Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 826 - 91: The Challenge of the Brave

Chapter 826: Chapter 91: The Challenge of the Brave

Even among professionals, the Light of Wisdom Slope is regarded as a path that belongs solely to the brave. Only those who possessed both courage and confidence dared to charge down the slope. Of course, the world is always full of all kinds of people. There are always some ordinary individuals who, in pursuit of thrill, recklessly gamble their lives by trying to emulate the professionals and run down the slope. As a result, most of them died. Out of a thousand who attempted, often not even one was successful.

Every professional possesses physical qualities far beyond those of a normal person. Even the physically weakest Mage among professionals has strength, speed, and reflexes that are incomparable to an ordinary person’s. Running down a slope at a sixty-degree angle, even for just a few dozen meters in height, can be a stringent test of speed, balance, coordination, and on-the-spot reaction. Not to mention a slope of over a thousand meters—if one cannot control their own velocity, once their leg movement cannot keep up with their speed, or if their reflexes are insufficient and they trip over the rubble and weeds on the ground, the ultimate result is tumbling down the slope, ending with a smashed body. Perhaps Upper Rank professionals could still manage to save themselves, but Lower Rank professionals and ordinary people had no chance of survival. Thus, while the Kingdom of Mages might call this the Light of Wisdom Slope, in the Falar Empire, this slope used to have a more fitting name—Death Slope—and the valley below was called Lost Soul Valley. Only in the past few hundred years did the official names stop being used, but the original names are often still used by the local populace.

Over four hundred years ago, when Neutral Land was first established, the Falar Empire was in a phase of intense outward expansion, frequently engaging in small-scale wars and experiencing vast internal instability with lords rebelling regularly. During the empire’s most chaotic times, a special kind of gambling became popular in the northern part of the empire. In each game, one or two ordinary people would challenge the Death Slope, betting on whether the challenger would succeed or fail, and if they failed, for how long they persisted. This type of gambling was undoubtedly cruel, similar to the most ancient gladiatorial arenas, but it was also quite captivating. Those who failed the challenge would die, yet the successful ones would be awarded a huge sum of money, allowing them to leap into the ranks of the wealthy. Consequently, countless people joined these bets, either as challengers or bettors. Everyone involved was deeply engrossed, with even Iron Rank professionals joining in. Of course, the organizers, or bookmakers, were not fools. Since the professionals had a slightly higher success rate than ordinary people, they would win less money, but it still counted as a decent income. Initially, the Falar royal family did not care about such gambling and did not interfere. But as the gambling became more frequent over the years, at its peak, nearly a hundred people per month would die in Lost Soul Valley; the ground at the bottom of the slope turned a dark brown from the dried blood.

Faced with the extremely high death rate, the Falar Empire’s royal family finally could not sit still and began to outlaw these bets. However, due to the royal family’s lack of control, many nobles continued to regularly hold these challenges, utterly disregarding the ban. As a result, for the first time, the royal family sought help from Neutral Land, requesting the Mercenary Guild and Adventurer Guild to help abolish the cruel gambling. The final outcome was that the gambling was completely banned, and Neutral Land effectively received formal recognition from the Falar Empire, while also demonstrating its own strength. From then on, no surrounding forces dared to challenge Neutral Land. As for the Falar royal family, they reaped the greatest benefit, using this opportunity to eliminate or weaken several of the most powerful families within the country, significantly strengthening the imperial influence, thereby stabilizing the empire gradually after that point.

After that, Butte and the Falar Empire worked together to build metal chain guardrails along one side of the Light of Wisdom slope. If someone who lacked strength insisted on taking this path, all they needed to do was to cling to the chains and shuffle downwards bit by bit. Taking four to five hours, there was a great chance they could safely reach the ground. Thus, although the mortality rate for ordinary people and Lower Rank professionals who took this path was still very high, it was much better than the near one hundred or ninety percent it had been previously.

The steep slope that now stretched downwards before the girls once ran red with the blood of countless challengers lured by the promise of riches. The incline was anything but smooth, with jagged rocks protruding everywhere, and weather-worn stones exposing sharp edges on the ground, like knives buried within the rock. The lower half of the slope was slightly better, not bare rock but covered with grass, yet sometimes the tangled weeds formed natural barriers creating significant trouble.

"Everyone must be very careful," Pannis said as he handed out seven pairs of gloves they had bought previously in Third Flame City to each person. The gloves were made of sturdy canvas, and within the fabric a large number of fine metal wires were interwoven using a special technique. This ensured the gloves were durable while hardly affecting finger dexterity; even clutching a blade and cutting forcefully would take a long time to cause damage. Such gloves were perfect for use in conjunction with the metal chains along the steep slope to control the speed of descent. As he distributed the gloves, Pannis continued to instruct with concern, "Catherine, you should take off your combat boots. They have metal embedded in the soles, which aren’t suitable for now. Just wear ordinary boots. Vivian and Lina, roll up your robes a bit to make sure the hem doesn’t go below your knees so as not to hinder leg movement. Freya, don’t try to slow yourself down using the ankle straps later, or you will definitely roll down; Ava, oh, you’re fine, if worse comes to worst you can hover."

"You’ve caught the bug from Big Sis," Vivian said with a suppressed laugh. She took each precaution seriously, committing them to memory, but the Mage girl couldn’t help teasing, "In less than ten minutes, you’ve given us how many safety tips now, hehehe."

In fact, despite the teasing, the girls held a strange feeling about Pannis’s nagging. They clearly remembered that just a year ago, whenever they faced dangerous situations, Pannis would also give warnings about what to do to avoid danger, but he almost never lectured with this many details like in the recent months. Instead, he used to just watch with ease after giving a reminder, speaking up only at the most perilous moments. But recently, Pannis’s nagging time had risen sharply, a change in attitude that the girls silently observed and deeply noted.

"You still remember the experience from not long ago atop the Suguwood Tree Network in the Whispering Swamp, right? Remember the key points of running up there—the feeling here is pretty much the same," Pannis said while patting Vivian’s soft hat, continuing his instructions amidst the mage girl’s protest. "Never move out of the range of the chains, ensure that you can grab onto a chain with a simple hand lift, and if you feel that you’re going too fast, immediately grasp the chain to slow down. It’s better to be a bit slow than to lose control of your speed. If you need to slow down, don’t hesitate. When descending, it’s easy to accelerate too quickly—if you hesitate even slightly, you might already be out of control. And if you really do lose control, there’s no need to panic. As long as you don’t leave the chain and grab it tightly before you fall, um, if the speed gets too fast, it will hurt your arms, but never let go. As long as you withstand the initial impact, everything afterwards will be much easier. Alright, basically, that’s it. It’s best to go down one by one to avoid any accidents. I’ll go down first to check the firmness of the chains—I wouldn’t want to discover halfway down that the chains are corroded and broken, and then not even be able to cry about it. Muir, you take up the rear. After I go down, you watch out from above and deal with any problems that arise. Oh, and once I’m down, I’ll use the strong light of the crystal energy lantern to signal you. Each flash will mean that the person before has landed safely, and the next one can start their descent."

"I’m about to lose my patience with you," Muir said with a headache. "Please, I’m begging you, let’s get going. If you keep dilly-dallying, the moon will come out. Honestly, a Legendary Rank professional isn’t likely to run into trouble here so easily."

"Um, alright, I’m off then," Pannis scratched his head, also feeling that he was being a bit annoying, and after a cough, he vanished at the edge of the cliff. The girls hurriedly gathered and peered down where, in the twilight, they could see Pannis descending the sixty-degree slope almost without pause, landing on solid ground with every step. In a matter of seconds, his figure had shrunk to a small black dot in the girls’ vision, and in a few more seconds, even that small dot became blurry.

"It reminds me of Rachel with her fear of heights." Despite facing a rather dangerous slope, the girls were not the least bit fearful. Instead, Lina teased, "She gets wobbly knees even from a few dozen meters up. If we brought her here, I bet she’d cry on the spot. I’ve decided, when we get back I’ll tell her all about our current experience—her expression is sure to be priceless."

"She’s going to hate you for it," Catherine, though no longer able to see Pannis, still watched the slope uneasily and replied casually, "Be careful, she might just find a way to get back at you."

"Ha ha, I’m not scared at all," Lina said, looking up confidently. "Besides, I’m just sharing the experience of the journey with her in good faith, heh heh."

Catherine rolled her eyes and ignored the girl with the abnormal mind. After waiting for nearly two more minutes, they saw the light from a crystal energy lantern flash below. Catherine let out a sigh and said, "He’s made it to the bottom, looks like there are no problems. While it’s still light out, Lina, you go down next. As for Vivian, I’ll carry you down later."

"Big sis, did you forget? I have the reduction potion," Vivian stopped Lina from going ahead and said, "Even if I jumped down directly, I wouldn’t die, let alone if I descend along the chains. I’ll go next."

"Then you must be really careful," Catherine thought for a moment but didn’t stop Vivian’s impulse. She tightened her backpack and patted her head, "Go on, good luck." (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it and cast your monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)