Chapter 32: Chapter 32

The Third Hunting Grounds, fairyland.

"You are about to enter the third hunting grounds, fairyland."

The Tianke girl announced the name of the hunting grounds, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

"Wait, wait, wait, I remember Teacher Liushu once said—the closer the hunting grounds is to the front, the more dangerous it is."

Mo Ying immediately realized something was wrong.

The earlier the hunting grounds, the more dangerous they were; there were a total of ten hunting grounds. For more chapters visıt NovєlFіre.net

The first hunting grounds was the most dangerous, and the second came next.

And this time, the hunting grounds they were about to enter was directly the third one?

Weren't they supposed to start with the simplest, the tenth hunting grounds?

"The third hunting grounds... I remember seeing on the news, a military force of tens of thousands entered the seventh hunting grounds, and not a single person came out alive."

Shuang Yun swallowed hard.

"Really, will there be no problem?"

Xiya started to have doubts after hearing Shuang Yun's words.

The Tianke girl had already made way for them.

"I heard that for the top five hunting grounds, it doesn't matter how many people go in—whoever goes in, dies,"

Teacher Luoyu raised an issue.

"That is correct," the Tianke girl responded mechanically.

"Then why let us into the third hunting grounds?"

The others questioned.

"Even an army gets completely wiped out—aren't we just sending ourselves to die?"

"Ah, is that so," the Tianke girl replied calmly.

"Are you feeling afraid?"

Her words chilled the mood again.

"I am sorry. I know that rational beings always experience fear. But I can't really comprehend it, nor can I feel your fear."

"Some things are too messy and troublesome to explain with words. Once you enter Fairyland, you will understand what I mean. This is not a dangerous hunting grounds."

The Tianke girl snapped her fingers, and everyone was transported into the hunting grounds.

She ignored all doubts and protests, choosing the most straightforward method.

"Fairyland... wind and rain, passing the spring and autumn," the Tianke girl murmured.

"Perhaps, to them, everything is but food."

"This is way too arbitrary,"

Mo Ying and the others complained as they were suddenly thrown into the hunting grounds.

"I heard all Tianke are ,"

Shuang Yun dusted herself off, coughing a bit.

"A race that's hard to communicate with,"

They looked around; there were a few scattered students nearby—it seemed they had been separated again.

Looking ahead, just as Teacher Liushu had described, this was a different world.

"My body... is so heavy,"

She felt as if a block of steel was pressing down on her body.

It was the same for the others.

"The magic here is so dense, it's smothering,"

The air was saturated with magic—pure, unadulterated magic.

"What do we do now? How could they just throw us into a place ?"

"Let's move forward,"

Shuang Yun felt staying still was not an option.

A vast dense forest lay ahead of them; some students had already begun heading into the woods.

Mo Ying and her group followed as well.

"These trees are packed with magic,"

Mo Ying said, parting clumps of grass in the woods. The trees here were huge, and looking up, she saw many strange birds nesting in their branches.

"Splash, splash, splash."

The sound of running water came from ahead, and this time, they could clearly see a small stream flowing before them.

The stream was narrow and long, winding into the distance.

The three followed the stream, eventually emerging from the woods to find themselves standing on the edge of a cliff.

From the high vantage point, they saw yet another expanse of green forest in the distance. Sunlight filtered through the trees, and clear water sparkled as it flowed through groves. There were brilliant flowers and towering plants.

It was a paradise, isolated from the world.

In the forest, people with transparent wings fluttered about.

Many students were in the woods as well, talking to those with see-through wings.

Wei stood on a high cliff to their left.

Mo Ying recognized an acquaintance and greeted her enthusiastically.

Wei looked at them but said nothing.

Xiya performed spatial transfer, bringing the group next to Wei.

"Director Wei, so this is the hunting grounds? What's going on here? Why do the people here all have transparent wings?"

Mo Ying fired off a series of questions.

"This is Fairyland. Those with wings are fairies."

"Only under extremely excellent conditions can a fairy be born."

Wei held out her hand, and a tiny fairy landed on her palm.

Everyone gathered around. The fairy was tiny—a fairy girl, petite and adorable.

She seemed to be very close to Wei.

"Fairies are the race closest to magic. Before this hunting grounds appeared, fairies did not exist in the world, and only elves could communicate with them."

"The magic unleashed by fairies is about five times more powerful than that cast by other races,"

Wei said, letting the fairy go. More little fairies flitted toward her.

"Fairies don't understand our language; only elves can truly communicate with them."

"But if a fairy is willing to bond with you, you can form a contract and make them your power."

"What does that mean?"

"Literally. If you form a contract with a fairy in their homeland, they will be able to understand your language, and you can use their powers."

"Some fairies can help with spatial transfer, others can heal wounds—each fairy has a different ability."

"There's no such thing as a free lunch, is there, director Wei?"

Such good things wouldn't just exist in this world.

"Right. Fairies want compensation—just like Hunters."

"Fairies may demand blood, magic, lifespan, limbs, organs, eyes, talent, pain, joy, sense of taste, sense of pain, memories, soul—even life itself."

"The more powerful the fairy, the more terrifying the price."

"There was once a person who used a fairy to amass an incredible fortune—enough to match a nation's wealth. In the end, that person had all their organs dug out. We saw that fairy devour those organs whole, mouth full of blood."

"Ah, an ordinary person would vomit up days' worth of food seeing something like that."

"That's fact, not a story,"

Wei said in her usual stern tone.

Mo Ying was too shocked to speak.

She looked up at the adorable fairy girls above... such cute faces...

Just imagining it made her nauseous.

"Fairies generally won't leave Fairyland. Only after a contract will they follow their contractor out."

"There are eight fairy queens, or rather, there were eight—one was taken away, so now there are only seven."

"You can see if there's a fairy suited for you. Maybe you can even contract a fairy queen."

"Do you know about ZL contracts?"

"The contracts between Hunters and employers that absolutely must be carried out,"

Shuang Yun replied quickly.

"Correct. Originally, there were no such contracts in this world, or rather, there were no contracts that absolutely had to be fulfilled. Most contracts could be broken."

"But after Fairyland appeared, one of the fairy queens' abilities was contract."

"The contracts made with her magic, including the stipulated punishments, will always be enforced. That's the contract queen's ability,"

Wei said, taking out a pen.

Wei pointed the pen at Mo Ying.

A voice sounded, and a fairy about as tall as Wei appeared in midair.

"This is one of the fairy queens—the fairy of contracts,"

Wei said, pointing at the newcomer.

This fairy had deep green long hair. She wore a very thin dress, with no other visible clothing, and was exceptionally beautiful.

It seemed none of the fairies had low charm.

"Go help me throw away Liushu's cigarettes,"

Wei instructed Mo Ying.

Wei said with a tone that would brook no refusal.

"Contract established."

The fairy queen pulled two threads from within Wei and Mo Ying and tied them together.

"You have three days to fulfill the contract," the fairy queen said to Mo Ying.

"If you fail, you will lose ten years of life."

"If you succeed, she will pay you a year of life," the fairy queen stated the punishment and reward.

Xiya and Shuang Yun didn't even dare to speak.

"Now, I will take one month of life from both parties as the contract fee."

With that, the fairy queen vanished.

"I just lost a month of life out of nowhere?!"

"If you complete the contract, you'll gain a year,"

"But won't Director Wei lose a year then?"

"I don't care about something like lifespan."

"Director Wei is an elf—she has a long lifespan. One year isn't much to her,"

Shuang Yun quietly told Mo Ying.

"Oh, right, I forgot..."

Mo Ying suddenly remembered Wei was an elf.

"This fairy queen uses her power to spread contracts around the world—her contracts are inviolable. Once you agree, you must fulfill it."

"She takes a fee from both parties for the contract, sometimes money, sometimes lifespan—it depends on the contract's content and reward."

"The tool for the contract is this pen,"

Wei tossed the pen to Mo Ying.

"This pen has her magic. Whenever you want to make a contract with a Hunter, you have to use it."

"In Fairyland, she will show up in person to sign the contract. Elsewhere, she won't appear, but the contract will still be effective."

"Is this pen valuable?"

Mo Ying asked, holding the contract pen.

"... That's not expensive at all..."