Indeed, one could say so, time is limited. But that is relatively speaking, as the presence of Black Fire cultists in this forest means danger looms at any moment.

On the other hand, what reassures Brand is that he knows the Black Fire cultists are still busy troubling Macaro and Bujia, while they only have to deal with a nearly undefended Lizardman lair. Although a battle is unavoidable, he knows the Lizardmen are ostensibly bandits, but in reality, are a pawn of the Shepherd Tree Man—because the strategy guide clearly states, the entire event is a trap, and some officials in Chablis Town have already been bribed by the Shepherd Tree Man, just waiting for Macaro to fall into it. Of course, the Cunning Fox lives up to his name, even in such circumstances, he managed to use his keen instincts to safely send out Duke Lune's only heir, but he himself would suffer a big misfortune.

But what does all this have to do with Brand? The strategy guide mentions that the Black Fire cultists never joined forces with the Lizardmen, because the plot concludes before that happens, meaning their only opponents are those not fully evolved reptiles. Just looking at the twenty-over Silver Elf Heavy Infantry behind him, clad in shining silver battle armor, with wing-shaped face guards, revealing only a pair of pale silver eyes, filled him with confidence. They are the Elf Guard, Phoenix Guard, the backbone of the Holy Alliance's land forces back in the day. Although the Elf Guard commander with the golden helmet clearly told him that their power is acceleratingly waning as they move away from the altar, Brand isn't worried, as the Lizardman lair is within two days' travel from the altar—less than the half-life period of these Elf Guard's strength.

Moreover, even if after the half-life period, with their power halved, the Phoenix Guard Elf Soldiers are still on par with Level 30 elites, easily crushing the Lizardmen. The only concern, the Black Fire cultists, are currently playing hide and seek with Bujia, by the time they realize it, Brand thinks he would already have obtained the Sage Stone Tablet and Medisha's Necklace and fled far away, perhaps leaving behind a field of reptile corpses for them.

Treasures, quest items, experience, none can be spared.

Especially for a hardcore player.

Brand even repeatedly considered designing a way to use the 'resources' at his disposal to deal with that possible Level 50 BOSS—the Divine Envoy. Using high-level NPCs to kill a BOSS is the most exciting thing in a game, as for the Paper Card Hired Army's squad leader Conrad, he's just a side dish for the main course.

But aside from such fantasies, Brand still has headaches to deal with.

Because most Silver Elves are silent and proud, they follow far behind the team—in fact, they are only assured that no one can bypass them to attack Brand at that distance, which is enough. Although Humans are their allies, Silver Elves consider themselves superior and are unwilling to walk with human mercenaries, which is understandable. Of course, this 'understandable' is just their own perspective, Brand's Lubis Mercenaries have long been filled with resentment, when have they ever been so disdained?

Hu Que looked back at the Elf Soldiers and couldn't help but frown; he knew how terrifying they were behind them, so he said nothing, just said: "Lord, the Unicorn Knight card is the core card of the 'Eternal Song' deck, only the sub-cards in the same deck can resonate with the core card—"

"Yes yes yes," Brand interrupted the uncle in his mind: "You've said it six times already. The main card is of silver quality, and both sub-cards must also be of silver quality, right? I can recite it. Of course, I care about that, but have you noticed that the card is getting closer to us, I think there's something strange, why don't we wait for an opportunity to act?"

Hu Que smiled, he knew it too, but it seemed his lord was always indifferent to such critical matters. The stronger the Travel Mage, the stronger their summoned creatures would be, but Brand seemed not to take this to heart. He had hinted multiple times to focus on the Travel Mage's training and card collection, but Brand always did things his own way, step by step.

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