Chapter 169: Sudden Change

  I slowly opened my eyes to find myself lying in a room. The first thing that caught my attention was the ceiling, which depicted an endless starry sky and a full moon. I was very familiar with the layout of the room - where had I seen it before? It didn't take me long to regain my composure, and I realized that this beautifully decorated room, filled with the characteristics of the spirit tribe, was actually Frey's residence. So, I had already arrived in the Spirit Forest.

  I struggled to recall the scene before I fainted, and then I remembered that I was burned by the dragon's breath during the challenge with the giant dragon. I couldn't believe I didn't die! I tried hard to prop myself up, but as soon as I moved, my whole body ached. After all, I was still injured! I sighed. Then I felt like my entire body was wrapped in bandages. With great effort, I lifted one of my hands, and indeed, it was wrapped in white bandages. Hmm, looks like the injury is quite severe.

  I felt something move at the tip of my foot, so I made an effort to shift my gaze to the other end of the bed. Freya was lying on her stomach with her eyes closed in a deep sleep, her long green hair hanging down behind her head, and her pointed ears peeking out from within it. The sunlight shone on her ears, and you could even see the tiny blood vessels.

  Frey suddenly moved again and woke up. She sat up, stretched lazily, and turned her head to look at me.

  "Alyric, are you awake?" Freya's tired face showed a surprised smile. She then came to my side, grabbed my hand and asked: "Are you hungry? What do you want to eat? I'll help you make it. Oh, and I need to tell Xilu about this, I'll go call her."

  "Wait, Freya, I want a drink of water." I pulled on her hand, not letting her go until she nodded, then I let her go.

  Furei brought water from the table opposite and with great effort supported me as I drank.

  I drained the bowl of water in one gulp before saying, "How long have I been unconscious? Have you been taking care of me all this time? You must be exhausted."

  Frey shook her head, her face red as she said: "No, no, Xilu and I took turns taking care of you. You've been unconscious for almost two months now. After you were poisoned by the dragon's breath, you fell into a coma. We rushed you to Gremma overnight, and Salen did his best to treat you, even praying to the Shaman God for help. Although your injuries were brought under control, you still didn't wake up. Later, we sent you to the Elf Forest as quickly as possible, using the Fountain of Life and our Elven magic to heal you. I asked for the Moon Temple's help, and every day, a priest from the Moon Temple came with me to treat you. Xilu also took good care of you. Oh, I'll go call Xilu now. She was the most anxious one since you fell into a coma. If she knew you woke up, who knows how happy she'd be?"

  I nodded, and Freya immediately ran out laughing. In less than a moment, Ciel rushed in like the wind and said to me as soon as she saw me: "Alic, you're finally awake! I knew you wouldn't die that easily. How do you feel?"

  I forced a smile and said: "Don't worry, I won't die. By the way, thank you for taking care of me during this period, it's really thanks to you."

  Xi Lu's face turned red as she said, "Nonsense, Fu Lei has paid a lot for you! The Moon God Temple's rituals have never been used to treat outsiders. In order to get the help of the Moon God Temple, she ran to the temple and begged for an entire day, exhausting her words before finally getting the permission of the Grand Priestess. She even went to ask the Elf King specially to use the Life Spring, and only after much effort did she obtain his consent. You should be grateful to her."

  I turned my gaze and looked at Furei's reddened face, saying: "Thank you, Furei, you've been too good to me."

  Frey shook her head and said: "No, actually, it's our family's curse that harmed you..."

  I interrupted Freya's words and said, "No, no, no, Freya, please don't blame yourself. My injury was an expected thing. The dragon's breath wasn't that easy to deal with. In fact, at the time I even went into battle with a determination to die, being able to come out alive is already heaven's blessing. This has nothing to do with your curse. From now on don't say such things again." Freya nodded and didn't argue anymore.

  I then asked Xilu, "By the way, Xilu, what about your brother? And also Bulang and Dakuluo, how are they doing? Did the giant dragon keep its promise? Since I didn't die under its dragon breath, it should have kept its word, right?"

  Xī lù nodded and said, "Mm, don't worry, the giant dragon has already handed over the divine artifact to my brother. My brother should now be escorting the divine artifact to Lā ěr sēn with Mán chuí and Dá kù lǔ... Ah, Yà lì kè, do you know what the divine artifact is? You definitely won't guess..."

  I curiously asked: "What is it? Something strange?"

  Xī Lù said: "It's a cylindrical object made of some unknown metal, about the thickness of a thigh, with two wheels attached to the bottom. The giant dragon said that this thing is propelled by magic power and is called 'Magic Dynamic Cannon'."

  I thought for half a day, but I couldn't imagine what it was, so I gave up. Xiluo comforted me and said: "Don't think about it anymore, anyway you can see it when you go back to Larson's house later. The most important thing now is to hurry up and recover from your injury."

  I nodded, and both Xilu and Furei walked out.

  After that, my injury recovered quickly under Freya and Xiluo's careful care. A week later, the temple's priest told me that I could remove the bandage tomorrow, but strangely, when they heard this news, Freya and Xiluo seemed very happy in front of me, yet when they turned around, I clearly saw a look of sadness on both their faces. My heart vaguely knew why, but I was willing to believe otherwise.

  At night, while Freya and Ciel were away resting, I quietly unwrapped the bandages wrapped around me. First, I removed the bandages from my hands, and when they left my arms, my heart ached. What kind of hands were these? Under the moonlight, I saw that my arms were covered in gruesome red flesh, twisted and distorted all over, not a single spot was intact. No need to think, my upper body must be like this too.

  I desperately unwrapped all the bandages, looked around and found that there were no mirrors in the room. The two girls must have been afraid that I would accidentally see my reflection and discover my appearance, so they had taken away all the mirrors. I fetched a basin of water, and under the moonlight, I saw my own face clearly. A hideous face appeared before me, with twisted flesh all over it, extremely ugly. I could hardly believe my eyes, for originally I was gentle and elegant in appearance, but now I had become an ugly person who would make anyone feel sick and afraid at a glance!

  Why?! Why did heaven make me live in this world with such an appearance?! Is this my punishment?! Why?! What have I done wrong?! I let out a desperate, voiceless scream!