mr. Shazo, if we encounter a new monster, what should we name it?"

Xia Zuo replied, "There are no specific rules. You can name it yourself when you see it, and if you call it that many times, it will become an official name."

"Frilian, you can name it too."

"Me? Really?" Frillie was greatly surprised. "I'm an inexperienced mage, can I really do it?"

Xia Zuo nodded: "Of course!"

Frillie jumped up excitedly: "Okay, I'll definitely give it the most suitable name!"

The little elf kept thinking about it, thinking about it while eating, muttering about it while sleeping, and still muttering about it when he woke up in the morning.

As she packed her bags and continued her journey, Frillie looked at the thin morning mist and finally made up her mind: "I've decided, it will be called—Phantom Ghost!"

↑↑Phantom Ghost↑↑

Frillie declared, "Although I don't know what the Phantom is trying to do, it was easily figured out by me and had to get closer to me step by step, so it must not be good at long-range combat and is not a very dangerous monster."

"It's also very good at creating illusions, so that's its name!"

Xia Zuo chuckled: "This kind of monster isn't much of a threat to elves, but I feel like it was created specifically for humans."

Frillie asked in surprise, "Born for humans?"

Xia Zuo replied, "That's right. Human life is short, which makes them have strong desires and are extremely greedy for profit."

"But at the same time, their emotions are also very strong, especially their excessive attachment to lost love. Many times, even if they know it's fake, they will still deceive themselves and indulge in the illusion."

"I think it won't be long before this monster called the Phantom Ghost shows its danger."

Frilian nodded as if she understood, and followed Xia Zuo forward.

The further south you go, the higher the temperature becomes, the denser the forests become, and the more human activity is concentrated along the riverbanks.

The last leg of Shazo and Frilian's journey involved traveling downstream on a homemade raft at an astonishing speed.

Because of this river, many boats come and go, and new monsters have appeared on the river.

This monster lurks in the water, attacking boats along the way, ambushing women washing clothes, children playing in the water, and even strong men who come to the river to fetch water.

Unable to defeat Frillie due to a lack of suitable magic, Shazo then took out a sword made of ice crystals.

The most exhilarating moment arrived when Xia Zuo raised his ice sword high and slashed it fiercely at the water's surface. The crystal-clear blade shattered on the water, turning into flying ice shards.

For some reason, the way the snow-white shards flew was so satisfying to watch.

The onlookers cheered in unison, "Bravo!"

But Xia Zuo was the most thrilled, laughing heartily, "That's awesome!"

"I've been wanting to do this in public for ages! This feels so good!!"

The ice sword shattered, but the power within it was transferred to the monster through the water.

In an instant, the sword energy cleaved the demon into a pool of blood, so much so that no one knew what the demon actually looked like.

Frillie shook her head in disappointment and could only write in her little notebook: The monsters lurking in the southern rivers are good at lurking underwater and attacking ships on the surface of the water, as well as humans on the riverbank.

Since she hadn't seen what the monster looked like, Frilian could only vaguely name it: Underwater Demon.

After dealing with the monsters in the river, the journey continued without any further incidents until Xia Zuo reached his destination, but it was no longer the place he remembered.

He made a bet with the Patriarch at the mouth of this great river, which was then just a small town just beginning to prosper, but has now become a "big" city with stone walls.

Well, in Xia Zuo's mind, a settlement of this level is at most a town, and has nothing to do with a city.

However, in this world, the city in front of us is actually quite large, with a population of at least 50,000, second only to the capital city where Celia currently resides.

That largest city, known as the capital, has a population of 80,000.

Seeing that Shazo's brows were furrowed and he seemed quite frightened, Frillie asked curiously, "Lord Shazo, is there something wrong with this city?"

Xia Zuo nodded and said, "There's a problem, a big problem."

"Frilian, can't you smell it?"

"That suffocating stench—"

"Don't remind me, Lord Shazo!" Frillie, who hadn't thought anything of it before, suddenly turned pale and covered her nose with both hands, but she still couldn't stop the stench from seeping in.

Hiccup

Xia Zuo particularly dislikes modern human cities; there are too many factors that cause him to feel disgust.

For example, the city has an owner, and there are many nobles headed by the city lord, and they are all hateful, greedy devils.

For example, before human civilization developed public health, the problems of urinating and defecating anywhere, and the habit of sleeping in haystacks with domestic pigs, all caused Xia Zuo's eyes and nose great suffering.

For example, the city gate in front of us —

"Halt!" The guards at the city gate stopped Xia Zuo and Frilian. "Two elves, dressed in finery and carrying trunks, your entrance fee is two silver coins each."

Dizzy from the stench and not wanting to cause trouble, Xia Zuo paid a tax of two silver coins and then entered the wretched city.

After walking a long way, Frillie muttered, "I hate the city tax."

Xia Zuo nodded: "Me too, that's why I rarely go into the city, it's too much trouble."

As the two elves walked, they listened to the conversations of the humans around them, trying to gather as much information as possible.

Originally, this city was built by believers to commemorate the first Patriarch, and they called it the Holy City of the Descent of God.

Today, this is the main southern base of the Goddess Church, and every year a large number of outstanding monks come here to practice asceticism.

Correcting misleading information.

Thanks to the convenience of the waterways and the abundant food brought by the rich water resources, Chengdu attracted a large population and merchants, making it as prosperous as the capital.

Compared to the wooden houses in villages and ordinary towns, most of the buildings in the Holy City are made of stone, and the houses facing the street are two or even three stories high.

The bustling shops and the cries of vendors hawking their wares filled the air, but even more jarring was the sound of horses' hooves galloping through the crowd.

"Get out of the way!"

"His Excellency the Viscount is about to depart. Anyone who blocks his path will be considered an assassin and killed on the spot!"

"Make way! Make way!"

"You're asking for it! Don't you want to live anymore?!"

Frillie covered her ears with her hands and muttered, "I hate nobles."

Xia Zuo nodded and said, "Humanity has only been around for a short time, so it's normal for them to have a nouveau riche mentality and barbaric behavior."

"After a few hundred years of accumulation, things should be much better."

Following his memory, Xia Zuo walked towards the small hill where he had made a bet with the Grand Patriarch.

Then he discovered that a magnificent cathedral stood atop the small hill.

With the help of magic, human architecture has reached a very high level, with vertical pointed arches soaring straight up into the clouds like sharp spears.

The stained glass windows and numerous carved beams depicting deities adorn the church with extraordinary splendor, making it completely out of place with the surrounding buildings, as if they were products of two different eras.

Pilgrims come and go in a constant stream on the road leading down the mountain from the cathedral.

The greatest advantage of architecture that surpasses contemporary standards is its ability to awe people; no one dares to defecate here. In addition, the high altitude and direct exposure to sea breezes greatly reduce the concentration of odors in the air.

Frillie lowered her hand from her nose and asked, "Lord Shazo, is this our destination?"

Xia Zuo nodded: "This is it. I can feel it. The bet I won is in this church."

Frilian laughed: "It seems that Lord Shazo can't just walk in and tell the human that he's taking his bet."

Xia Zuo said nonchalantly, "It's fine. I'll sneak in tonight and take the sword we agreed on."

Frillie asked in surprise, "Isn't this stealing? Is it really okay?"

"Why can't I?" Xia Zuo said confidently, "In this world, as long as I have a clear conscience, no one can stop me."

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