More than four years was a long time in every sense of the word, and it was no less true for Zal or for Essaoweran in the past. But on the other hand, if you want to get acquainted with a city, especially one that you want to get to know on your own, more than four years is enough time for you to visit its streets and alleys, and even every corner that few people have set foot in.

Strictly speaking, Wind Cliff City cannot be called a city, as it is a combination of three relatively independent Yuntai Heights. This peculiar landform is also extremely rare in the entire continent of Eloline, the top of the highlands is flat like the best plains, and its edges are directly turned into cliffs that cannot be seen at the bottom, looking as smooth and flat as butter cuts.

These three Yuntai heights are connected by suspension bridges cast by iron cables, and no one can come and go at will unless they have a warrant from the city lord. Even after living here for four years, Zal only knows the names of two other highlands, one is the "Hidden Terrace" and the other is the "Wind Breath Terrace", also known as the "Sky Terrace".

As for the highlands that actually housed the prisoners, that is, where Zal lived for more than four years, it was called "Conviction Yuntai". As the legend goes, the "Conviction Yuntai" has entered and exited, and there is not even a gate on the entire towering city wall.

Just like a siege in its purest form, every "sinner" who comes to the "Conviction Cloud Terrace" for refuge can only enter the city through a small elevator, and from then on, unless he jumps into the abyss, there is no chance to get out. Of course, as far as Zal is currently aware, no.

However, the legends are not all entirely credible, such as the residents living in the "convicted Yuntai", they are not all heinous villains, wanted felons on the mainland, or butchers with blood on their hands. There are also people who come here for other reasons, such as desperate homeless people or beggars, political prisoners who have lost their power struggles, desperate people who are completely frustrated with reality, and so on......

In a word. These superfluous people, who have nothing, or have been completely abandoned by the whole world, have become their last "conviction PTZ". Also the best haven.

In addition to this, there is a very unique phenomenon of the "conviction platform" - there are no children here, yes, not a single child under the age of twelve.

Because the lord of Wind Cliff City believes that no evil should be borne by innocent children. Therefore. Whether it is the children brought by the residents who came to the "Conviction Yuntai", or for various reasons, such as solving the biological needs, the babies born in the "Conviction Yuntai" will be found by the "Conviction Yuntai" as long as they are under the age of twelve, regardless of their physical condition, they will be found by the consul of the "Conviction Yuntai" and sent to the "Fengxi Yuntai" to start a new life.

This has also become one of the important reasons why Wind Cliff City can attract displaced people and refugees, although it is not clear how their children are doing in the "Wind Breath Cloud Terrace", but for these hungry and cold parents. There is already hell around them, and as long as they get out of here, anywhere will only be a better paradise.

Although it is impossible to meet the City Lord of Wind Cliff City as Zhal, he still sends the highest respect to the actions of this City Lord, not for anything else, but for these beautiful children.

He lived in the Conviction Terrace for four years, and Zal also studied with Cadius for four years. For a student, if you get rid of the half-elf's habit of drinking. And with a routine that doesn't have any concept of time at all, he's really a fully competent and excellent teacher.

He was very knowledgeable in all disciplines: botany, biology, astrology, geography, psychology, alchemy, and even anatomy...... Of course. Anatomy is forbidden in many countries on the continent of Eloline, and when the half-elves teach Zar, he makes a point to emphasize this in order to avoid causing unnecessary trouble in a strange land.

But Zal also raises his own question - why study these subjects. The answer given by the half-elf is very simple: to kill faster and better...... Zal was a little speechless about this, but he finally believed it.

So under the teaching of the half-elves. Zal frantically replenished all sorts of knowledge that he had never heard of, and he even felt that what he had learned in those four years was greater than the sum of his studies from the age of twelve to his graduation from the Knight Academy.

For example, he knew the name of each bone joint on his hands, how he could identify the name of hundreds of plants based on his appearance alone, how to treat wounds and close broken bones with the most limited materials.

For example, he learned the recipes of more than a dozen poisons, dozens of all-purpose medicines, and hundreds of special medicines; how to use the rope in his hand to make a trap to catch alive or kill him; how to judge tomorrow's weather by observing it with the naked eye alone; how to find a clean source of water in the field; how to deal with an attack that is sure to hit in battle; how to judge the opponent's mind by the details of facial expressions, and so on.

If that's not an exaggeration, there's something that almost drove Zal into complete madness. The half-elf even asked him to change his walking posture and use the muscles of his calves a lot to reduce the level of noise he made when walking. Not only that, but Zar also learned Rogcan, Elven, Orc, Eric, Hikru, and half of the Dwarven languages...... Because the elves hate dwarves, Cadius doesn't take it seriously, but Zar thinks it's an excuse for the half-elves.

In addition, Zal also carried out a lot of inhuman "instinct training", such as how to better control his muscles, how to take countermeasures in the face of attacks from different angles, how to always land his attacks on the fatal point of the enemy's body, etc......

In addition, in order to enable Zal to use his left and right hands to complete a series of different actions at the same time, and the left and right brains to imagine different things separately, the half-elf also came up with a brain exercise game called "Find the Key".

This game sounds simple, you just have to direct half of your brain to hide the imaginary key in an imaginary maze and let your other half find it. Yes, Zal remembers vividly, that's what the half-elves said at the time.

After completing "Find the Key", there is also an advanced mental training called "Iron Heart". You need to direct your left and right brains separately, constantly simulating a contradictory combination, and the more complex the better, the more clues the better. Then memorize it, and finally use the reunited brain to get rid of all emotions and prejudices and think clearly and objectively.

The half-elf once boasted. If you complete the training of "Iron Heart", you will be able to face all the grief that may come your way, and even go to the funeral of a loved one without shedding a single tear. In this regard, Zal had a feeling that he was on the verge of collapse.

That's it. After being tortured all over his body during the day, and training his brain frantically at night, even a few more severe times, Zar needed to plug his nostrils with a cotton ball to stop the nosebleeds.

For the inhuman torture they have suffered. It's not that Zal didn't protest, but the half-elves still had a very good reason - to kill faster and better. Of course, Zar would never again be surprised that Cadius was able to teach a war machine like Solam, yes, not at all.

The days that had been the same had finally changed a little in the third year, and on a sunny morning, the half-elves told Zar the good news with great emotion: You can go and kill, and it felt as ......strange as a church priest with a light over his head and telling you, "The devil forgives you for your sins!"

As a result, there is another place name in Zal's life - Left Ear Hunting Ground.

Until today. Zar still thinks the guy who conceived this wonderful place has a genius mind. A prophet once said that the rule of law at the lowest cost is morality. If this statement can be put another way, the lower cost is to punish sin with sin.

I don't know if it is to reduce the operating cost of the "Conviction Cloud Terrace", or to find something for the villains here, the appearance of the Left Ear Hunting Ground has made this evil land from the initial disorder to order, and even to a certain extent, it has restricted the growth of evil in disguise. It's strange to say, but it's true.

Unlike the regular mergers, the "jobs" offered in the Left Ear Hunting Ground are one-time short-term jobs, or one-shot deals. As long as you are a resident of the "Conviction PTZ", anyone can post a task list here. For example, guards, escorts, vendettas, bounties...... As long as it has to do with "killing and preventing being killed". Left ear hunting grounds will be undertaken.

However, it should be noted that the settlement method of the task publisher is the silver platform, and the settlement method of the task completer is "hunting points", and the more silver platform you pay. The higher the level of the quest you post, the more "Hunt Points" the quest completer will end up with. However, if the mission fails, then sorry, the "Left Ear Hunting Ground" will penalize the "Hunter", which is more serious. will be directly removed.

Of course, what if someone wants to hire someone to assassinate the city lord? I'm also sorry, but the "Left Ear Hunting Ground" is an intermediary agency, it not only charges an intermediary fee, but also evaluates the task, and if it doesn't meet the rules of Wind Cliff City, they have the right to choose to refuse to accept it.

As for the standard for measuring the completion of the task, if it is a passive mission such as guarding and escorting, after the task is completed, the publisher will provide a completion token, and the hunter only needs to hold this to receive his own honorarium. There are no specific requirements for tokens, a word, a symbol, a gesture, anything, as long as it can be matched with the backup left when placing an order, it is valid.

The other is more eye-catching, or better expresses the meaning of the name "Left Ear Hunting Ground". If it is a specific target task such as placing an order to kill or offer a reward, then the hunter must cut off the target's left ear after killing, bring it back to the "left ear hunting ground", compare identities, and finally complete the task.

Because behind the left ear of each resident of the "Conviction Yuntai", there will be a unique number that represents his identity here, and even more important than his name. No one will care if you don't have a name, or if you change it every day, but if you don't have this number, the Black Blade Guard of the "Conviction Stage" will throw you off the city wall, yes, in the real sense of the word.

So here, there is no difference between cutting off the left ear and the death penalty, in other words, unless the person is dead, no one else can ever take his left ear.

As for what the "Hunting Points" can do, the half-elf has never told Zal, of course, he can't go to the "Left Ear Hunting Ground" to ask, that would be a bit too embarrassing. In short, after knowing such a magical place, Zal has one more activity in his life - killing, no, it should be taking a task list.

Under the compulsion of the half-elves, Zal's journey to the "Left Ear Hunting Ground" was basically uninterrupted, and although there were several extremely dangerous situations, in general, it was relatively safe. And in a year and a half, he has already obtained the "Sequoia-level" hunter shield. This level is located in the third tier of the four levels: Ash, Cloudwood, Sequoia, Viper, and the Hunter level is formulated as such.

In order to further regulate Zal's life as a hunter, or to avoid turning into a murderer, the half-elf also taught him how to forge weapons in addition to his daily lessons, as well as how to play the elf's unique instrument, the Ronk lyre.

For the latter, Zar is indeed very happy, after all, it is a very elegant and beautiful instrument. However, for the former, although the half-elf said that the best way to become familiar with weapons was to learn how to make them, he believed that Cadius's intention was to find himself a free hard laborer.

By the way, I forgot to mention that Kadius's profession here is a weapon forger, a very outrageous weapon forger. From Zhar's point of view, the Half-Elf could have made a more perfect, better blade, but every time he handed over the finished product to a customer, it was full of all sorts of problems and flaws.

Zar had asked the half-elf about this doubt, and the half-elf's answer was equally simple: Do you expect me to give those thugs the perfect weapon?

That's it, training, striking iron, eating, killing, sleeping...... Zal spent four years and nine months in a regular daily routine. Overall, he had a great time with the half-elves, except when he asked the following two questions.

First, how did you get to Windy Cliffs, and second, how can I get out of here?

The first question, Zal had only asked once. All he remembered was that Cadius, who had been drunk, suddenly changed his temperament when he heard it, roared wildly, smashed everything, and finally knelt in the courtyard and cried and tore his hair for a long, long time......

The second question, Zar, has been asked countless times. Especially when you are so tired that you collapse to the ground like a dead dog. The half-elf's answer was even more straightforward, and he thoroughly satirized Zal from the inside out, from top to bottom, from ability to brain. And the modifiers used are different each time, and even refreshes the lower limit of Zal's behavior of "humiliation", but he is not angry, and even enjoys it.

For once upon a time a prophet said something else:

Anger can be used to keep warm at night, and injured self-esteem can work miracles. (To be continued.) )

PS: Actually, I want to apologize, because in the introduction, I forgot one sentence: this book doesn't even have a traditional sense of fighting monsters and leveling...... All you can see is a story, a story made up of main lines and branches.