86 - 95

Chapter 86: Standoff (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele was standing several meters away from the man, and the man was lying on the ground. Both of them stopped moving and just stared at each other.

"Arrogant rat!" Angele sneered. "You said you were going to kill all my relatives? What happened? Why are you lying on the floor like a dog? Are you trying to beg for your life?"

"Kill me if you can." The man's expression did not change. He remained calm. "A punk like you will be able to hurt me? Come, come at me!"

Angele threw his crossguard sword toward the man, aiming for his chest, but the man leaned to the left, and the sword pinned his right hand to the ground. The grass around his hand became soaked in blood.

"You're provoking me." Angele narrowed his eyes. "I will skin you alive and sink your body into a cesspit filled with maggots."

"You can try," the man said in a light tone.

He was losing a lot of blood, and his face had turned pale, but Angele could see the determination in his eyes. The man was staring at Angele like a hawk. He then pulled the crossguard sword out of the ground, quickly took out a green potion from his pouch, and carefully applied the liquid on the wound. It stopped bleeding right after some liquid reached it.

Angele just stood there and watched, still paralyzed by the electric pulse after all the negative energy particles were gone.

The man was weak as well, lying quietly on the ground after patching up his wound.

Time went by, but the two did not move. One was standing, and the other still lying on the ground.

"Monkey, how do you feel? You are weak. You lost a lot of blood and don't have any mana left. I guess your head is aching too," Angele gloated.

"You're paralyzed, and your body is being corroded by the negative energy particles. It surprises me that you can still talk."

The man didn't really care about what Angele had just said.

"Well, neither of us can move now anyways," Angele said.

"Dumbass!"

The man rolled his eyes.

"Retard!"

The two were arguing like kids.

Time flew, and it was getting dark. Strange noises were coming from the forest, and there were birds twittering. Groups of shiny white mushrooms were growing under the trees, making the forest bright.

"If I wasn't paralyzed…"

Angele stared at the man.

"If I did not fall for your lie and finished casting my spell…" the man on the ground said in a deep voice.

"You..!"

Angele was a bit mad. It was the first time he had met someone that was so tenacious.

"Come and get me!" the man said in a chilling tone. "Why did you even use the negative energy particles to increase your magic resistance, you're lucky you survived the black smoke."

"You're lucky you didn't lose your mind after overdrawing your mentality to cast that last spell."

Angele didn't want to lose this war of words.

Time was still passing, but the two were not recovering. They were still very weak and did not have the strength to fight at the moment.

"I've killed more than eight rank 3 apprentices, and you are the very first one that survived my attacks," the man suddenly said.

"Well, why don't you just let me finish you off then? I really don't want to waste any more time."

Angele looked at the man.

They stopped talking again, both of them trying their best to recover.

Two hours later, the two finally calmed down a bit.

The man with silver hair hesitated for a second, then asked, "Hey, I just realized I don't even know your name. I don't want to admit it, but you're a worthy opponent, and after I've slain you, I will make sure to write down your name in my book."

"I will live longer than you, so you should tell me your name first before asking for mine."

"You punk…" The man shook his head. "My name is Benedict, and I guess you already know I main lightning spells. Where are you from? You're pretty good."

"I'm Angele, and I main Necromancy," Angele said in a light tone.

"Necromancy… and you're using Wind energy particles?" Benedict was a bit speechless. "Well… Maybe you're talented, but don't tell me you only know two spells. I didn't see you use any other spell besides those two close combat ones."

"Really… What a freak!" Benedict did not know what else to say.

"…" Angele didn't know how to respond, either.

Benedict's headache got even worse. He looked at Angele curiously.

"Hey! Angele, are you from the Ramsoda School?"

"You know Ramsoda?" Angele nodded. "I didn't expect an apprentice from Manchester to appear in the Ramsoda Empire."

"I came from the docks, and I was planning to head back to school after taking the hearts of the elephants, but I didn't know I'd encounter a freak like you." Benedict sighed and inhaled. "You know what, since we both can't move, what if the bandits or beasts come by here? They can finish us off easily, and two future Wizards will die. Two rank 3 apprentices killed by bandits in a forest. It will become the biggest news among the organizations this year."

Angele did not say anything.

After several seconds, his expression suddenly changed.

"F*ck… You jinx!" He was almost yelling.

"No way…" Benedict heard someone's footsteps approaching as well, and he had a bitter smile on his face.

"Hey, are you still paralyzed?" Benedict asked in a light tone.

"Yea. Totally paralyzed. What now?"

Angele stared at him.

"Well, my head is still aching, and I can't do sh*t right now. However, I'd rather die with honor!" Benedict's expression turned serious, and he slowly took a yellow scroll out of his pouch.

"A real spell scroll…" Angele gasped. "Since it's on a scroll, it must at least be a level 1 spell. Why didn't you use it earlier?"

"I'll die for sure If I use it," Benedict answered. "It's one of the most mentality-hungry level 1 spells, and right now I don't have enough mentality to open the scroll and cast it. I can only release it, and we will all become its targets."

Angele was speechless.

"Wait, you could probably survive with your magic resistance. If you survived it, can you do me a favor?" Benedict asked.

"Say it."

"Tell Princess Lydia of Santiago not to wait for me to come back."

"I will do it if I survive." Angele was not mad anymore. He felt pity instead that a strong apprentice will end his life like this. "But if I die too, we will become a joke for other apprentices."

"Sadly, I really want to come back to my hometown and watch the stars." Benedict looked a bit sad and lonely while putting his hands on the scroll.

"Wait, wait. It seems like your dream will come true," Angele hurried to say, stopping him from releasing the spell. "We're lucky, they aren't bandits. They were just passing by and didn't notice us."

After several minutes, they could no longer hear the footsteps anymore.

"Alright… It's awkward," Benedict said. "You know what, we should probably let this go and stop fighting."

"Retarded lightning monkey, you think I will fall for this?" Angele sneered. "If I knew more spells, you would be dead in seconds. You even thought I was really from Manchester. How naive are you?"

Benedict started to blush. "You damn dumbass, you're a rank 3 apprentice and you only know two spells, are you kidding me?" He got nervous and did not find anything else to say.

"Are you praising me?" Angele smiled. "Or do you admit that you're retarded? I know only two spells and I almost killed you."

"You..!" Benedict was mad but it was true that he had almost lost to an apprentice that only knew two spells. He had also canceled an important spell because he'd believed Angele's words.

They argued for several hours, and it was already midnight.

The two suddenly stopped talking at the same time.

Benedict spoke up again. "Actually… I like you."

"Well, you're not that retarded I guess."

Angele smiled.

They both realized something and stared at each other while laughing.

"You don't need to do so much for the people from Vader City. We'll both become Wizards in the future, but now we're fighting for some worthless materials, is it even worth the effort?" Angele asked, laughing.

"I can say the same to you. We're strangers, and there is no point for us to kill each other. I don't even know why I wanted to kill you when I first saw you back there." Benedict laughed. "Nice to meet you, Angele." He smiled. "You're strong enough to be my friend."

"I will never waste my time with weaklings."

Angele also smiled.

He suddenly charged toward Benedict, picking up his crossguard sword, and slashed at his opponent.

Chapter 87: Standoff (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

*DANG*

Benedict blocked Angele's slash with the black enchanted item he had and leaped backward.

Standing several meters away from each other, they stopped fighting.

"Monkeys are fast," Angele said in a light tone.

"Musclehead…" Benedict wiped the dust off his robe. "Since we both recovered, there is no point to stay here anymore."

"True." Angele nodded.

**********************

It took them awhile to travel back to the logging site.

Angele and Benedict came up with the conclusion that there was no point for them to die for the people that were not even directly related to the Wizard organizations and got to know each other on their way back.

Benedict was from Manchester School and focused on learning Lightning Spells. He was also very good at the fundamentals of spells; his original plan was to travel back to Manchester and prepare to become a Wizard. Although Angele was a bit behind in his studies of the fundamentals and learned a lot from what Benedict told him, he knew a lot of things Benedict had never heard of. Thus, they both acquired some helpful information from each other.

They returned to the logging site to see that the body of the first Glowing Elephant was already gone. Its blood was everywhere: the grass and tree stumps were all soaked in it. Large groups of flies were attracted to the place by the stinky smell here.

Angele crouched beside a large area stained by blood and touched it with his right palm, asking Zero to analyze the sample. "I think they left right after we started to fight. Campbell didn't start a real battle with Harland, and they both took some of the elephant's body."

"I think the other elephant is still around. Why don't we kill it together? What do you think?" Benedict asked, walking out of the bushes.

"You know where to find it?" Angele asked, turning back.

"Of course." Benedict nodded. "Also, can you give me the model of your improved Hand of Exhaustion? It's a viable close combat spell after your improved it, and I'm really interested."

Angele nodded. "Sure, I can give it to you, but I want two of your basic knowledge models. What do you say?"

"Very fair," Benedict responded.

He took out a small crystal orb from his pouch—it was about the size of a walnut. The orb was very clear, and its surface was very smooth.

Angele knew it was a Memory Orbuculum, a rare magical item that was used to store knowledge and spell models. Usually, it could only be obtained by Wizards, so he was a bit surprised to see Benedict owning one.

"Which two models do you want?" Benedict asked.

"Do you have the Basic Enchantment Knowledge Model in there?"

Angele had seen Benedict apply a buff to Campbell's sword with the energy particles, which helped Campbell to perform a sneak attack. During the conversation they had earlier, Angele had learned that Benedict knew a lot about item enchantment, and his Master was also a legendary item enchanter.

"Yea, I do, what else do you want?"

"Ranged spells. What do you have?"

Benedict patted the orbuculum lightly, and four rays of white light came out of it. Each ray of light demonstrated the basic property of a spell model.

There was a blue electrical ball, a lightning laser, a blue electrical bird, and a blinking lightning rune shown in the light.

Those models looked like holograms, and they were floating around Angele.

���Those are the ranged spells I know, pick one." Benedict shrugged.

Angele nodded and looked at the spell models. He made the decision quickly and put his right hand on the lightning rune. It disappeared right after it contacted Angele's hand.

"Lightning Rune, it's a great buff spell for ranged weapons and is also a powerful ranged spell. Good choice." Benedict smiled.

"I know what's best for me." Angele laughed.

"Good, let's trade then." Benedict threw the orbuculum into the air, and it started to float around them. There were many things appearing and disappearing inside the orbuculum; it looked like a slideshow.

Angele had read about the process in one of the books in the library, so he put his right hand's first finger on the surface of the orbuculum and closed his eyes. Benedict did the same thing right after.

'Mentality Tunnel created… Target, Benedict,' Zero reported.

'Transferring information through the tunnel. Improved Hand of Exhaustion model, transferred. Collecting: Lightning Rune model, Basic Enchantment Knowledge model. Done.' Zero was monitoring the information transfer process.

About ten seconds later, they both put down their fingers.

"How convenient." Angele sighed with pleasure.

"Of course. I killed three rank 3 apprentices for this." Benedict opened his eyes.

"Let's exchange our sigils so we can communicate through letters after we get the magic pets."

"Sure."

Angele drew a black rune in the air with energy particles. It solidified within seconds, was about the size of an egg, and was translucent. The black rune looked like a twisted snake with its mouth open while leaning forward to initiate a strike.

This was Angele's sigil he had created based on an Ancient Baren Word.

Benedict drew his sigil in the air too. It was a special round magic circle with blue electric pulses sparking around it.

They pushed the sigils, and the two sank into each other's bodies after a short travel through the air.

"Let's finish off the other Glowing Elephant. We need to hurry because I don't have much time left. I need to head back to the school," Benedict said.

"Sure."

"Make sure you write to me after you become a Wizard."

"I will."

*******************

Two hours later…

Angele was holding a glowing heart in his hands. Its edge was red, but the center of it was green.

Benedict said goodbye and disappeared into the forest.

Benedict had said that Angele needed the heart more than he did, so he only took the elephant's tusks and left the heart.

Angele had never thought he would become friends with his enemy. Benedict was strong and knowledgeable about spells. Angele really wanted to ask him a lot of things about enchanting, but he had to leave after taking the elephant out. So Angele decided to communicate with Benedict later, certain that he would be able to provide him some support later as a wizard.

Benedict had also told Angele that he would be able to become a Wizard sooner or later, but he himself would try to break the limit after he went back to the school. If he succeeded, he would become a Wizard right away.

Angele shook his head and stopped thinking, staring at the heart in his hands. The glowing heart was still beating, and it looked like there was a green flame inside. He could feel the heat just by holding it in his hands. Strangely, there was no blood on the surface of the heart; it was very dry.

Angele made a small bag from the skin of the elephant and put the heart inside it. He started to walk toward the Lennon City since he needed someone to carry the body of the elephant back.

It was early in the morning, and Angele heard people yelling his name after traveling some distance through the forest. They probably were people from Lennon City. He quickly headed toward the source of the voices.

It took him several minutes to go across the bushes and reach several soldiers walking around with extinguished torches in their hands.

"It's Master Angele! We found him!" a soldier yelled in excitement.

"Where is Mr. Harland and Mr. Tinos?" Angele asked in a deep voice.

"They're still looking for you," the soldier answered politely.

"What?" Angele was surprised. He thought they would have returned to the city already. "They're still here?"

"Yes, they've been looking for you since last night," another soldier said.

"Really?" Angele blinked his eyes. "Take me to them."

Ten minutes later.

The soldiers brought Angele to Harland and Tinos. Tinos's arm was hurt, and he looked tired. There was a bandage on Harland's right shoulder, and Angele could still see a hint of blood on it.

"Finally!" Harland walked over and hugged Angele. "I got you the heart of the elephant."

"For real? Thank you a lot! I thought the people from Vader City got it."

Angele smiled.

"I knew you needed it so we insisted on taking the heart. You need to buy me a drink after."

Harland laughed.

"No problem."

Angele turned back and hugged Tinos.

"Where is the other apprentice?" Tinos asked.

"He was not with the people from Vader City, just doing them a favor. I'm not his enemy, so we ended up finishing off the other elephant. Its body is extremely heavy, so I'll need some help to carry it back."

"The other one is dead too?" Harland was a bit surprised. "That's great news. I'll send some people there."

Harland handed over the heart he got to Angele, and Angele was satisfied with what he received. However, he had wasted too much time fighting Benedict and was exhausted. He told Harland about the location of the other Glowing Elephant, then went back to his shop with the hearts.

He needed some good rest before he could make at least one low-level enchanted item with the two hearts. The procedure was relatively easy, and he could try again if his first attempt failed.

Chapter 88: The Auction (1)

Translator:_Leo_

Editor:DarkGem, VirtualFrappe

Angele closed the door carefully, took off his clothes, and lied in bed. There was still blood and sweat on his body, but he could not resist the comfy bed.

'Zero, check my body condition,' he thought.

'Checking… Various burns caused by electricity and lightning damage. Negative energy particles have damaged your nerve system, and your ability to use spells is impaired. Your organs are failing, please take action as soon as possible, otherwise you will get some serious sequela.'

It was not as bad as Angele had thought. He had known that his body won't be able to handle all the negative necromantic energy particles that he used to increase his magic resistance for a short duration. The organ damages were caused by those electric arcs he had taken during the fight. In other words, everything was just as he had expected.

Angele struggled for a while and got out of the bed. He was drowsy, but he had to take care of his injuries first. Walking to the herb box, he grabbed some purple beans from it. He then put them into the stone-made grinding bowl on the table and started to grind the beans into powder.

It took him about a minute to make the beans into rough purple powder.

Angele opened the drawer, and there were many small test tubes lined up on a wooden rack. Most of the tubes were filled with green, blue, and red liquid or powder.

He grabbed a tube that had blue powder in it and closed the drawer. He then removed its stopper and poured all the powder into the grinding bowl. After putting down the empty test tube, he started to grind again.

After several seconds, white smoke started to come out of the grinding bowl, and Angele could smell the acrid fumes in the air.

*CHI*

Angele poured some water into the bowl, and the smoke quickly disappeared. He then spooned some thickened liquid from the bowl and put it into his mouth.

The liquid was bitter and spicy, and it wasn't pleasant tasting at all.

'Positive Particle Neutralizer consumed. Time until the negative energy particles are neutralized: 17 hours,' Zero reported. Angele put down the spoon, satisfied with the result.

The Positive Particle Neutralizer was usually used to heal injuries caused by necromancy spells, and it could be easily made. Neutralizers were mostly used on normal people, thus, Angele had never thought he'd need one of them.

He didn't need to worry about the negative energy damage for now, so he looked at the elephant hearts on the table. They were the most valuable items he had obtained during the mission.

"I need to have a good rest first."

Angele shook his head, deciding not to start the procedure of making them into enchanted items yet. He threw the used bowls into the sink and walked into the backyard. There, he fetched a basket of water from the well and poured it over his head.

The chilling water from the well made him feel refreshed, and his underwear was soaked. He put down the water bucket and pointed in the air.

A light red rune appeared on the tip of his finger, then disappeared within a second.

"Ossell," Angele muttered.

Tiny red particles began glowing on his skin, and there was steam coming from his underwear. After about ten seconds, his underwear was dried and clean.

'That's one advantage of being a rank 3 apprentice. Using energy particles really helps my daily life.' Angele could use Wind energy particles to increase his moving speed, Fire energy particles to dry the clothes up, and Life Energy Particles to make plants grow faster.

He sat down on the ground and started to meditate. After ten minutes, there were green light dots floating around him. The backyard seethed and teemed with life energy.

He opened his eyes and pointed at the burn marks on his body. Groups of green light dots gathered and covered them up.

Those Life energy particles could help Angele recover faster and heal his wounds better. He was not sure if using them on himself too often would cause any side-effects, but the only thing he noticed was the itchiness coming from the wounds. He returned back to his room after patching himself up.

After entering the room, Angele suddenly had a strange feeling that something was approaching him, and it was something dangerous. He scrunched his eyebrows and every object in the room became marked with blue lines by Zero.

'Boosting your five senses… Searching for unknown signals…'

'Strange signal detected, marking it now…'

A tiny red dot dropped on the corner of the room, the distance to the signal and various other information listed by it. Angele had thought it was an object, but it was a man that was crouching on the other side of the wall.

Angele stayed calm, reading all the information about the man. The stranger was obviously stalking him, and his mission was probably to collect as much information as possible.

The stalker was using the same skill he had obtained from the thugs he'd encountered when he first came to the city, and it was the skill he had been practicing.

'Snake of the Sand Forest?' Angele guessed.

He had wondered why those people had never come to him to avenge their killed members.

Angele had taken the scroll with their secret stealth skill recorded on it from the assassin, killed those thugs in a brutal way, and had expected the organization to take revenge on him. They probably knew that Angele was weak at this moment and so decided to take action.

Angele was severely wounded and was still recovering. Those thugs probably thought it was the best chance for them to try to attack him.

However, they probably hadn't expected Angele to learn the secret stealth skill so fast that he could already detect their assassin's presence.

Angele pointed his finger at the wall, and some black smoke came out of his fingertip. The smoke went through the gap of the window and hit the assassin. Angele heard the assassin groaning while trying to escape, and the man quickly left the place.

What Angele had released was a small amount of necromantic energy; it would not do any damage to the knight-level assassins, but he was just trying to let them know that he could easily detect their presences.

Angele's expression changed. He wanted to go after the man, but he was not sure if they had something else waiting for him, and he wasn't fully prepared to fight yet. Also, he was actually happy that the organization had finally approached him—he still wanted to know if they really had the Dragon Scale Flower. Although the assassin escaped this time, Angele had special ways to trace the negative energy he had released.

But still, Angele decided to be more cautious about things.

*******************

Twelve days later.

"Ha!"

Tia yelled and swung her crossguard sword toward Angele.

*Clang*

Angele easily blocked the slash with a black saber, barely moving his body.

They were practicing sword skills in the backyard together, and Tia kept attacking while Angele kept blocking. However, Angele was predicting all of Tia's moves without breaking a sweat. Still, he was happy that Tia had improved a lot after he taught her his sword skills.

"Very good, you're improving a lot," Angele praised Tia, smiling. "Take a rest, and let's have breakfast."

"Yes, Master!"

Tia was still panting. She put down her sword and bowed to Angele. It had been awhile since Angele had taken her in as his student.

She was a hard-working girl and learned things fast. She practiced every day after being taught his sword skills and was passionate about learning.

Angele wanted to know if Tia really trusted him and decided to test her by teaching her wrong ways of using certain skills. Although she looked confused for a second, she started to practice those skills without asking any questions, and Angele stopped her right away.

He trusted her a lot now. Tia was the perfect student for him, and he asked her to leave the pie house. He decided to pay her for bills and ask her to focus on practicing sword skills.

Watching Tia practicing his sword skill set reminded Angele of the days back at the Rudin Empire.

He had developed his own set of sword skills with the help of the chip, and that was the reason why he had become strong quickly. Besides the attributes, Tia was very close to the old Angele.

He slowly walked to the dining room, and Tia entered the room before him. She carefully laid down the sword and put the vegetable pancakes Angele had ordered into the plates. She also poured a glass of milk for Angele before stopping to stand by the table.

Angele liked the girl a lot. She was very thoughtful, and she always had a serious expression on her face.

After breakfast, Tia did the dishes and left. Angele decided to meditate in his room for a while.

He had already fully recovered from the injuries and now wanted to convert those hearts he had gotten from the mission to enchanted items.

'Zero, how's the progress of analyzing the Lightning Rune? Also, report the progress on all other missions.'

'Lightning Rune: 54% complete.

Enchantment Procedure Simulation: 31% complete.

Potion of Tranquility: 11% complete.'

Angele scrunched his eyebrows. 'How long do you need for the completion of the formula for Potion of Tranquility?"

'15 days.' Zero's answer was a bit disappointing.

Potion of Tranquility had similar effects to Awakening Potion—they could both help Angele increase his Mentality. The problem was that he had run out of the materials for crafting more Awakening Potions, and his body was already resisting its effect, so he decided to find the formula for Potion of Tranquility.

High Mentality would help Angele break the limit. He also needed to find the Water of Asu and the defense spell model, but he didn't have any leads on those at the moment. Benedict had only offensive ranged spells, and his defense came from his enchanted items and the special magic circle.

Angele walked toward a bookshelf by the wall and took a book from it. There was a piece of yellowed paper in the middle of it, and the words on it were all written in a special language, which normal people would never be able to read.

It was the formula for Potion of Tranquility, but it was encrypted with the Nier Code. Angele had burnt the original version and made a new one with the encryption.

He read the formula again. It was scanned and stored in the chip, but the way it was written caught his attention, and he wanted to look at it with his eyes.

Chapter 89: The Auction (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

He had had the same feeling while reading the formula of Awakening Potion. The formula itself had no secret, but it was the arrangement of runes and words that made Angele feel like those formulas were from the ancient times.

The strange feeling only occurred when Angele was reading the formula with his eyes, and he did not feel anything while checking it in the chip's storage.

He stared at the formula for a while, but could not come to any conclusion. Putting the formula back, he pushed the book into the shelf. He applied some negative energy particles onto the book, so only Wizards would be able to open it without getting hurt.

'This place is not safe enough, I probably need to find a new place to live. I can still use the shop to sell the potions I crafted and make some good money off it.'

The shop was quiet and nice, but Angele thought security was a major issue. Also, he had a lot more equipment and materials that needed a larger storage space.

The brown bookshelf had two levels. The first level had all the books in it, and two boxes were sitting on the second level. The smaller one had the red pearls Angele had obtained through the school missions. He took the other, the large black one, off the shelf with many strange lines and runes drawn on its surface.

Angele opened the box carefully. There were two beating hearts inside it, and the strange-looking hearts were glowing due to all the green flames raising out of them.

"Hearts of Glowing Elephants… I can make them into enchanted items, but I feel like it's a waste. I don't think I'll find anything like them again," Angele mumbled. "If I have all the necessary information, I should be able to use them for the cores of my servants."

Angele shook his head and grabbed the two hearts.

'Zero, do you have a better plan than making them into enchanted items?' he inquired.

'Analyzing…

Enchantment Plan A: Low-level enchanted items.

Enchantment Plan B: One-time enchanted items.'

'One-time enchanted items… I never thought of that. Are they powerful?' Angele asked.

'They will be 12.7 times more powerful than low-level enchanted items.'

Angele narrowed his eyes. 'I will make one low-level enchanted item first. If I can succeed in the first try, I will be able to…'

'Mission created, time required: 7.12 days. Energy consumed: 11.4 degrees. Mentality consumed: 9.'

*****************

Ten days later…

Night.

Carriages filled up the parking lot in front of the Mincola Auction Market of Lennon City, and many nobles were entering the auction market.

Two heavily armored swordsmen were guarding the entrance of the market. The other guards beside were well-trained and were bowing to the customers who entered through the gate.

A white carriage slowly stopped by the side of the street but did not enter the parking lot. A man with a pretty face opened the door and jumped off the carriage. He was wearing a black suit with a decorative silver chain on the right side of his chest; he looked gentle and quiet.

Another man with short brown hair got off the carriage as well. He was wearing a white tight suit, and it almost looked like he was showing off his strong muscles. The man was glancing around the crowd, and the others were all trying to avoid eye contact with him. They felt uncomfortable just by looking at the man. Their instincts told them that he was dangerous.

"Tinos, I'm in the middle of an important experiment, and the urgent matter you said was the auction?"

Angele was a bit disappointed. He stopped looking around and stared at Tinos.

"You know we missed the last auction due to my injury, but we won't miss this time." Tinos smiled. "Angele, my brother already took care of the spies from Snake of Sand Forest in the city, and their family properties are being auctioned here. Those people were rich, and they had a lot of collectibles. I think there might be something valuable to you so I asked you to come. Today is the only day that you can place bids, so it is actually urgent."

He looked at Angele and winked.

Angele shuddered and backed off a bit immediately.

"Well, I hope so. Did you find any decent house for me?"

Angele walked toward the gate of the auction market.

"I thought you forgot about it already. I found a nice manor several days ago. It is remote, and I heard there are ghosts living in it. Buyers backed off after hearing the rumors, so the price is great. I think that one fits your requirements," Tinos answered.

"I'll take it then," Angele said. "Ghosts may be scary to the normal citizens, but they are no problem for me."

"True." Tinos nodded.

He caught up and entered through the gate with Angele. Several nobles ahead of them turned around and greeted them. Most of the nobles in the city knew Tinos, and they had seen Angele talking to Harland many times, so he became famous too.

Tinos scorned. "When the Glowing Elephants were threating the citizens' lives, only the Knights in the army decided to help, while those nobles did not even provide any resources for the mission. The only thing they know is to purchase expensive decorations to make their houses look better. Without me and my brother, I can't even imagine what this city would become.

"There are three major power holders in Lennon: me, my brother, and our father. Besides us, there is a dwarf Knight, who's the leader of the infantry. When the citizens were attacked by the Glowing Elephants, he did not send even a single soldier because he wanted to make sure none of his people died. I doubt they could have dealt with the Glowing Elephants if we weren't here."

After the mission, Tinos became much closer to Angele and started to talk about all kinds of events with him.

"Really?"

Angele had wondered why they had only sent a small team to deal with such dangerous beasts, and it seemed the soldiers with them thought it was an easy mission. They probably trusted the Grand Knight Harland too much, or Harland just took whoever volunteered to come with him. It seemed he was not in control of the whole army.

They walked down the hallway. The floor was covered by a red carpet, and there were oil lamps hanging on both sides of the wall. Solid fat was burning inside them, and there were more than enough lamps to make the place bright.

Angele could smell the incense in the air.

They reached a large hall after walking down the hallway.

There were many chandeliers hanging on the roof, and there were rows of red chairs in the hall. Many customers were already sitting, so the place was a bit noisy.

There was a large sign standing beside the auction block, which said 'Mincola Auction' in Anmag. The words were very well written. It was almost like they had asked someone to write the words in a special way.

"Come, let's go to my private room."

Tinos led Angele to the left, where they entered a door and saw a staircase. They went up two floors and reached a door by the end of the corridor. A maid in red was standing there. She bowed after seeing Angele and Tinos coming.

"Only I have access to this room," Tinos explained, smiling.

After entering the room, Angele found himself at the top left corner of the auction hall. There was a large glass wall in front of him through which he could easily survey the whole hall.

There were a large sofa and several red leather chairs in the room. A large piece of white high-quality carpet was on the floor, and an incense stand was on a rectangular table. There were three incense sticks burning on the stand, and the smoke coming from the tip of the sticks made the room smell good.

"Do you like it? You can see everything in the hall from here." Tinos sat on the sofa and laughed.

The maid brought them water and some high-quality fruit wine. She bowed and left the room quickly after depositing everything on the table. Angele poured himself some wine and shook the glass lightly. The fruit wine was green, and he could smell the fragrance of fruits. It was fall, so it seemed the maid had heated the wine a bit. Angele thought it was great to have something like this on a cold day.

"There is another reason I asked you to come here." Tinos had a mysterious smile on his face. He stretched his legs and lied on the sofa, Angele just could not stop considering him as a 'lady'.

He had that strange uncomfortable feeling again and decided to stop staring at Tinos.

"What do you mean?"

"Two families will be fighting for their names here. They are almost done, and it is a story full of love and hate. The two families are enemies of each other, but their son and daughter fell in love." Tinos chuckled.

"A young leader of the family decided to sacrifice the family's fame for the girl he loved, but he failed, and his name was removed from the genealogy. However, the young man took the most important item in the family and sent it to this auction, so this put a price on his head. At the same time, this item is what the girl from the other family needs. I think she will be here tonight and try to save her love from the danger. She will try to convince the young man to cancel the auction of the item, but the young man's family has already set up traps everywhere around here. How touching..." Tinos wiped off the non-existent tears from his face and faked a sad impression.

"Yea, yea. Touching love story. How beautiful."

Angele was speechless. He stood up and walked toward the glass to check the situation down below. He sipped some wine. It was smooth as silk, and he could barely feel the liquid going down his throat, but there was still a distinctly sweet flavor of the fruits in his mouth.

Angele closed his eyes, enjoying the apple-like flavor.

"I don't care about things like this. The only thing I care is if I can find something useful to me."

"You will, don't worry." Tinos yawned.

Chapter 90: The Auction (3)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele stopped talking and stood quietly in front of the glass, sipping the fruit wine slowly.

The room's temperature was higher than outside, and Angele decided to loosen his collar. His strong chest was exposed to the air while he looked attentively at the auction hall.

The hall got noisier as more people entered through the door. After about ten minutes, all the red chairs in the hall were filled up and the door was closed. Two guards in black heavy armor suits with axes in their hands stood on both sides of the door.

An old man wearing glasses walked toward the auction block. His hair was all white, even the on his beard. The man had a serious look on his face, and there was a gavel in his hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Mincola Auction Market. I am Pierre from the Nalin Street, and I will be your auctioneer today. I think you all already know where today's items came from, so I will stop it here. All right, everyone, the auction starts now!" The old man wasted no time and hit the sound block with the gavel.

The auction hall quieted down after several seconds, most of the people staring at the auction block. Some people were still whispering, but they were not disturbing the auctioneer.

"First item to start the auction is the Silver Sand from Merfolk. It's beautiful and very valuable," the old man shouted out.

Two strong half-naked men carried in a black metal box with two swordsmen escorting them. The latter were wearing leather armor pieces and kept glancing around.

The black box was put down by the block, and one of the men opened it quickly. The box was filled up with silver sand. The sand was very smooth and shined under the light.

"Silver Sand is one of the Merfolk's major exports. It's very rare, and it will make your skin smoother if you apply some on your body during showers. It is also great for general skin care."

Before the old man could finish his words, the ladies and girls were already getting excited.

"2000 gold coins!" a middle-aged noble lady shouted out, swinging the number sign in her hand.

"2200!" A young girl raised her sign.

"2300!" someone else shouted.

The number kept increasing during the next several minutes, and many people were still bidding.

Finally, several bidders gave up because the number was getting a bit ridiculous, but there were still people bidding.

"5000 gold coins!" a young noble man stood up and yelled out.

"6000," someone in the first private room on the second floor said.

"7000." The young man looked at the private room and increased the bid again.

"8000 gold coins." The man in the private room did not stop.

The hall became quiet after hearing the number, but the young man was still standing. He wiped off the number on the sign and wrote down something else.

"10 000!" he yelled and raised the sign. "I will pay 10 000 gold coins."

Most of the nobles shook their heads and lowered down the signs. A full box of Silver Sand cost about 6000 gold coins in regular luxury markets. It was hard to find, but they would not pay 10 000 for the sand in an auction market.

**********************

Inside the first private room.

Tinos grunted. "Seriously? 10 000 gold coins for a box of Silver Sand? Whatever. Silver Sand will be shipped to the auction market every month. Why can't this guy just let it go?"

It seemed like Tinos did not care for the sand but just wanted to win the bid.

Angele shook his head. Actually, he felt relaxed when Tinos was around. The pretty man was a bit selfish and stubborn, but he was very simple. He did not like to be treated as a high-class noble, but people would not do such thing just because Tinos asked. Most of the nobles feared him due to his position.

Beside Angele and his relatives, no one would treat him like an ordinary friend.

Tinos considered Angele as his real friend after the encounter with the Glowing Elephants. He liked Angele a lot because he did not care about his position, and Tinos thought that Angele was the only good friend he had.

"Dumb*ss!" Tinos gave the young man a hard look.

*********************

The hammer came down. No one else bid so the hammer price was 10 000 gold, and the box of Silver Sand now belonged to the young man.

"Wait!" the young man suddenly yelled. "I would like to let everyone know that I will gift this box of Silver Sand to the one and only, Mr. Tinos! I admire him!"

The young man bowed in the direction of the first private room. "Mr. Tinos, please accept the heartfelt wishes from a humble admirer!"

People in the hall started laughing and clapping their hands.

"Rogen, you are so generous." Some of the people knew the young man.

The noble girls and ladies around were staring at him enviously.

*********************

In the first private room.

Angele could not help laughing. He turned back and looked at Tinos.

"Someone's trying to please you. I'd be happy if someone just gave me 10 000 gold coins, whatever his reason may be."

Tinos had an elated look on his face.

"Humph, at least he is tactful." Although Tinos did not say anything about the young man, he looked happy, and his vanity was gratified by the young man's gift.

This was just an interesting episode to Angele. Rogen from the Michelle Family paid 10 000 gold just to please Tinos, and everyone in the city would learn about the story within one day.

The next item was an antique black goose-neck vase. The auctioneer said that the vase was more than a thousand years old and was from the Vlasov's era.

Angele was not interested in antiques at all, and Tinos did not place any bid, either. The hammer price for the vase was 2000 gold coins.

Half an hour passed. The next four items were all antiques, nothing catching Angele's attention.

"Next one is a treasure from the owner of the previous antiques. It's a leather book from the Vlasov's era, and it is more than a thousand years old!" the auctioneer introduced the item in a loud voice.

A young girl in a white one-piece walked to the stage with a silver plate. There was a dictionary-sized book lying on the plate. Its cover was brown, and the book was sealed with a leather band.

"The book is more than a thousand years old, and it represents the knowledge of the mysterious Vlasov people. Collectors of books will not want to miss an item like this!" the auctioneer shouted.

Angele stood in front of the glass and looked at the thick book, still sipping the fruit wine. He remembered seeing the Green Ear Masa for the first time when he was on the way to Marua Harbor. His father had told him about the Vlasov people. It all felt like it had just happened yesterday.

Angele recalled the sad look his father had in the ruins of Masa.

"Angele, do you know this language? I mean the Vlasov," Tinos asked, curious.

"A little bit." Angele stopped thinking and nodded.

"What's in that book then? Can you understand the words on the cover?" Tinos questioned.

"On the cover, it says 'My dearest Paul, God bless you'. It looks like a book that lists codes for certain rituals, or it may be a memoir," Angele responded.

"It's crap then." Tinos shrugged.

The bid already increased to 20 000 gold coins, and people in the other three private rooms also placed their bids. There were only four private rooms in the hall. Besides Angele and Tinos, everyone else joined the bid. The hall was noisy, and the nobles all had the excited looks on their faces.

*Thwack*

The hammer came down.

"34 000 gold coins. Congratulations to Mr. Cains. The book is yours," the auctioneer shouted.

After the book, a heavy-looking white box was slowly carried to the block by four people.

"The next item is the most wanted item in this auction." The auctioneer corrected his glasses and grabbed an information sheet from the table.

"The incredible jewelry that represents liberty and dream, the most beautiful and rarest, Stone of Lisa!"

The box was quickly opened after the auctioneer finished his words. There was another smaller box inside the large box, and a girl opened the smaller box with a key, but there was another box inside.

Another girl opened the box with a different key, and a black rhombus box was sitting inside. There were many complex patterns engraved on the center of the box, and the combination of the patterns looked like a silver-blue rose.

The last girl opened the black box with a weird-looking key and opened it slowly. Rays of bright light shot out of the box when the girl lifting the lid.

People in the hall gasped after the box was completely opened.

"Impossible…"

"This is the most wonderful gem I've ever seen in my whole life…"

"Stone of Lisa… It's true that this is the most beautiful gem in the world…"

The noble ladies were in shock, forgetting to close their mouths. People stood up, and everyone praised the gem.

An egg-sized oval gem was lying on the black silk quietly, and the light it reflected was like a rainbow.

Angele stared at the gem, but he did not feel the excitement the others were experiencing. He had seen better gems on Earth, and they even looked better than this one, so he did not lose himself.

However, Tinos was fascinated by the gem.

"Stone of Lisa, the purest gem in the world. You can display it at your castle for sure, but what else can it do?" Angele shrugged.

Chapter 91: The Auction (4)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

"I will feel happy just by looking at it, and it will bring fame to my whole family. I'm sure If I can win the auction, my life will be more complete!"

Tinos was so excited that he almost jumped out of the sofa.

Angele shook his head, speechless.

*BAM*

Someone pushed the door open from outside while everyone was still staring at the gem.

People finally stopped looking and turned back to see what was going on. They also started chatting again. A young girl in a black one-piece appeared by the door, slowly walking toward the auction block. She looked calm, and it seemed the two guards knew who she was. They hesitated to stop the girl from advancing.

"Ness! Do you know what you are doing!" a deep voice came from the third private room.

"Ness? The daughter of…"

"It's her…"

The nobles started to talk about the girl. It seemed like most of them knew her.

Tinos stood up and walked toward Angele. He looked down the glass.

"That's Ness Zweig, the girl I told you about. Finally, it begins."

Tinos had a delighted smile on his face.

"I really don't care… It's just an average sad love story."

Angele poured himself another glass of fruit wine.

"Come on, it's not just that. I wouldn't bring you here if it was just a dumb story." Tinos smiled, "Ness' lover is named Anyua, and the treasure he took from his family was really important. The item was almost the cornerstone of his family."

"Huh? Really? I thought it was the gem."

Angele was a bit surprised.

"You know about the concept gears, right?" Tinos swirled his glass and sipped some milk. Some white liquid stuck to the corner of his mouth, and he licked it off. The scene was a bit frustrating to watch.

Angele turned to the other side and nodded. "I heard the Sun of the Tribe was a concept gear, and such gears were crafted by the Wizards or Alchemists from the Vlasov's era. The amount of time required to equip the gear was reduced to the minimum, but the crafting method was long gone."

"This treasure is related to concept gears."

Tinos had a mysterious smile no his face.

"Is it? Finally, something exciting."

"You'll see."

*************************

"Do you know what you're doing?" the man kept repeating this sentence.

"I do actually, father," the girl answered in a calm tone.

"Someone, take her away!" the man yelled in anger. It seemed like something in the private rooms was making his voice clearer.

Several guards rushed out through the small doors on both sides of the hall, charging toward the girl.

"Anyua! It's a trap! Run! The auction market colluded with them, so they already know you're here!" the girl suddenly started to yell.

She struggled, trying her best to dodge the incoming guards. They did not want to really hurt her, so they were holding back.

"Ness!" A man suddenly stood up and rushed toward the girl. He quickly put down several guards, grabbed her hand, and started running toward the exit.

The handsome man had red hair and black pupils. He looked nervous. However, their route to the exit was blocked by a tall man, and the handsome man pushed Anyua back.

The tall man was wearing plate armor pieces, and his gloves were made from metal as well. The man's black hair was short, and there was no emotion shown on his face. He looked extremely strong.

The two and the tall man were not moving.

A middle-aged man in a black noble's suit walked out of the door from the side and stopped by the tall man. He was staring at the couple

The middle-aged man had a serious look on his face, and his appearance was relatively identical to Ness'. Most importantly, Angele knew the man had blood on his hands just by looking at him.

"Knight Zweig, the only Knight stronger than him in the city is my brother," Tino explained. "He is Ness' father, and he'll become a Grand Knight sooner or later. Besides my brother, Knight Zweig has the most power in the city and a lot of Knight level warriors working for him."

"Huh, sounds scary." Angele nodded. "How about the one in heavy plate armor?"

"Knight Ali, a top-level Knight. Knight Zweig saved the man's life many times during the war, so Ali decided to work for him later. His loyalty to Zweig is unquestionable."

More and more people started talking in the hall.

Angele slowly sat down on a chair and leaned back.

"The young ones are in trouble," Angele said calmly.

"Sounds like you are much older than them." Tinos laughed and looked at Angele.

"Well…" Angele remembered he was only 16 years old and smiled.

The young man was grabbed by several guards, and they hit him hard. Knight Zweig held Ness' hands tight while she was trying her best to help Anyua. She cried, screamed, but could not move at all.

"Please! Please! I beg you! Stop hitting him!" Ness's voice was raspy, and there were tears dropping down her face.

Zweig looked at one of the guards, and the guard hit the back of Anyua's head with the iron bar in his hands.

*BAM*

"No! Anyua!" Ness had tears all over her face, and she almost passed out after seeing Anyua get hit in the head.

Anyua lay on the ground. It seemed like he could barely move, but he was still trying to reach out to Ness. The blood kept dripping down his chin, and the red carpet on the ground looked darker after soaking the blood.

Zweig did not care what his daughter thought and continued to tightly hold Ness's arms.

"I told you already. You'll pay for what you did. Anyua, if you hadn't ignored my warning, none of this would have happened."

Zweig stepped on Anyua's head.

Knight Ali handed a sword over to Zweig. The Knight raised it into the air, aiming at Anyua's heart.

"Farewell, Anyua."

The sword started coming down.

Suddenly, the right side of Anyua's neck started shining. A twisted red rune appeared on his neck within several seconds.

"The rune!"

Zweig's expression changed.

Inside the first private room.

Angele almost jumped up.

"That rune…"

He was surprised, and his face looked serious.

*CHI*

Rays of red light started coming out of Anyua.

Someone's strange singing echoed in the hall, sounding like the voice of a siren. The ethereal voice sounded clean and attractive.

Zweig and the guards backed off quickly, staring at Anyua with fear clear on their faces.

"It's the curse!" one of the nobles in the hall suddenly shouted. "That's the curse from Holy Gear!"

Anyua was floating in the air, and the Stone of Lisa started shining as well. It disappeared from the box, turning into a red line. The red line quickly flew into Anyua's hand.

The light became more intense, almost blinding everyone in the hall. After reaching Anyua's hand, the red line turned into some bloody red liquid which covered up Anyua's whole body. Within five seconds, the liquid solidified and became a suit of red crystal armor. There were thorns on the suit's shoulder and arm pieces. The whole suit was horrifying.

Anyua looked like a strong warrior inside the red crystal armor suit.

"Holy Gear! Let's finish him off before he learns how to use it!" Zweig yelled, drew his own sword, and charged toward Anyua. Knight Ali followed after him, and the other guards started charging as well.

Anyua's eyes turned white, and he raised his hands.

*Crack*

The time stopped in this space after the noise.

Everything stopped moving: the people, objects, tears on Ness' face, the blood, the falling glasses, and even the people charging toward him.

It was almost like they were frozen. The colors in the space were gone, and everything turned black or white.

Anyua's suit was still shining. It looked like he had already passed out, something else controlling his behavior. He summoned a red crystal dagger to his right hand.

He stepped forward, about to stab Zweig in the chest. Suddenly, some green light dots from the first private room caught his attention.

Anyua then turned back and looked at the second floor. Through the glass, he could see Angele moving green light dots around.

Angele stared at Anyua calmly. They were the only ones in the hall that still had color on their bodies.

The place was deadly silent.

Angele suddenly felt depressed and lonely. He felt like everyone around was dead, and the strange feeling made his heart pump fast.

The two stopped looking at each other at the same time, and the dagger in Anyua's hand was absorbed into his armor. Anyua grabbed the frozen Ness and slowly walked toward the exit.

*Crack*

After they left the place, colors returned to the auction room, and everything started moving again.

"Holy Gear? That gem is the Holy Gear?" Tinos jumped up and shouted.

Angele sat on the chair quietly and narrowed his eyes. He held the handles tight, finally having experienced a similar power to the green gem again. The power that could stop time.

"But, it's not the Agility Burst…" Angele mumbled. He stood up, looked at the place where the couple had hugged each other for several seconds, and left.

Chapter 92: Interrogation (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

After what happened at the auction market, Angele asked Harland and Tinos to track down the young man named Anyua, however, there was no trace left.

It seemed like the two big families came to an agreement and stopped fighting in the city. They did not announce anything regarding Ness and Anyua's disappearance.

One month later.

In the reading room of Tinos' manor.

Angele was sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, sipping green fruit wine from a glass.

Tinos and a middle-aged nobleman sat on the other side, calmly discussing the Holy Gear.

"Holy Gear is a high-rank concept gear. However, the man disappeared before we could even notice it in the auction hall. Effects like that were probably not from the life energy drained by the concept gear. Only Wizards can manage to do something like that," the nobleman said, scrunching his eyebrows.

People like him hadn't noticed the time stopping at that moment. The only thing they knew was that Anyua and Ness disappeared in front of their eyes.

"Stone of Lisa was the concept gear, that was the most surprising thing to me," Tinos said. "A witness said he saw Anyua and Ness leave the city and go into the forest. I think we should just let them go. Legendary gears like that won't suddenly come to us, and we shouldn't waste too much time on them. Also, the curse on the Holy Gear will turn its owner into a killing machine. I don't really want it anyways."

"Without the gear, Anyua's family is definitely weakened," the nobleman sighed. "A concept gear changes the destiny of the whole family."

"Let's leave it there. How long will you stay in Lennon, Mr. Monti?" Tinos asked.

"More than ten days I think. I'm waiting for my people to come back from the docks." Monti scrunched his eyebrows again. "Master Angele, I heard you were from Ramsoda College. May I ask you a question about a strange plague?" He turned to the side and stared at Angele.

"Sure." Angele nodded, he was listening to their conversation quietly.

Monti sighed. "In the southern provinces, there is a plague going on. Within three days, blisters will grow all over the infected patients' skin, and inside the blisters, it would be not body fluid but blood. After the three days, all the blisters will explode, and the patient will die due to blood loss. Have you ever heard of a plague like that?"

Angele's expression turned serious after hearing Monti's description.

"Are you sure it is blood inside the blisters?" he asked.

"Yes." Monti nodded. "The high-class nobles have already noticed how serious this plague is, and they sent a bunch of doctors to check the situation in the infected area, but none of them have figured out what caused the infection. I think thousands of people are already infected, so the situation is bad. The plague has already wiped out a large territory."

Angele still had the serious look on his face.

"Mr. Monti, please trust me on this. Don't go close to the infected areas," Angele said in a deep voice. "If I'm not mistaken, the plague is called Blood Boil Blisters. One must have a body similar to a Knight level warrior's to survive that."

Monti's expression changed again, and he nodded. "I will make sure I don't go there. I feel uncomfortable just by listening to the rumors."

"I think about 100 years ago, around the year 1430, there was a Blood Boil Blisters breakout in Santiago, and about 100,000 people died. Many people escaped Santiago, and it took a long time for it to recover. I'd suggest controlling the infection area as soon as possible, otherwise…" Angele did not finish his sentence, but the other two knew what he was trying to say.

"I understand. The plague is being controlled," Monti explained. "The quarantine area has already been set up."

"Good." Angele nodded.

"Also, I collected some potion formulas you asked for a while ago. I'm not sure if they are what you were looking for," Monti continued. "I collected them on my way here from the capital. I didn't know why Tinos suddenly asked me to look for potion formulas until I met you."

Angele smiled. "How many formulas have you got there?"

"More than 30." Monti smiled. "I will ask someone to send them to your place."

"What's the price?" Angele nodded.

"Mr. Tinos will take care of that. He will pay me by the end of the year." Monti was not even a Knight, just a normal noble, and so was interested in meeting people with special talents. He would not ask Tinos to pay him because money was the easiest thing for him to get. He knew that it was best to do them a favor for free.

Angele earned a lot of gold coins by selling the parts he obtained from the Glowing Elephants and had decided to ask Tinos to get him some potion formulas. He knew Tinos' friend, Sir Monti, was coming from the capital, and he would be able to collect the formulas along the way. Angele had already prepared the money, not knowing that Tinos would pay for it.

"Don't worry about the money, Angele, you are my friend you know?" Tinos smiled.

"Still, thanks a lot," Angele responded.

Those potion formulas had nothing to do with the Wizard potions. They were used to craft basic potions for daily use. Angele wanted to collect data from them. They would cost him several thousand gold coins at the most.

*****************

After leaving Tinos' manor, Angele jumped into a black carriage, heading to the manor he had just purchased.

He had moved from his shop to the manor this month after paying about 10,000 gold for it. He had earned about 500,000 gold coins from the Glowing Elephants, so 10,000 gold coins were not a big deal to him. As dor the meditation, his Mentality was much more stable compared to before with the help from the potions. However, his Stamina decreased by one due to the side effects of Black Lead Potion and the sequela of the negative energy infection.

Angele did nothing besides experimenting with potions and spells recently. He also meditated and taught Tia sword skills several times. His only social activities were all related to Harland and Tinos.

Angele's Mentality stopped increasing awhile ago. Although he had gotten some more Night Honeycombs, it seemed like his body had started to resist the potion's effects, and meditating did nothing to him as well. Angele thought he had already reached the limit of an apprentice and already met the requirements to become a Wizard. For that reason, he was preparing to make sure he did not miss the summons of his school.

He still needed the Water of Asu and the defensive spell in order to break the limit. Returning to the school would be the fastest and easiest way for him to acquire them. However, there were no rumors about Ramsoda College, and Angele did not want to miss any valuable information.

It was already winter. Angele sat in the carriage, rays of sunlight hitting his hands through the window, but he could barely feel the warmth they brought. The chilling wind was blowing over his face.

"It's 1542 already… Winter is not the most pleasant season for me." Angele pulled his collar up and peeked outside through the window.

Most of the leaves had already fallen off the trees, and the pedestrians were wearing thick coats. Everything looked gray and white, even the sunlight was pale as well.

"What's the date today, Tom?" Angele asked.

Tom was the coachman specially hired for Angele by Alford. He did not know his last name and thought 'Tom' was probably just a codename.

"November the 18th, Master," Tom responded.

"18th? I think Harland is prepared then." Angele nodded. "Take me to Twisted Blue Prison. I'm not going home yet."

"Understood, Master."

The carriage sped up and turned left at the next fork in the road. Its wheels made the dry leaves dance on the ground.

***********************

Twisted Blue Prison, the only prison that held prisoners that would be executed.

The prison was at a remote location, surrounded by the forest. Many buildings were built for it, and the place was deadly silent.

Those buildings had sharp roofs, their appearances identical to those of churches. Wood fences were built outside the buildings, and there were teams of guards patrolling the area. The guards had no expressions on their faces as they walked wearing heavy black armor suits. Most of them held swords in their hands, while others had iron hammers on their back.

There were prisoners being executed every hour, and their dying screams could be heard from outside the buildings.

A black carriage was traveling toward the prison, then slowly stopped in the parking area.

"We are here, Master." The coachman was a tanned middle-aged man.

Angele opened the door and jumped off the carriage. He was wearing a black hunting suit with long leather boots.

A team of guards walked toward the carriage.

"Master Angele?" the leader asked.

Angele nodded.

"Mr. Harland already informed us, so you're allowed to enter the prison. However, the coachman needs to stay outside." The leader's face was covered by the helmet, and his voice was a bit unclear.

"I know." Angele walked past the fences and headed towards one of the buildings inside. He could hear prisoners yelling and screaming.

The atmosphere here was cold and heavy.

Angele looked around and asked Zero to analyze the energy flow in the area.

"Necromantic negative energy particles. Concentration: 65.72%."

"Nice place," Angele mumbled.

The lawn was soft, and Angele felt like walking on a carpet. He stopped by a building and knocked on the thick brown gate.

*Knock Knock*

A small window on the door was opened, and a guard peeked through it.

"Master Angele, you are finally here. She's dying," the guard said and quickly unlocked the door.

"It's good as long as she's still alive," Angele responded in a cold voice.

Inside, there was a hallway with black stone flooring and sunlight coming through the small windows from both sides. The place did not smell good; it was wet and cold.

Chapter 93: Interrogation (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

Angele scrunched his eyebrows.

"That's how this place smells, I hope you don't mind." The guard smiled. "You can take this lamp with you, and it'll warm you up." He tried to hand over the lamp in his hand.

"It's fine." Angele pulled his collar up again and walked inside.

He quickly reached a stone cell after walking down the hallway. In the middle of the cell, there was a staircase leading underground. It looked like a cracked well. Angele looked down and saw torches on the walls making the underground area bright.

He could hear screams from the prisoners clearer here.

He stepped on the stairs and walked down. There were rows of empty cells on the sides. Angele could see feces and blood stains inside them. There was a rotten smell in the underground area; the place stank.

Several patrolling guards walked toward Angele and bowed to him. The captain asked the others to keep patrolling while he led the way for Angele.

They turned right after several intersections, and the smell got even worse.

The captain stopped by a cell on the left and opened it with one of the keys he carried.

"The person you're looking for is in this cell, but I suggest you don't stay here for too long. She is dying, and I doubt she'll survive the night," the captain said in a low voice.

Angele nodded and walked inside the cell.

The only 'bed' inside was a pile of wheat straws. A woman in black lay on those straws, unmoving. The stink from the feces mixed with the rotting wound smell and filled up the air. Angele's eyebrows came together again, and he felt a bit sick.

"Still breathing?" Angele kicked the woman with his boot.

The woman moved a bit and struggled for a while. She turned her head over and opened her eyes slowly. "Who are you...?" She groaned, sounding extremely weak.

Angele just noticed that the woman had a balanced body. Although her face was covered by a mask, he thought she must be a beautiful woman just by the look of her eyes.

However, he did not care if the woman was beautiful or not—she was just an object that would help him reach his goal. Also, he could not think of anything else in such a ridiculous environment.

"The last hideout of Snake of Sand Forest has been destroyed. You would've been tortured to death if I hadn't asked them to let you live," Angele said in a light tone. "Apparently, they misunderstood my order and saved the most beautiful woman for me. However, I just wanted a living one that could speak.���

The woman on the ground stared at Angele. "Are you asking me to thank you for saving my life? Ha…"

"What are you laughing at? As a mortal, you should learn to appreciate my kindness."

Angele narrowed his eyes.

"Go kill yourself! You phony bastard! Insect! You think I'll trust your crap?" The woman tried her best to increase her voice. It seemed like the anger made her head clear.

"I'm not interested in your problems with the Lennon City. The only thing I care about is the Dragon Scale Flower," Angele said calmly.

"Heh… Do you really think Snake of Sand Forest is all we've got?" The woman sneered, still staring at Angele. "Wait for it, Vansalla will bring the hope to us!"

"Again, I don't care about what you do. The only thing I need is the intel about Dragon Scale Flower. Tell me where to find it, and I can think about letting you go."

Angele looked at her. Although he no longer needed the Dragon Scale Flower, he still wanted to use it to trade for other resources after he returned to the school.

For that reason, he was trying his best to find clues about the flower.

"Bastard!" the woman cursed.

"I already told you, I can let you leave if you tell me where I can find it," Angele repeated his words.

"I know where you can find it, but why should I trust you? Scum like you never keeps their promises!" The woman turned her head toward the wall.

"You…" Angele was getting nervous.

"Do whatever you want! Scum! I'd rather feed the flower to a dog than give it to you!"

"What do you want? Say it."

Angele calmed down.

The woman did not know Angele was serious and thought for a while.

"Take me out first. It's too dirty here," she said.

"Humph."

Angele turned back, walked out, and talked to the guards.

Ten minutes later.

They were taken to a lounge with a campfire burning in the middle of the room, and Angele asked the guards to leave.

The woman lied down on a long chair. Angele stared at her and said in a cold voice, "Tell me about the flower now."

"Not yet," the woman responded in a cold tone as well. "Give me a glass of milk and some bread, I'm hungry."

The guards brought her white bread and milk quickly after Angele asked.

He sat in a chair with his legs crossed, watching the woman devour the bread. She almost choked on it several times.

"What else do you want? Speak."

The woman raised her head and looked at Angele. "First, let me take a shower. Second, get me out of here. I will tell you everything I know about the Dragon Scale Flower after."

"Sure."

Angele thought the woman was not asking too much.

"Who gives you the right to release a prisoner, Master Angele!" someone shouted.

The door of the lounge was pushed open, and a tall man in white leather armor suit walked in. The man put his right hand on the handle of his sword, not looking happy.

"Who gives you the right to question me like that? Knight Ali…" Angele's expression changed, and he stood up.

Knight Ali worked for the Zweig family. He was also at the auction hall that day, but for some reason, he did not like Angele from the moment they met. And since he oversaw this prison, he had rushed into the room after hearing Angele was trying to release a prisoner.

"Without my approval, no prisoner will be released!" Ali said in a cold voice.

"Without your approval? Who are you? You're nothing but a dog from Zweig Family! How dare you question my decision."

Ali suddenly drew his sword after hearing Angele's words and stared at Angele in anger.

Before Ali could charge towards him, he heard the guards' voices coming from outside the door.

"Mr. Siv."

"Mr. Siv, you're back."

Ali returned his sword to the sheath. "You are lucky Siv is back, otherwise I would kick your arrogant ass, scum."

Angele sneered, "I can say the same."

Ali stared at Angele for a while, then turned back.

*CHI*

Ali swung his right hand and a silver flash flew toward the woman on the chair—it was a silver dagger.

"You're dead!" Angele yelled in anger.

He quickly kicked the chair down and knocked the woman off it. His reaction was fast enough to save the woman's life.

Angele covered his right hand with negative energy particles and tried to hit Ali's face with it.

Ali knew Angele would go for him and quickly backed off.

*Clank*

A silver broadsword blocked Angele's attack, and his hand hit the blade. The black smoke disappeared after the contact.

"Master Angele, please calm down. Knight Ali didn't mean it."

A man stood in front of Ali, wearing a white armor suit, and he started returning his broadsword back to the sheath.

"Didn't mean it? Knight Siv, I thought you were neutral in situations like this? What? You want to protect Ali?" Angele lowered his hand and spoke in a cold voice.

"I'm just following the codes. This is an important prison, and no fights are allowed here." Siv's face was covered by the helmet, and he was speaking with no emotion.

Ali's face turned pale. He stood behind Siv, finally aware that the rumors about Angele were real.

"What was that black smoke? Knight Siv, did you see that? He was trying to kill me. That black smoke must be some vicious curse. This man was trying to attack a formal Knight. I will report the event to Harland for sure!"

"Knight Ali, please calm down," Knight Siv said calmly.

Ali held the handle of his sword tight, giving Angele a hard look.

Angele did not care. "I was granted the right to give orders to the city by Lord Alford, and releasing a prisoner isn't a violation of any rule to me. You can report to whoever you want, but if you try to attack me again, I will make you pay."

Ali opened his mouth and wanted to say something in return, but he hesitated and ended up saying nothing. He knew Angele was seriously trying to kill him and decided not to provoke him any further.

He had thought that the rumors of Angele slaying a Glowing Elephant were exaggerating, but he now knew that Angele was strong after facing him in person. The power Angele had was not something Ali could handle. For the first time, he experienced the fear of fighting against a man that had a mysterious power.

"Let's go!" Ali shouted and left. Siv bowed to Angele before leaving, and it seemed like he had business with Ali.

Angele blinked his eyes and walked around.

He finally sat down after a while. The woman had already picked herself up and laid her back against the wall beside the fireplace. She was thinking about something while watching Angele moving around.

Chapter 94: Next (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

"Why are you looking at me?" Angele said. "Tell me your name."

The woman blinked, then scrunched her eyebrows.

"Jolin, just call me Jolin." It seemed she had calmed down. "You intentionally let Siv block your attack, right?"

Angele was surprised, but his expression did not change.

"I was blocked."

He did not admit it.

"Well, I think you were telling the truth. You are not interested in the political fight in the city," Jolin said. "I guess you know who's behind the Zweig family, and I can understand why you don't want to mess with them."

"You know a lot, huh?" Angele smiled., "I warned them already, and it didn't mean I was scared. There is no point for me to go into war with their whole family just for a prisoner. The loss wouldn't justify the gains."

He was still an apprentice of Ramsoda School. As long as the school wasn't wiped off the map by Northland Alliance, it would help him fight against a large family in the empire, but there were more things he needed to consider.

Also, Angele always assumed that those top families had Wizards helping them due to their knowledge about mysterious power, but it seemed Knight Ali had no idea how strong the power was until Angele attacked him. Angele decided not to fight against them until he could figure everything out.

That was also the reason why he didn't kill Ali— he was just trying to send out the message. If Ali died, Zweig would avenge him for the honor of his family, and Angele did not want that.

"Go wash yourself now, I will take you out of here." He stood up. "However, don't even think about lying to me. I will show you what hell looks like if you do anything dumb."

*************************

Inside Zweig's manor.

"Mr. Zweig! What Angele did was over the line! Twisted Blue Prison has always been under our family's control, who gives him the right to release the prisoner? Also, that woman...!" Knight Ali stood in the middle of the meeting room and was shouting in anger.

"Enough!" Zweig suddenly yelled. "Ali, you're way too impulsive for your age. We're not done with Anyua yet, and people only care about the Holy Gear at the moment! I don't care what's your agreement with Snake of the Sand Forest, but you shouldn't spend too much time on a prisoner. Also, Angele already warned you. He didn't kill you because he didn't want to mess up with the whole Zweig family. Do you really think Harland has no idea about what you're doing?"

Ali opened his mouth again, still mad. "Kill me? If he didn't catch me off guard...!"

"I said… enough!" Zweig's expression changed. He walked toward Ali and touched his neck with his right hand.

"What's this?" he asked, rubbing the right side of Ali's neck. There was blood on his fingertips. "It was very close. If Siv hadn't shown up and Angele did not stop intentionally, you'd already be dead."

Ali suddenly realized that his neck had been wounded by Angele's attack. It was a slim cut, and if no pressure was applied to it, he could not even feel the pain. There was little blood leaking out of it, and it was barely visible on his skin. It was almost like the wound was already treated, and he could no longer feel anything.

Suddenly, Ali had a chilling feeling from his back. He trembled a bit.

"How… How is that even possible!" He stepped back, his eyes were filled with fear.

"I know what Angele is trying to tell me. Don't provoke him anymore. I heard this man was from Ramsoda College, and Wizards from that school are known for their cruelty," Zweig said in a deep voice.

"So, we just let him take the prisoner away?" Ali gnashed his teeth.

"We don't have a Wizard helping us, so we're no threat to him. You can go fight him if you don't care about your life. Harland asked Angele to go into our territory, and his intention was obvious. He wanted us to fight, or at least make us hate each other. The timing was excellent too, his plan was almost perfect…" Zweig said in a cold voice. "We need to find Anyua as soon as possible! The Holy Gear was almost in our hands. I didn't expect Ness to show up there!"

***********************

Outside Lennon City, Angele and Jolin walked side by side in a forest.

Leaves blocked most of the sunlight, and everything around them was dark green. They stopped by an abandoned ruin.

The walls were cracked, and the staircases were covered by moss. A stone house was built upon a platform, and there were many climbing veins on its surface.

Angele carefully stepped on the stairs which were made extremely slippery by the moss. The place was cold and wet, and he could smell the mold in the air.

Angele's black dagger was hanging by his waist, and the metal bow was on his back. The crossguard sword was unrepairable after so many fights, so Angele had stopped carrying it a while ago.

Jolin followed Angele without saying a word. She still covered her face with a black mask but had changed her clothes to a brown leather suit after the shower. There were two leather strips on her legs, and eight iron daggers filled up the slots on the strips.

"This is the place?" Angele turned back and asked.

"Yea." Jolin nodded, her face pale, as she continued walking slowly.

"You're getting worse and need to get treated by the best doctors within four days, otherwise you'll die," Angele said lightly. "Alright, talk, what's the relationship between this house and the Dragon Scale Flower?"

Jolin struggled for a while until finally reaching a platform. She glanced around, seemingly searching for something, but a disappointed look quickly showed up on her face.

She then reached to her chest and took out a small glass tube. There was a piece of black cloth inside it.

Angele looked at her, surprised. "I thought they took away all your belongings after they caught you. Where did you hide it? How was that even possible?"

Jolin blushed after hearing the question.

"That's none of your business." She threw the glass tube toward Angele. "That's what you're looking for. The location of the Dragon Scale Flower. We found it during a mission. However, the place is dangerous. Our organization sent four groups of people to collect the flowers, a total of 100 people, but only one survived, obtaining only one flower. The others were all dead."

Angele grabbed the glass tube; it was still warm. He scrunched his eyebrows, guessing the possible location that she could hide it at, and decided not to think about it anymore.

"How can I trust you?" He lowered his voice.

"Believe or not, that's all I've got." Jolin was very calm.

Angele thought for a while and removed the stopper from the tube. He then unfolded the black cloth carefully.

There was a map drawn in white on the cloth, with many words written beside various points.

There was a skull mark on the map, and it was marked as 'Moon Gin Manor' in red.

Angele also found Lennon City on the map, but it was very far from the skull mark.

He scrunched his eyebrows. "So, the cloth was put inside the tube about a week ago, but the map was corrected various times before that. You guys put a lot of effort into it, so I will trust you for that." Angele raised his head and saw Jolin staring at him in shock. Apparently, Angele had guessed everything right.

"Just by looking at it? You're pretty good… I'm glad we decided not to attack you."

There was fear in her eyes.

"Good, you can leave now."

Angele did not care about what she said.

"Are you sure about this?"

She had not expected Angele to let her live.

"Of course." Angele nodded. "You're of no use to me anymore, and I will keep my promise."

Jolin stared at Angele for a while, then made sure he was not going to attack her. Only after that did she slowly back off. Upon reached the forest, she turned away once the forest and quickly disappeared in the bushes.

Angele stood there, looking at the black cloth in his hands.

"I hope you didn't lie to me," he mumbled and drew a red rune in the air. The rune floated for a bit, then started glowing.

Inside the forest, a red rune appeared on Jolin's back, and it looked just like the one Angele had drawn in the air. The rune was glowing as well, but Jolin did not notice its presence.

*************************

In the evening.

At some quiet housing area in Lennon City.

All the manors here were built from red stone blocks, and the streets were covered with black slate. There was a bronze goddess statue in the middle of an intersection. The goddess was holding a vase, and she was holding it down toward the ground. Many flowers were growing around the goddess, some white and some yellow.

The streets were deadly silent during the night. There wasn't a single carriage or pedestrian around. The only noise was made by wind blowing over the trees and flowers.

Several dry leaves dropped to the ground, then were blown away by the wind.

Chapter 95: Next (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe

On the second floor of a manor opposite the statue, Angele was standing on a balcony with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. He was wearing black pajamas and taking sips from the cup.

He put his other hand on the railing and looked down. Only Tia and he lived in the manor. She cleaned the whole manor every day, did grocery shopping, and also cooked food for Angele. Tia took care of many things for him, and he sometimes thought he was getting lazy.

This manor, or actually the whole housing area, was haunted according to Tinos. The price of the manors here had dropped a lot, and most of the owners had moved to other places, so Angele purchased all the manors in the area.

There were about ten of them, and Angele purchased them all. He built up the mental fences around the manors and hired guards to patrol. He was paying for pretty much everything, including the workers' salaries, street cleaning, and garden maintenance.

Rumors said those manors were haunted, but Angele had not encountered any strange events yet.

*HOO*

The wind was chilling. Angele sipped some more hot chocolate and walked inside the room. The hot chocolate he was drinking was made from a special plant he fell in love with it after having it in Master Adolf's house.

He returned to his bedroom and sat down beside the desk. There was flame dancing in the glass oil lamp on top of it.

Beside the oil lamp, there was a leather scroll sealed with a tight red line. Angele picked it up and broke the seal.

There were two glass sticks on both edges of the scroll, so he could open it easily by rolling them to the side.

On the scroll, some data was written with black ink:

'21st: East side of the city, four unknown targets disappeared.

22nd: Three carriages disappeared by the dock.

23rd: Hunters reported a man in a black robe disappearing by the logging site.

24th: Merchants heard beasts roaring by the west side of the forest.

27th: Three man in white cloaks left the city quickly after buying supplies.

…

15th November: Merchants found bodies of bandits outside the city.'

Angele kept reading all the logs, his brow furrowed. He spent a hefty amount of money on these logs from the mercenary guild, and almost every event that had happened inside or outside the city in the last two months was written down on it.

People in Lennon didn't know that the Wizard organization that was famous for its Necromancy and cruelty, Ramsoda College, was very close to their city. Those strange events the mercenaries had encountered did not bother them since they had no idea what those people were doing.

However, Angele knew those strange events could mean the situation had changed in his school.

"It looks like the war is almost over."

He carefully sealed the scroll with the red line again and put it into the drawer.

Based on that information, Angele concluded that some of the Wizards and apprentices that left the school were returning to it.

'Before that, I need to go to the Moon Gin Manor first. It's better if I can obtain the Dragon Scale Flowers before going back to the school,' Angele he decided, establishing the plan.

'I need something more valuable than what I have in hand to trade for the Water of Asu and the defensive spell model.' He scrunched his eyebrows again. 'Without resources, I won't get anything from the school. I need to get enough items to obtain Water of Asu and the defensive spell model first. I'll be able to try to break the limit after everything is prepared.'

***********************

The next morning, it was cloudy, and it looked like rain would fall soon.

A black carriage quietly left the city along with the others, heading to the northwest province Karin.

The black carriage was advancing slowly between golden wheat fields. Tthe wheat was already harvested, and the two horses in the front neighed from time to time. Angele sat in the carriage, looking at the wheat field.

Some farmers were piling up the straws, and some were burning the ones that were already piled up. Red flame mixed with dark smoke that curled and danced upon the ashes. Several people sat with their legs crossed, having some food while watching the straws burn.

The mountains were covered by a green rug of trees, and they were endless.

"Master, it's going to rain. Shall we find a shelter first?" Tom shouted.

"Sure," Angele responded.

"There's a mill in the front, we can use that," Tom continued.

Angele heard Tom's words and stuck his head out of the window to see a yellow windmill sitting on the right side of their carriage. It was built in the middle of the wheat field.

The windmill was slowly rotating in the wind, and Angele saw two one-horse carriages already parked by its side. One of them was red and the other white.

He could smell a hint of wheat in the air and shouted out, "Some people are already in there, park beside their carriages, Tom."

"Sure, Master."

Angele was in a two-horse black carriage without any family sigil engraved on its body.

Two people walked out of the windmill after seeing Angele's carriage approach. They pointed at it and seemed like they were talking about something.

After several minutes, Tom parked the carriage right beside the red one-horse carriage. Angele opened the door and jumped off. He then wiped some dust off his suit, still wearing the black hunting one with black boots and the dagger tied to his red belt. He looked like a high-ranking soldier with the clean suit and a serious look on his face.

The two that were looking at him turned back and walked into the windmill without greeting him. It was a middle-aged man and an old woman. The man was helping the woman walk; it looked as though she was his mother.

"Let's go, Tom. It'll rain soon."

"I'm good, Master, I'll take care of the carriage."

Tom smiled.

"Don't worry. The carriage will be fine."

Angele smiled as well. He patted the door, and some black smoke slowly went into the carriage through the gap.

"I'm fine, Master. I will just stay here."

Tom shook his head.

Angele watched him take out a raincoat from a chest and knew he was not going to leave the carriage.

He shook his head. "Well, alright."

Angele stretched a bit and walked toward the windmill.

There was a huge cogwheel rotating inside it which connected the windmill to the grinder. The sounds made by the grinder were getting louder as the wind was getting stronger.

The room was about the size of a bedroom with a closed tight window on the side. A young girl in red stood by it, peaking outside through the glass.

There were two wooden tables and some chairs in the corner. The two from before were sitting by one of the tables. The man was carefully pouring some tea into the cup for the woman, and the aroma of the tea filled up the narrow space.

Angele sniffed several times, the tea smelled like the one Tinos had gifted him a while ago. It was some expensive black tea, and he was a bit addicted to it. The aroma triggered his desire for some good tea.

Two coachmen sat in the opposite corner, whispering about something.

Angele checked the surroundings: spider webs were everywhere, and some flour was still on the ground.

People in the room looked at Angele for several seconds after he first entered the place, but no one greeted nor talked to him.

The young girl turned around and stared at him curiously. She was wearing a red one-piece and a pair of red boots, even her belt was also red. She looked like any other noble teenager, and she was holding a thin book in her hand.

The book was open, so Angele looked at it, noticing several lines. 'Griffin kissed Felica, holding tight her waist. It looked like he was not satisfied yet…'

It was just a love novel. Those love fantasies were very popular among noble girls.

The girl realized Angele saw what was in her book and blushed. She quickly closed it, walked toward the old woman, and started massaging her back.

Angele did not say anything, but walked toward the window and looked at the sky.

The rain got heavier quickly, falling in furious drops, and the daylight was gone. The wheat filled was flooded, objects in it hardly discernible.

Angele asked Zero to analyze the range and duration of the rain. Lists of information were shown in front of his eyes.

"The rain will stop at 10:12 am," Angele mumbled. The estimated time was given by Zero, and the margin of error was about five percent.

The girl heard his voice and looked at him again curiously. She took out a pocket watch out from her pouch and checked the time.