Stranger Kin

"Assassinate the king?"

When Ye Chuan heard the young woman utter these words, he wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him.

The king?

Assassination?

"Uh, me?" Ye Chuan pointed at himself, tilting his neck slightly.

Though he considered himself quite capable, he wasn’t that capable.

Ye Chuan was only at the fourth-tier level. While stacking buffs to challenge higher tiers was manageable, leaping five or six major realms? That was a stretch.

After all, a king would surely have powerful guards protecting him.

"No, I meant something as difficult as assassinating a king." Isabella noticed Ye Chuan’s puzzled expression and quickly shifted the topic.

"You sounded pretty serious just now."

"It was just a joke." Though Isabella explained it away, Ye Chuan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

"Really?" Still, Ye Chuan found the idea of assassinating a king unrealistic—though he could theoretically try. Activate spatial jump, phase through defenses, stab the king in the kidney, then vanish.

The number one assassin in the realm.

Immune to all physical and magical attacks—just charging in to stab your kidney. Scary, right?

In theory, it worked. Time to get started (not really).

"So, what’s the actual request?" Ye Chuan asked Isabella. Her sudden backtracking left him unsure what she really wanted.

Isabella hesitated for a moment before asking,

"Mr. Xi Xi, if one day you discovered that all your loved ones had turned into something… unfamiliar, what would you do?"

"I’m not sure I follow. Like, amnesia?" Ye Chuan pondered. If his family became strangers, did that mean he’d lost his memories?

"No, not that." Isabella’s breathing grew heavier, as if recalling something terrifying.

"For example… they turned into monsters. Into beings you no longer recognized."

"Monsters?"

Isabella seemed to realize she’d said too much. Her fingers clenched the hem of her skirt, aware she shouldn’t divulge so much to a man she’d only just met.

With a deep sigh, she turned and retreated to the carriage.

Ye Chuan watched her leave, lost in thought.

The break soon ended. Torres called out, and the resting adventurers began packing their gear, boarding the carriages to resume the journey.

Bored during the ride, Ye Chuan started experimenting with his magic techniques.

Given the sheer variety of spells he knew, he began considering the possibility of combining them.

For instance, wind magic + ice magic.

[Storm] + [Ice Shard]

Could that create something like an icy tornado?

Of course, this was all theoretical—pure mental simulation. He had no idea if it would actually work.

But with his infinite mana pool, Ye Chuan had endless opportunities to test his ideas.

Lilith really gave him an incredible gift.

Just then, the moving carriage came to a halt, interrupting his thoughts.

"What’s going on?!" Torres called out, noticing the lead carriage had stopped.

"The bridge ahead is broken!"

A shout came from the adventurers up front. Frowning, Torres stepped down to investigate.

Blocking their path was a small river, its only bridge partially destroyed—only a few wooden stumps and broken planks remained.

"This is troublesome." Torres hadn’t anticipated this.

He pulled a scroll from his pack—a map.

"Hmm…" After studying it, Torres realized the only alternative was a detour that would add at least half a day to their journey.

"Miss," he called outside the carriage, seeking Isabella’s input.

"Take the detour," Isabella replied, seeing no better option.

"Detour?" Ye Chuan, still seated in the carriage, turned to Torres. "How much longer will that take?"

Torres handed him the map, tracing the alternate route with his finger. "Sir Xi Xi, the detour would take half a day, possibly longer."

"Seriously?"

Ye Chuan blinked. That meant overtime.

Absolutely not.

The other adventurers, however, voiced no objections. As silver-ranked mercenaries, they were used to escort missions running behind schedule.

"That river…" Ye Chuan’s gaze settled on the water.

"If we just cross this, we’re good, right?"

"Yes, but the bridge is out. The carriages can’t ford it." Torres scratched his head in frustration. Normally, detours were the only solution.

Dragging the carriages across was impossible, and rebuilding the bridge would take even longer.

"I’ve got an idea," Ye Chuan said.

No overtime. Not a chance.

"You do, Sir Xi Xi?" Torres looked surprised.

"I’ll try."

Ye Chuan approached the riverbank, studying the flowing water. He raised a hand.

"Flash Freeze."

A burst of icy blue light erupted from his palm. The river’s current slowed, then stilled, rapidly freezing over.

In seconds, a hundred-meter stretch had turned to solid ice.

"We can just walk across, right?" Ye Chuan turned back, noting the stunned expressions of the adventurers.

"T-this… Such powerful ice magic! Sir Xi Xi, you know ice spells too?"

"Is that a problem?" Ye Chuan found Torres’ reaction odd. He hadn’t even used a high-tier spell—just a basic Flash Freeze.

"Well, most mages specialize in one or two elements due to their magic circuits’ affinity…" Torres muttered, recalling Ye Chuan’s gravity and light (?) magic. Now ice?

A triple-element mage?

"Specialization?" Ye Chuan vaguely remembered Lilith mentioning elemental affinities.

It was similar to spiritual roots.

But his own attribute was Chaos—the so-called "all-elements" magic, completely unrestricted.

"Anyway, that’s not the point. Can we cross now?"

"Let’s test it!" Torres stepped onto the ice, finding it rock-solid. He then tied some straw to the carriage wheels for traction.

Now they could safely proceed.

To avoid any danger, Torres decided to have Isabella disembark so he could escort her across the river personally, preventing any mishap where the carriage might slip and sweep the young lady away.

"Let's move on!"