"Let me go…"
Subaru had a look of utter despair, his arm holding the iron sword already trembling.
"Very good, you can already control some of your emotions."
Yang Tao chuckled as he put the Endless Watch of Flowing Time into his backpack, and the semi-transparent time barrier instantly vanished.
Subaru immediately darted towards the slums alley, but an invisible hand grabbed him and pulled him back.
"Let go of me! I don't want to find that medal anymore…"
What medal? He had been tormented in the barrier for a very, very long time.
There was no hunger or fatigue, only the constant pain of injury; every inch of land within the so-called time barrier was stained with his blood.
And the man in front of him used a peculiar magic; even when injured, the wounds would heal at an extremely fast rate.
Yang Tao took out his magic staff from his backpack, pointed it lightly at Subaru, and the spells of Satiation and Rapid Healing fell upon him.
"It's only been half a month… This is just to train your basic reaction ability. If you want to pursue Emilia, this level of strength isn't enough."
Subaru's face turned a bit red after his thoughts were exposed. After all, he was an eighteen-year-old youth, not an old scoundrel like Yang Tao.
"Pursue Emilia? I… I didn't…"
"You don't need to hide your thoughts from me, Subaru."
Yang Tao said with an expression that conveyed 'I understand everything': "Think about the gentle, kind, and lovely Emilia. Haven't you been trying to save her all these times?"
"Think about the scene when she died in front of you… Subaru, tell me, do you want to back down now?"
Subaru was impulsive, self-righteous, impetuous, and had a big addiction despite his lack of skill, but he was genuinely brave.
Hearing Yang Tao's words, Subaru, who had originally intended to retreat, immediately became energized, clenched his fists, and declared, "I will definitely save her!"
Yang Tao showed a satisfied smile: "Very good… Ordinary training is too slow for you. You need to learn the training methods of this world, otherwise, at most, you'll only reach the limit of an ordinary person."
"Then what should I do?"
"It's simple. After dealing with Elsa, you can ask Sword Saint Reinhardt."
After Yang Tao finished speaking, he put his arm around Subaru's shoulder and walked towards the Loot House in the direction of the slums.
Subaru scratched his head and said, "Actually, I still want to be a mage…"
"There's no conflict between the two."
Yang Tao took out his magic staff and cast a Lighting spell, and a ball of white light appeared at the tip of the staff.
"A so-called mage just needs to put one point into Lighting, and then put everything else into Strength…"
"Is… that so?"
"Of course, would I lie to you?"
Yang Tao nearly had 'Honest Young Master' written on his face, and although Subaru wasn't very intelligent, he knew that Yang Tao was purely teasing him.
As they chatted, they arrived at the Loot House.
The familiar conversation, only this time it was a bit later than last time. This time, they didn't wait too long before Felt arrived at the Loot House.
"This is a magic item…"
Old Man Rom held the phone Subaru handed him and evaluated it very seriously.
"Even I have never seen a 'magic item' before…"
Subaru looked at Rom's strong body; the small folding phone looked about the size of one of his fingers. He quickly said, "This is a more precise machine, so you must be careful. If it accidentally breaks, I'll have to start all over again…"
"Oh? Then I must be careful."
Rom examined the phone in his hand and said, "The price I'm offering is 15… no, 20 Holy Gold Coins."
Hearing Rom offer 20 Holy Gold Coins, Subaru's face immediately broke into a brilliant smile. He snatched the phone from Rom's hand and excitedly said, "That's great!"
But the next moment, Yang Tao slapped him on the back of the head.
"Why did you hit me?"
"The way you're acting, it's obvious something's wrong."
"What… what's wrong with this?"
Subaru noticed that time around them had stopped, clearly indicating that the man in front of him had used a special power.
"Originally, you only needed to calmly ask the little girl if she wanted to trade to avoid many things, but because of your impatient nature, things became more troublesome…"
"You definitely won't be convinced if I just tell you, so let's follow your original idea and see how things unfold."
Subaru scratched the back of his head and glanced at Yang Tao. He Felt that his actions shouldn't have any problems.
He walked over to a round table nearby with a smile and said, "To celebrate the successful transaction, let's have a drink together!"
Felt, with a suspicious look, called out to him, "Wait a minute!"
Then the little girl stood up, looked at Subaru's back, and questioned, "Why are you in such a hurry?"
Subaru stopped, a bad premonition surfacing in his heart, but he still bluffed, "Life is short, so one must try to avoid wasting it…"
Felt didn't buy his act at all. She put her hands on her hips and said, "Alright, no more nonsense. By the way, young man, why do you want this emblem?"
"Actually, this thing has a higher value than its appearance, right? Everyone wants to get it, which means it has a higher value than a 'magic item'…"
But the next second, the emblem in Felt's hand disappeared. The little girl blinked, wondering if she was seeing things.
"This thing is very valuable in the hands of certain people, like you, Felt, but it's also a death warrant."
Yang Tao, sitting on a bar stool, fiddled with the black, patterned emblem in his hand, which had a red gem inlaid in its center.
"This thing is a ticket to participate in the selection program…"
At that time, there would be five candidates with emblems participating in this game, and Emilia and Felt in front of him were both among the candidates.
Felt angrily shouted at Yang Tao, "Give me back the emblem!"
"20 Holy Gold Coins, please! Or… why don't you try to steal it back from me?"
"You!"
Felt's little face turned red with anger, and she placed her hand on the hilt of the short dagger at her lower back.
Yang Tao looked at Rom inside the bar. He was the only person Felt trusted and respected in the slums.
"Someone's making a move here… Mr. Rom, aren't you going to stop them?"
"Felt, you are not his opponent."
Rom's expression was very solemn. Although his strength had weakened considerably due to age, his discernment was not bad; he hadn't even noticed Yang Tao's movements just now.
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and everyone's gaze turned towards the closed door.
Subaru's mind immediately conjured the image of that woman with the sickly expression, and his face couldn't help but change slightly.