"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
"Hey! Why aren't you talking? Weren't you quite capable just now?"
Yu Jin knocked on the thorny egg that trapped Childe and shouted.
Could this guy have been stunned into silence? Why isn't he saying a word?
"Damn it! What kind of hero are you? If you've got the guts, let me out and we'll have a proper fight!"
Inside the thorny egg, Childe gripped his already broken twin daggers, vigorously slashing at the thorns in front of him.
However, just like before, his swings, which were originally strong enough to split mountains and crack stones, struck the Thorns of Rejection without even leaving a scratch.
This was inevitable; as the Golden Tree's last-ditch self-preservation measure, the Thorns of Rejection would require at least the power of a god to destroy.
Even Morgott had been helpless against the Thorns of Rejection, let alone Childe.
"Heh heh, want to fight?" Yu Jin's mischievous voice came, making Childe feel a little uneasy.
"A fair and square battle, that's the spirit a warrior should have!" Childe's hoarse voice already carried a hint of fatigue, but he still perked up and responded to Yu Jin.
"I think you're just full of yourself! Always wanting to fight? Isn't fighting tiring?"
As he spoke, Yu Jin pushed aside the wall formed by the Thorns of Rejection, coming face-to-face with Childe to mock and point at him.
"Good opportunity!" Childe saw the sunlight penetrate into the cage, his eyes narrowed, and with lightning speed, he changed his slash into a thrust, aiming at Yu Jin.
"Click!"
How could Yu Jin not see through Childe's intentions? He simply let go, and the thorns he had forcibly pushed aside instantly sprang back, trapping Childe's weapon.
"Hmph!"
"Hmph ah!"
"Hmph ah ah ah!"
...Inside the "thorny egg" emanating a faint golden light, Childe once again fell into self-doubt.
He first looked at his empty hands, then looked up at his weapon stuck in the thorny wall, unable to be pulled out.
This was the first time he had fought so frustratingly—no, the other party hadn't fought at all, merely toying with him.
That armored guy outside was terrifyingly strong!
Once he understood this, the frustration in Childe's heart vanished, replaced by a long-lost excitement.
It was the kind of excitement that surged through his body and lingered after encountering an incomparably powerful enemy.
But when Yu Jin saw Childe's excited expression from outside, he immediately found it incomprehensible. Disarmed and still so excited, are all Harbingers brain-damaged?
Soon, Yu Jin stopped thinking so much. Because there was something more important to do now—to train Childe into a qualified Northland Bank debt collector!
As for why? Yu Jin simply felt that Childe had too much muscle in his brain and needed some knowledge to balance it out.
"I'll ask you again, what is the first rule of the Northland Bank Employee Handbook?"
"You are very strong…"
"Stab!"
"Hiss—"
Childe looked at his bleeding thigh again; he didn't know how many times he had been silent now.
How could these damn thorny vines be so powerful? He had even activated Foul Legacy Transformation, yet they could still break his defense?
"I don't know," Childe replied curtly after a moment of silence.
"No way? You don't even know the first rule? Aren't you from the Northland Bank to collect debts?"
"Yes, but I never read this kind of thing." Childe was being a bit humble; in fact, he didn't even know that Northland Bank had such a thing.
"I'm impressed. No wonder you always want to fight." Yu Jin grumbled, then waved his hand and said, "I'll read, you write. Don't tell me you can't even write?"
Then, under Childe's astonished gaze, the thorns that trapped him began to grow, shed their thorns, and twist..., eventually forming a set of wooden tables and chairs.
And on the table, a stack of white paper and a writing pen were neatly placed.
Silence once again enveloped Childe.
Childe, in his Foul Legacy Transformation state, trembled, wanting to say something. But he caught sight of the gleaming sharp thorns all around him and ultimately sat down obediently.
"Clatter!"
Perhaps due to his inner excitement, or simply because he hadn't used such fine control of his strength while in Foul Legacy Transformation.
As soon as Childe gripped the writing pen, he immediately snapped it in half.
"The bill's on you," Yu Jin's voice came again, followed by a downpour of writing pens, so Childe no longer lacked pens.
"Bang! Clatter! Click!"
The "deaths" of the writing pens were bizarre: some were directly crushed by Childe, some were snapped by him, and others were twisted while writing... Only then did Childe realize how weak his control over his strength was in Foul Legacy Transformation.
Perhaps this was also why his body was so exhausted every time he used Foul Legacy Transformation—unconsciously exerting strength his body couldn't bear, damage to his body was inevitable.
Childe was now somewhat understanding. He carefully controlled his strength, tremblingly writing down what Yu Jin called the "Northland Bank Employee Handbook First Rule" on the white paper.
It was then that Childe was surprised to discover that the one in his hand was the very last pen.
"Hmm…"
Before Childe could think much, he suddenly felt a dizzying sensation, accompanied by a wave of nausea.
He understood that the time for Foul Legacy Transformation was up, and now came the difficult period of backlash.
"Huh?" A familiar sharp pain came from his backside. Childe realized that another thorn had pricked him.
He instinctively wanted to dodge, but Childe after Foul Legacy Transformation was simply too weak, completely lacking his former agility.
However, the sharp pain was only momentary, followed by a warmth Childe had never felt before. It was very similar to the warmth of being curled up by the fireplace while watching the heavy snow outside the window as a child.
Under this warmth, Childe was surprised to find that all his discomforts—nausea, soreness, queasiness, and so on—had completely disappeared.
He stood up, incredulously surveying his surroundings, then he reacted and said to Yu Jin, "You are…"
"Heh heh, the preliminary preparations are finally done." Yu Jin interrupted Childe, grinned, and then asked, "Have you memorized the first rule yet?"
"Uh…"
"Northland Bank is Snezhnaya's…"
Childe looked at the thorns around him, his expression constantly changing and twisting, and finally, he conceded. He began to recite the first rule of the Northland Bank Employee Handbook intermittently.
After all, he had used up hundreds of pens; if he still couldn't memorize it, Yu Jin would probably start doubting Childe's intelligence.
"Clap, clap, clap!"
Yu Jin clapped his hands in relief. It wasn't easy; this kid finally got it.
"Alright, now I'll start teaching you the second rule of the Northland Bank Employee Handbook." Yu Jin finished speaking and then began reciting fluently.
There was no other way; back then, to prepare for Ningguang's interview, he had read everything available and unavailable in Liyue.
And Yu Jin's memory, to say he had photographic memory would be an understatement. However, he usually wasn't willing to operate at such a high capacity.
"There… there's more?" Childe's astonished voice came from within the thorny egg. How could Yu Jin be even more familiar with Northland Bank's rules than him?
"Nonsense, does your bank's employee handbook only have one rule? Are you done writing?" Yu Jin said unhappily.
"Wait… wait a minute!" In a hurry, a small opening appeared again in the thorny wall, and then a note was thrown out by Childe.
This scene, how was it like a prison visit? Yu Jin suddenly thought of this, but he quickly shook his head, picked up the note, and read it carefully.
A prison visit is a prison visit, it's not much different anyway.
"Tsk, you even made a mistake in the character! And you call yourself a Harbinger? Rewrite it!" Yu Jin shook his head and sighed. Childe's literacy level was worrying.
"You are bullying…"
Yu Jin raised an eyebrow, then flicked his wrist, and the white paper flew out like a dart.
"Gulp." Childe looked at the white paper stuck in the thorny wall beside him, touched his throat, and decisively swallowed the words "too much."
Did he just walk through the gates of death?
"Swish, swish, swish!"
After a brief moment of calm, in the desolate and empty wilderness, only the sounds of learning could be heard.
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