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Chapter 146: After the Fight

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

As soon as Lucien went back to the baron's castle, in a corridor he saw Joanna walking toward him with a greatsword in her hands.

"Lord Evans," Joanna showed her deep respect to him, "All the husks here have been eliminated."

In fact, she was to some extent upset with Lucien for involving them in this dangerous fighting without even telling them what they should expect. Actually, even Lucien himself did not expect a bitter fight like this.

Lucien nodded to Joanna and asked her calmly, "Anyone else still alive in the castle except Mars? Is everyone all right?"

Joanna would not easily reveal her dissatisfaction toward Lucien, but she answered seriously, "Except Mr. Mars, there's no one alive in the castle. They're all husks. Simon is dealing with some chaos happening in Fogtown right now… It might have been caused by some escaping husks. Mr. Mars and Wise are still hiding in the storage room. Betty is vomiting in the bathroom."

"Is what?" Lucien's left hand grabbed a handful of casting reagent.

Joanna put a look of disgust on her face, "We found something in the kitchen, looking like the dinner we were about to 'enjoy'… There were rotten flesh, eyeballs, tongues, fingers… all covered with maggots."

As she was speaking, she almost threw up as well.

Lucien nodded. It seemed that the baron was about to serve them food with ptomaine to make them sick first before revealing his real intention. Under the disguise of magic, common people could not tell what that food really was, but when the spell casters died, the camouflage was gone as well.

"I see. Thank you, Joanna." Lucien took a step forward to Joanna and said to her in a low voice, "Please don't call me lord. I do not have any title."

Joanna looked up subconsciously and directly caught Lucien's charming eyes. Instantly, Joanna fell into a dream where there were countless shining stars.

"Yes, Mr. Evans," Joanna answered obediently.

Lucien checked her memory about the fight they just had and found nothing that could potentially reveal his identity, but he still made some tiny adjustments with Joanna's memory.

"I'm fine here. Go to find Simon and help him, Joanna… can you?" Lucien dismissed the spell affecting her.

Joanna was suddenly startled and her checks immediately flushed. She could not believe that she was just standing there, staring blankly at Mr. Evans' face, and felt that he was so charming that she could not move her eyes away.

"Sure… yes, sure… I'm going right now." Joanna quickly touched her face with her hands and turned around, heading for the gate of the castle.

After Joanna left, Lucien adjusted the memory of the rest of people one by one and erased any evidence of magic in the fight in the baron's room.

…

Under the dim light provided by the candles placed around the living room of the castle, Lucien said to Simon, Betty and Joanna, "Thank you for helping Fogtown, and, of course, thank you for helping me. As a convention, you take one tenth of the baron's wealth, and I shall take one third. The rest of his belongings should be handed to Viscount Stanley and the Church."

Lucien still wanted to maintain his identity in their mind as a knight, and that was why he did not take all the baron's stuff on his own. Besides, he also felt a bit sorry that he involved his guards in far more danger than what they would commonly encounter.

The baron's place was actually not that full of jewelry and gold as most people would think. Except for the castle, the manor and the land that Habearo owned, there was only sixty Thales left in the baron's place and a level two greatsword of extraordinary quality named Rock, since Habearo needed to handle the expenses generated by Hunt's experiments, buy babies and kids, maintain his luxury lifestyle, and pay for different things to hide his sinful behavior.

"That's about… six Thales!" Simon's eyes were full of excitement.

"No, it should be twenty Thales," Lucien corrected him.

"What?! That's… that's two much, Mr. Evans. How does that work?" Simon's pitch rose.

"According to the convention, the value of the greatsword, Rock, should be calculated into the whole value as well. I'll say the sword is about a hundred and forty Thales based on its level." Lucien explained. Although he did consider keeping the sword to himself, it turned out that the sword was too heavy for Lucien.

"Thank you so much! That's so generous of you, my lord!" Joanna cut in with a big smile on her face, "Although I know that we did not really help much, we all need money to receive formal knight training, especially Betty."

Twenty Thales was for sure a lot of money for them. For Joanna, Simon and Betty, their whole year income was not even close to ten Thales.

Lucien smiled and nodded. After they put the money in their own pockets, Lucien said to them, "I can teach Betty some knight training skills before we get to Korsor. You two can watch as well."

On one hand, Lucien appreciated their help, and on the other hand, when the Church questioned them, which was very likely to happen after he killed the baron, the idea that he at least know something about formal knight training could possibly hide his real identity.

"Really!?" Betty was so excited that she almost burst out a scream, "Thank you so much, Mr. Evans!"

Joanna and Simon were very surprised with Lucien's generosity. Except for saying 'thank you' to Lucien over and over again, they did not know how to express their gratefulness.

Lucien waved his hand, "I'm actually not a Saint Knight, and not even a noble. I once served a princess, and my power mostly comes from my divine items and magic items granted by the princess, which is not really my power. I hope you three can keep my power as a secret to avoid unnecessary trouble."

"For sure, Mr. Evans," they answered.

"Very well." Lucien nodded and said to them, "The fight was intense and I need to get some rest now. Do not let anyone disturb me tonight, please, even including you three. I'll try to recover by tomorrow morning, and tomorrow we're heading for Wolftown to report to the Church."

All of the priests here in Fogtown had been turned into husks by Hunt's necromantic power, so they needed to visit the nearby town to find the priests there.

"Yes, Mr. Evans!" The three guards answered cheerfully.

…

The night was getting darker. Lying in the bed in one of the guest rooms in this evil castle, Lucien remained rather calm and thoughtful.

Switching the invitation which Hunt received between his hands back and forth, Lucien was planning something important tonight.

By comparing the invitation in his hand with the one that he saved in his spiritual library provided by Chris, Lucien noticed that the only difference between the two was that there was a small symbol of Reversed Tree of Life on the former invitation, while a black hexagram on the latter one. His guess was that the symbols were corresponding to the identities of the invitees for security concern.

"Black hexagram represents… sorcerer apprentice, and the reversed tree represents a necromancer… Then how can I get in there?" Lucien murmured to himself silently.

In fact, Lucien had a plan in his mind, but the plan was so risky that he could not make up his mind right now.

Also, Lucien was almost certain that the time and location of this gathering would be changed after Hunt's death, after all, he was a level two necromancer who received formal invitation. And this meant that Lucien needed to find the clues as soon as possible, or he would definitely miss the gathering.

Making another divination with his crystal ball, the result was very blurry and of no help at all.

Lucien's brows frowned. He knew that he had to take another risk again.

Although it would take the coach more than seven days to get to Korsor from Fogtown if it followed the rugged mountain road, cutting corners through woods and cliffs using a knight's speed could save a lot of time, and Lucien was confident that he could get to Carendia castle within three hours on his own.

Opening his suitcase, Lucien put on his black robe and then sneaked out of the castle through the window.

Chapter 147: The Castle

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Close to the lake, there was an old castle covered with thick vines standing beside a precipitous cliff, and the high towers of the grand castle were so tall that they almost looked like aged, big cedars in the darkness.

Staring at the castle from afar, Lucien took a deep breath and put both Ice Revenger and Mo, the ring that had once belonged to Natasha's mother, on his left hand. He carefully turned the word, Mo, carved on the ring toward the inside of his hand.

Facing unknown dangers, the powerful and mysterious sorcerers and necromancers, Lucien needed to utilize everything he had to protect himself.

Trying to stay focused, Lucien was ready to cast spells at any time. So, he slowly walked out from behind a big rock where he was hiding and headed for the gloomy castle.

The cool night wind in June drove away the heat in the day, and the surroundings were quiet, except for the crickets' chirping.

Lucien safely came in front of the thick wooden gate of the castle. Raising his arm calmly, Lucien knocked at the gate.

After a while, the great gate slowly opened. Lucien heard the coarse sound from the friction between the wood and the ground. Although the gate appeared to be too heavy for even two to three male adults to open, a senior man wearing a white shirt and black suit easily pulled out the door and said to Lucien in standard continental common tongue, "Who're you, sir? Why are you here?"

Seeing that the person opening the gate did not directly try to kill him, Lucien's nervousness was half relieved. So, he lowered his head and said to the senior man politely, "You must be the steward of the castle, sir. Nice to meet you. I'm a sorcerer traveling through Djibouti right now."

Lucien paused a bit and quickly took a glance at the facial expression of the old steward, and then continued seriously, "A bunch of robbers tried to rob me outside Dragon Tooth town, and I killed all of them. What surprised me was that I found a letter from one of the robbers, inviting all the sorcerers, necromancers and apprentices to gather to join the Feast of Death and to meet a sorcerer from the headquarter of the Congress of Magic."

"…" The old steward's eyebrow rose slightly but did not say anything to respond, as if he was still waiting for Lucien's further explanation.

"I know it's not proper of me to come to visit the castle directly, but I was very lucky because the apprentice who was unfortunately attacked by the robbers actually left the location of Carendia Castle on the invitation, or I would never be able to find my way here. Please forgive my impertinence," Lucien continued politely.

"May I know what's the symbol on the invitation?" The old steward remained polite, as if he was just talking to some random traveler instead of an evil sorcerer.

Although Lucien knew that the old steward might not be able to see his face under the hood, he maintained his smile, "A black hexagram."

The old steward nodded slightly, "I shall report to my lord, guest."

Holding a white candlestick, the old man turned around and disappeared gradually in the darkness.

Lucien kept politely waiting at where he was, without moving a single step. After a while, when the old steward came back, he nodded to Lucien, "Very well. You're very polite, guest. You know what is respect."

Lucien laid his left hand on his chest and bowed slightly, "Thank you for forgiving my precipitance, sir."

"Viscount Carendia wants to meet you in the study. Follow me, please." The steward reminded Lucien, "Follow me close, guest. Do not get lost in the darkness. It's dangerous."

Then, he turned around again to show Lucien the way.

Following the old steward, Lucien was sweating from nervousness. His Host Star of Destiny, his own intuition and also Alert were warning him silently that there were lots of dangerous and mysterious 'things' hiding in the darkness, especially when Lucien just stepped in the castle and when the gate closed behind him.

Lucien felt that the darkness in the castle was somehow 'alive', which gave him goose bump. However, Lucien decided to remain silent and ask no question but just follow the old steward.

When Lucien started to get a bit irritated from walking in the darkness for a relatively long time, the old steward stopped and reached his head into the darkness. He pushed his hand forward and opened a door.

As soon as the door opened, bright yellow light came out and drove the darkness in this area away.

"Please, guest." The old steward bowed slight and politely let Lucien get into the room first.

"Thank you very much, sir." Lucien nodded, and then entered the room without any hesitation.

The dark yellow carpet in the study was thick and luxury. Even the hatstand was gilt. The table, the bookshelf and the armchairs were made from precious rosewood. Based on many details of the decoration of the room, Lucien could tell the pursuit of extravagance of the owner of this place.

In a red couch in front of a coffee table sat a young man wearing a black shirt and red coat. He had blond hair and deep eyes, matched with an attractive smile. The line of his chin was defined, looking handsome and also manly.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Sorcerer." The blond young man greeted without standing up from the couch.

"My lord, please adhere to your noble manner." The manner-oriented old steward walked to the young noble in a fast pace and whispered in his ear to remind him.

"Nice to meet you, Viscount Carendia. Thank you for seeing me." Lucien bowed slightly.

"You see… the guest doesn't mind me sitting." The viscount turned his head to the steward and smiled, "Take it easy, Nied."

"If the count was here, he would be your model of being elegant and noble," The old steward murmured in a low voice and then stood behind the viscount.

"Come on… I don't even really remember my grandpa. How am I supposed to learn from his manner?" The viscount rubbed his forehead a bit. Then he pointed at the couch beside him and said to Lucien, "Please have a seat. Nied told me your intention of coming here, but I have to make sure that you're not a spy from the Church. The Church has a bunch of sorcerers who surrendered to them."

Even while he was talking about Lucien's possible identity as a spy from the Church, the viscount still looked rather relaxed.

"The Church would never have me as their spy." Lucien gave the viscount his answer which was already prepared earlier, "I have a pseudonym, Professor."

"Professor? You're the Professor ranking No. 359 on the Cleansing List?" Carendia stood straight and asked him seriously. The viscount knew clearly that all the names on the list represented powerful beings. Grand arcanists, legendary archmages, the grand cardinals in the north, ancient dragons, the ancestors of vampire, the Prince of Werewolf, Royal family of Kuo-toa, and the leaders of heresies were all included. The reason that he noticed Professor on the list was that this mysterious sorcerer was the only one whose power was below that of a radiant knight.

Lucien gave a sigh of relief in his mind, feeling lucky that the viscount actually knew his alias, which also made sense because, as a noble, he should have access to this list.

"Yes, I'm the Professor." Lucien nodded, "I'm back now, from Aalto."

"How do you prove it?" Carendia had a cunning smile on his face, "Even I am not on the list. Your power must be very impressive."

"How do you want me to prove my power? Breaking one or two of your vases in this room?" Sitting in the couch, Lucien asked in a joking way.

"Ha… I'd rather not." The viscount laughed, "I heard that you created an unique magic that can directly destroy a house. And I know that, even in the headquarter of the Congress of Magic, there was no similar spell registered."

"I can show it to you." Lucien shrugged and pointed at the castle's floor, "But here?"

"Up to you." The viscount sat back in the couch with his eyes slightly squinting.

Lucien walked to the wall and laid both of his hands on it. After spending a bit time on calculating the possible range of vibration frequency of the castle, Lucien sent some magic waves to the wall and felt the feedback of the waves to get the more accurate information about the frequency of vibration of this whole place to adjust the speed of the waves he sent.

Soon, the old castle started to shake. Although the shaking was obviously easy to notice, it was far from destroying the whole place.

Lucien was guessing that this old castle was protected by many powerful magic circles, so The Professor's Oscillation Hand could not really do damage to it.

Before Lucien felt really embarrassed, the viscount clapped his hands behind him, "Enough, enough, Professor. Right now I cannot really afford a new castle like this."

Seizing the chance, Lucien removed his hands from the wall and turned around, "So I'll take it as a pass?"

"Of course." Carendia let Lucien go back to sit, "You already know the time and the location of our gathering, Professor. I can ask Nied to make another invitation for you."

"That'll be great." Lucien nodded, "What if there's any change with regard to the time or location, how can I be informed?"

While Nied, who was standing behind the viscount, walked toward the desk to make a new invitation, Viscount Carendia said to Lucien, "We have two secret sites in Korsor for sorcerers to leave coded marks and messages to exchange information. Any information regarding the changes of this gathering will be available there."

After introducing the location of the two sites and the meaning of the codes to Lucien, Viscount Carendia smiled to him, "I'm looking forward to your presence, Professor. And if you could come one day earlier, although I know you must be very busy, you can have more time to exchange ideas and thoughts with Mr. Felipe, from the headquarter of the Congress of Magic. After all, both of you are young folks. Young people should be given more time to gather and to make joint progress."

"We young folks?" Looking at the viscount, Lucien was confused.

Chapter 148: The Inquiry of the Church

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"Yes… of course. I can feel the energy of youth in your body, Mr. Professor." The corner of the viscount's lips curled up, "The power of life… I never get it wrong. Since Mr. Douglas defined Arcana, the Congress of Magic was revitalized like a young person, full of hope and vitality. Lots of outstanding young sorcerers and arcanists are giving new life to the congress… It's beautiful."

Lucien wondered why the viscount was speaking in the tone of a senior and elder person, after all, Carendia was still very good-looking and energetic, but by the fact that the viscount could sense the young power of life made Lucien guess that the noble might be a powerful vampire, since the sensitivity toward life power was especially known as an unique advantage of this bloodthirsty race.

"I wish. Although I never heard the name of Mr. Felipe, I'm looking forward to meeting him." Lucien did not show his suspicion toward the viscount's identity, but remained rather conservative and careful, "Unfortunately, I have some of my own business to deal with on the day before the gathering, so I'm afraid I won't be able to meet Mr. Felipe in advance." Lucien was not sure about Felipe's attitude toward him as Professor, so he would rather get some more practical information from the gathering such as getting to know who was the liaison of the Congress of Magic in Sturk.

"Well, that's too bad, but I'm sure that you will definitely enjoy the gathering." The viscount handed him the invitation, "Here's yours, Mr. Professor."

Lucien took a quick glance at the invitation and noticed that his own symbol on it was a black top hat.

"I appreciate it." Lucien stood up and bowed slightly, "I think it's time for me to leave now. It's pretty late. Forgive me for coming over at such a late hour."

"No worries. My day has actually just started." The viscount waved his hand casually.

After Lucien left, the old steward, Nied, asked his lord with a confused look, "My lord, why you allowed him to join the gathering? Forgive me… I mean… can we really be certain that he's the Professor just based on that one single strange spell?"

"The spell was just part of it." Viscount Carendia stood beside the window and stared at the shining lake under the moonlight, "What made me certain about his identity was the ring he was wearing."

"The ring?" asked Nied.

"The plain-looking one… on his left hand." The viscount had a faint smile on his face, "Although the ring already lost its power and no one could tell its original look, I know the material of the ring. It was made by the alloy consisting of the seven elements. Only Holm Royal Magic Academy and the Will of Elements can produce that alloy. So, this Mr. Professor should be on their side, according to my guess."

"Then it's even more confusing to me that you, my lord, allowed him to attend the gathering." The old steward looked surprised, "The Will of Elements and the Hand of Paleness are…"

"Just for fun. And somehow he smelled a bit familiar to me." The viscount frowned his brows a bit and then turned to another direction.

"What do you feel about the spell Professor just showed, Amores?"

A low and hollow voice with echo responded from nowhere in particular, "Something like sound waves… not sure. He kept adjusting the frequency of vibration, and the vibration was quite unique… It made me feel a bit itchy."

…

Using the methods evading possible pursuers taught by Natasha, Lucien spent thirty minutes more to get back to the castle and sneaked into it successfully using the first circle spell, Light of Darkness.

It was a spell which could create a special zone of darkness. People inside the dark zone could see the outside very well, while people outside could not tell what was in the darkness.

In the guest room, Lucien took off the ring given by Natasha and hid it safely. Then, he burned down Hunt's invitation before going to bed.

…

In the morning of the following day, they left the castle, heading for Korsor.

Sitting beside the window of the coach, Lucien was introducing some of the methods of formal knight training, which mostly came from John's sharing and Natasha's teaching.

Unlike what Betty imaged with knight training, the procedures were actually quite boring and painstaking, and even Joanna and Simon who were also listening to Lucien's instruction felt hard to handle it. However, out of their admiration for Mr. Evan's great power, they knew that they should stick to the training.

In the early evening, they were already very close to Wolftown.

"When we report to the Church… " Simon said to Lucien a bit emotionally, "the legend of Baron Habearo will fall."

"I know it must be very disappointing for those people who view the baron as an idol, but those young lives who died because of him deserve justice," said Lucien.

…

Three hours later.

In the confessionary of the local church, after checking all of Lucien's documents, Arnold, a level three bishop from Korsor, smiled to Lucien, "It's hard to imagine that the talented musician, Lucien Evans, is also a powerful knight… very surprising…"

Before that, he even asked Lucien to play Pathetique to prove himself. Now, the bishop had no suspicion toward Lucien at all.

"My Blessing came from the potion that the princess rewarded me, but I don't have any noble title." Lucien slightly shook his head, "And I don't think I could even have survived this time against the baron and the necromancer if I did not have the sword and the powerful items given by the princess, not to mention killing them."

"The princess's generosity makes all people feel jealous," Arnold said in a meaningful way. Two magic items, one divine item, two extraordinary-quality weapons… Those things could almost compete with the collection of Viscount Stanley. The bishop was almost certain that the rumor was true: Lucien Evans, the young talented musician, was the secret lover of the princess of the Duchy of Orvarit.

As soon as the pastors in Wolftown heard Lucien and his guards' report on what happened in Baron Habearo's castle, they were completely shocked and immediately sent their message birds to inform the cathedral in Korsor. Then, by using some kind of divine portal, the level three bishop, Arnold, together with his two pastors and four night watchers came to Wolftown to meet, or, in other words, to inquire about the baron's case.

The inquiry went separately, and Arnold was the one responsible for questioning Lucien. Lucien's words, after his careful design, were not suspicious to the bishop, and what Lucien said was also verified by his safeguards.

Now, the last part of the bishop's work was to write a report on how Lucien killed the baron and the necromancer to the cardinal of the Duchy of Djibouti.

"Mr. Evans, can I take a look at your magic and divine items that helped you kill the baron and the necromancer?" asked Arnold.

"Sure," answered Lucien. He reached out his left hand and introduced to the bishop, "This is the ring that can shoot frost blades. And this is the bracelet… it is where the fire balls and the fire shield came from."

Before that, Lucien dyed his bracelet and the ring with some kind of special plant, just in case that the Church would recognize them.

Seeing that Lucien was not going to take off the ring and the bracelet, the bishop also did not bother asking. Arnold just checked the two items from a distance with his waves of faith, which was basically the same thing as spiritual power, to see if the power inside was according to Lucien's words.

Then Lucien took out the amulet hiding beneath his shirt.

"Umm… Early stage of the War of Dawn… should be the style from that period of time." Arnold's eyes lit up a bit instantly when he saw the amulet, "I guess only families with long history like the Violet family are able to possess them."

Lucien's eyes squinted a bit from his confusion about the relationship between Maskelyne and the Church, but he knew that this was definitely not a proper time for investigating it. He put on a casual smile and put Alert and Asthenia Dagger on the table, "Alert, rewarded by the princess. And the dagger was from a level two dark knight killed by the princess."

"I see the coat of arms on the sword, yes." Arnold nodded. He checked them again and then said to Lucien, "Well… I think we're all set here. I sense that the night watchers are back, and after our verification, you'll be good to go, Mr. Evans."

Lucien waited patiently in the room for the bishop.

Ten minutes later, the bishop came back with smile, "No problem. Everything's clear now, Mr. Evans, although it's quite a pity that the necromancer's lab had been burned down by your fire balls during the fight, or we could find more information."

Lucien nodded to be polite, but did not say anything.

"And this is a reward from the Church. If it had not been for your brave fight, Mr. Evans, more innocent lives in Fogtown would suffer. You're a great contributor to the purity of the Church. And you're good to go now, Mr. Evans." The bishop handed Lucien a cross-shaped brooch, which was not a real divine item, but just a common gift for acknowledging Lucien's merit.

Lucien was almost amused: the Church was giving a reward to a sorcerer, a sorcerer who was on their Cleansing List… How ironic was that?

…

In the basement of the abbey in Aalto, there was no light and no sound.

Camil opened the door of the basement slowly without making any noise and entered the room. When she saw the princess, who was dressing pure black, kneeling on the floor and praying silently, Camil almost burst out tears.

The princess looked emaciated. Her practice here was to immerse herself in extreme darkness and silence in order to strengthen her will.

"What can I do for you, Your Grace?" Camil took a deep breath and walked to Natasha.

Slowly raising her head, Natasha smiled, "Did you bring paper and quill, auntie Camil?"

"Yes, as you wish." Camil handed the materials to the princess.

Writing something on the paper with effort, it took Natasha quite a bit of time to finish the letter. Then, she carefully folded the paper and gave it back to Camil, "Please, bring it to Mr. Othello."

…

In the afternoon, seven days later, in Korsor.

"We need to head for the Musicians' Association now." Wise and Mars said to Lucien and his guards, "You're welcome to visit us any time you want, Mr. Evans."

"Can I go with you?" Lucien smiled, "I have some personal things to deal with in the association as well. It would be lovely if you two could show me the way."

"Not a problem." Wise and Mars grinned.

Lucien was planning on sending letters to John and Natasha from there.

Chapter 149: The Newspaper

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"Can I get a ticket to your concert?" Betty also asked Wise with excitement.

"Sure. Not a problem, Betty. Thanks to the protection from all of you, I can still hold the concert." Wise smiled, "Even if you had not asked, I would still invite all of you."

Then, Wise turned to Lucien politely, "May I ask why you're going to the association, Mr. Evans? I mean… If there's anything I can help you with, please feel free to ask."

"Yes, please." Mars also nodded to Lucien out of gratitude. Thinking of the fact that he spent quite a long time with those filthy husks and the evil baron in the castle, sweat would still run from his forehead. Thus, he was very grateful to Lucien, who saved his life.

Betty, Simon and Joanna, while being quite excited about Wise's invitation, also felt a bit surprised that this resourceful Mr. Evans even had some connection in the Musicians' Association.

"Thank you, Mr. Wise, and thank you, Mr. Mars." Lucien slightly shook his head politely, "I'm not heading for the association for anything special, but just sending some letters to my friends. After all, the branches of the Musicians' Association across the continent have the most frequent communication between different countries, and sending letters through them always takes way less time than through a common messenger."

Although there were messengers in that world, no convenient postal system could be found there, especially between different countries. Ordinary people could only rely on caravans and travelers to send letters.

Mars smiled and nodded, "That's really true. Although the association definitely will not refuse the request from a knight serving the princess in the Duchy of Orvarit, they will still charge you a lot. More importantly, they will not send a Hearthmeer to deliver your letters, Mr. Evans."

"Hearthmeer? What is it?" asked Lucien. He had never heard the name before.

"Hearthmeer is a special kind of eagle originated in Djibouti. Those huge, powerful creatures, after training, are the best delivery birds, known for their great sense of direction. It only takes them ten days to do a round trip between Korsor and Aalto. And that's why the Musicians' Association in Djibouti can always receive the latest Music Criticism and Symphony News every month, around the fifth to the seventh day," explained Mars, the old musician. "If you don't mind, I can ask someone I know to help you get your letters sent by the eagles, Mr. Evans."

"Thanks a lot and sure, I'd love to, Mr. Mars. I'm just sending my letters to Aalto." Lucien nodded. He felt sorry that he would miss the latest newspapers to possibly gather some information of Natasha and Victor since he would not stay in Korsor until the newspapers arrived.

"The honor is mine, Mr. Evans." Mars smiled.

When Lucien was about to pay Simon, Joanna and Betty the last day's salary, Betty said to Lucien cheerfully, "I think it's not the time to part ways yet, Mr. Evans."

Then she turned to the two musicians, "Mr. Wise, Mr. Mars, can I have the chance to visit the association as well?"

Although both of Wise and Mars were a bit surprised, they soon smiled and nodded, "Sure, welcome."

"Mr. Simon, Mrs. Joanna… Would you like to come as well?" asked Wise.

"Well… yes, sure." Although Joanna was a bit pissed off with Betty, she was curious about the association as well.

…

Although Korsor was a major city in central-southern part of the continent, it was only about one fifth of the size of Aalto. The architectural style of the four-storey building of the Musicians' Association was older and simpler than the one in Aalto.

Furthermore, the guards there were also more strict than that of the association in Aalto. Standing in front of the iron railings, they would not let any stranger go in unless the visitor was some well-known musicians such as Mars. One of the guards was sent by Mr. Mars to report to the director of the association because Mr. Wise, the invited musician, also came.

A variety of beautiful crystal ornaments, huge pictures of different famous musicians, soft dark-red carpets, and a bright and wide space together constituted the hall of the Musicians' Association in Korsor.

While Betty, Joanna and Simon were looking around out of curiosity, a middle-aged man dressing in black showed up, followed by a couple of his colleagues, to welcome them.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Wise. Thank you so much for having your concert here in Korsor and welcome! I'm the director of the association, and my name's Caspar. These are my colleagues and some of our musicians. Welcome!" Caspar shook hand with Wise with great passion. After all, Wise was known as one of the most talented young musicians in the duchy.

Wise, in contrast, remained quite calm, "Thank you, Mr. Caspar. You already make me feel the passion of the city."

The musicians following Caspar also surrounded him, with the same passion and eagerness to welcome Wise. They even started to exchange their ideas about music directly in the hall and discuss the repertoire that Wise prepared for the concert. Lucien, Mars, Betty and the rest of them were just ignored.

"Wow… It's so great!" Although being ignored, Betty did not mind that at all. Her eyes were shining, "It feels really good seeing them talking about music like this!"

"When we awaken the Blessing," Joanna murmured to her husband, "we will go back to our hometown. We'll receive this warm welcome as well."

Everyone loved the feeling of being respected, and Simon was not an exception. He nodded seriously, "I'll follow Mr. Evans' words and stick to my practicing."

Lucie exchanged a smile with Mars. "Mr. Mars, I'm going to the counter to write my letters. Can you help me there?"

"I'll go with you to talk to Christie," said Mars, pointing to the seventeen-year-old black-haired girl, who was standing on tiptoes with her neck stretched, trying to see the young and talented musician, Wise, who was surrounded by a bunch of people right now.

"Christie." Mars called the girl's name when they got to the counter.

The girl did not turn around but waved her hands, "Wait. I'm busy here."

"Christie. It's me, Mars." He coughed a couple of times, feeling a bit amused.

"Ah… Sorry, Mr. Mars. Good to see you! Anything I can do for you?" Noticing that it was the well-known musician standing behind her, she quickly stood straight and asked nervously.

Mars had just survived in the fight against the husks and now was in a pretty good mood, so the girl's impoliteness did not bother him. Mar pointed at Lucian, "Provide Mr. Evans with some paper, pen and envelopes. When he finish his letters, send an eagle messenger as soon as possible to the Musicians' Association in Aalto."

"An eagle eats a lot of meat. Sending an eagle is expensive." Christie handed a pen, some paper and envelopes to Lucien, whispering.

"Not your business." Mars' face looked serious.

Christie quickly stuck out her tongue for a second but did not say anything. And then she took out a stack of newspapers, "Mr. Mars, would you like to get the latest issue of Music Criticism and Symphony News?"

"The latest issue?" Lucien, who was just about to write his letters, raised his head and asked together with Mars.

Christie nodded, "This month's issue was published earlier, and they just arrived at Korsor yesterday."

"Can I get one for each as well?" Lucien took out a Thale.

On the other side, Wise also noticed their conversation and walked to them with the the local musicians, "Beautiful lady, can I get the newspapers as well? And I'll buy the newspapers for Mr. Mars and Evans."

Although Betty, Joanna and Simon were not literate, hearing the name of the two most famous newspapers, they also came close to the counter out of curiosity.

"No problem, Mr. Wise," said Christie. She handed the newspapers to Wise, flushing, and then to Mars and Lucien.

Wise took a quick glance at the newspaper and amazedly said, "Mr. Lucien Evans composed another piece of piano sonata!"

"Yes, I read about it yesterday." Caspar nodded and praised, "Although only the first movement was published, it was as beautiful as a sweet dream."

Lucien was very confused. When did he just produce a new piece of piano sonata? Why he himself had no idea about that?

Turning the latest Music Criticism to the second page, Wise started to read the music score and hum the melody in his soft and gentle voice.

Immediately when he heard the familiar melody, Lucien recognized the first movement of Moonlight Sonata, and realized who published the sonata for him.

A smile appeared on Lucien's face.

"This piano sonata was from the famous musician, Mr. Lucien Evans, during his trip. Although only the first movement was published, the combination of wonderful melody, the tranquil atmosphere created by the fingerings and the innovation made in the genre of piano sonata still catches everyone's mind instantly without difficulty. Mr. Lucien Evans's new music piece breaks the fast—slow—fast arrangements of the music genre, and brings us to the peaceful night, where the dream-like moonlight shines on a sparkling lake…"

Below the review article, Lucien saw the familiar name, "Natasha Orvarit."

Although Lucien was glad to have some of his friend's information from the newspaper, he was confused why, all of a sudden, Natasha published the first movement of Moonlight Sonata for him.

"Beautiful… but a bit sad." Listening to Wise's humming, Betty praised sincerely, "Mr. Lucien Evans' music is amazing. No wonder the major newspapers would publish earlier than usual."

"Earlier than usual…" Something occurred to Lucien and he hurriedly turned the newspaper to the front page, and he saw that the publish date of the newspaper at the top was printed red words, that were a bit bigger as well: June 26th, 816.

Lucien grinned. It was the princess's way of saying "Happy Birthday" and "Happy Coming-of-age."

Chapter 150: The Letters

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien's chuckle did not attract anyone's attention, because they had begun to eagerly discuss the famous musician Lucien Evans' new sonata.

"Mr. Wise, it looks like you are very fond of the first movement of Moonlight, and I suggest that we go to the piano room to try to play it. After all, we've been standing in the hall for quite a long time." Caspar invited Wise to go upstairs.

Wise nodded and laughed, "That's very considerate."

Following Wise and Caspar, the musicians and instrumentalists immediately left for the piano room on the second floor.

Betty said to Lucien, "This is a rare opportunity! Mr. Evans, let's go upstairs together!"

"Yes, Mr. Evans, let's go." Holding hands, both Joanna and Simon were quite excited.

Lucien shook his head and smiled, "For me, writing my letters is more important."

"All right then…" said Betty with a bit disappointment, but soon she cheered up and said to Joanna and Simon, "Hurry up!"

They were guessing that Mr. Evans, as a princess' knight, must have met too many good musicians in Aalto, to the point he wouldn't get easily excited like them.

Seeing Betty, Simon and Joanna going upstairs hurriedly, Mars also apologized to Lucien, "Mr. Evans, excuse me, I don't want to miss this precious opportunity as well. Please just feel yourself at home in the association. When you finish your letters, just give them to Christie, and I'll take care of the rest of the procedure."

"Thank you, Mr. Mars. I will." Lucien slightly nodded and watched Mars leaving. As the hall did not have tables, Lucien just stood next to the counter and began to write.

Looking at the second floor, Christie sighed, "Why do I have to stay here… I'm gonna miss Mr. Wise's playing." Then, she started to walk restlessly behind the counter.

Lucien just ignored Christie and wrote down his two-month traveling experience in detail, mainly about the beautiful scenery along the way, the unique national customs, and the monsters and robbers he had met. Lucien did not stop until he realized that his words had already filled up more than seven pages.

Putting the first letter in the envelop, Lucien carefully wrote down Joel's address on it, and then started to write his second letter.

The second one was for Natasha. On the basis of the first letter, Lucien added lots of knowledge of folk music in different nations that he encounter during his trip. The second letter had more than twenty pages.

Christie slightly frowned her brows and thought to herself, "What a wordy man…"

At the end of the letter, Lucien wrote down the last paragraph with a big smile on his face, "Your birthday is coming, Your Grace. May I send my Happy Birthday to you in advance from afar?"

After the second envelop was loaded, Lucien got himself some more papers to work on the third letter for Christopher, the previous president of the Musicians' Association in Aalto.

Seeing that Lucien was still writing, Christie, who was feeling very bored, started to get curious. She wondered how many more letters this young man was still going to write and where would the letters be sent to.

Taking a glance at the envelops beside him, Christie noticed an eye-catching name:

"Natasha Orvarit."

"Wait… Is this THE Natasha Orvarit? The princess in Aalto?" thinking about it, Christie almost burst out an exclamation.

Natasha's name often appeared on Music Criticism and Symphony News, so this name was actually very familiar to people from other countries. And, also, Orvarit was a very unique surname, unlike Evans, and that was why Christie directly linked the name to the princess in Aalto.

"What is the relationship between this guy and the princess in Aalto, the countess from the Violet family?" Christie wondered with great curiosity and surprise, "Hold on… just now Mr. Mars called him Mr. Evans… Is he THE Evans? The famous and talented musician, Lucien Evans?!"

Evans, even in Korsor, was not a rare surname. Actually, Christie also had a friend whose surname was Evans. However, there was only one Mr. Evans who she could link to the princess in the Duchy of Orvarit.

She almost released a scream out of excitement!

Christie's careful tiny movements were all caught by Lucien's eyes. He was a bit amused but did not say anything.

At this time, Caspar's voice came from upstairs as they were walking out of the piano room.

"Very impressive!" Caspar praised, "Mr. Wise, you're genuinely a music talent. It only took you a couple of times of practicing to present the complete first movement of Moonlight Sonata to us."

"Moonlight Sonata is definitely beautiful." Wise smiled, "I feel the emotional connection in the movement. Honestly speaking, I did not put too much skills in the playing. The music itself is gorgeous enough, isn't it?"

"What about you trying to compose the following two movements of Moonlight Sonata, Mr. Wise? I bet many big men in Korsor would love to read your work," Caspar suggested. Caspar's family declined many years ago, and with his relatively limited talent in music, regaining the name of his family on his own was a hopeless dream. So, Caspar was working on seizing every opportunity to build connections with major noble families to possibly get his title back, and music was definitely a good way.

"Thank you for your encouragement, Mr. Caspar." Wise smiled and shook his head gently, "But I'm not even close to Mr. Lucien Evans. I would rather not ruin the masterpiece."

"I see. You're just being too humble," said Caspar, and the other people agreed. When they walked downstairs and came to the hall, Caspar said to Wise, "I've found a nice villa for you to take a rest and prepare for the concert."

"Thanks a lot, Mr. Caspar." Wise and the rest of the people walked toward the gate together.

"Lucien Evans! You're Mr. Lucien Evans!" At this time, Christie's high-pitched voice came into their ears.

Christie knew for sure that the young man standing in front of her was the top musician, Lucien Evans, when she saw that he was actually writing a music score in his third letter.

In the quiet hall, Christie's voice was penetrating.

The people walking toward the gate stopped out of surprise. Among them, Mars looked back and asked, "What are you talking about, Christie?"

Christie almost jumped up from the floor. She pointed at the young man standing beside the counter and said to Mars carefully, "He… he is THE Lucien Evans, from Aalto."

She was trying to keep her voice down but her words still sounded very clear.

"What? The Lucien Evans…?" Betty was confused.

"Lucien Evans, the great musician. He's writing a piece of music score right now." Christie tried hard to explain.

"Ahhh…!" Betty first released a scream out of great surprise and then ran toward Lucien. When she saw what Lucien was writing, Betty almost could not speak properly, "Evans… You're Lucien?"

"Yes, I am. And I told you before that I serve the princess." Lucien just smiled while his right hand continued writing.

Hearing Lucien's answer, the two young girls, Betty and Christie, almost passed out due to their great excitement, while Joanna and Simon felt like in a dream—they just could not imagine that the powerful knight and the great musician were actually the same person.

Wise's face flushed. He felt embarrassed that he even played Mr. Evans' music in front of him.

Walking past Wise, Caspar hurriedly rushed to Lucien, "Mr. Evans! If you need any help here in Korsor, just tell me!"

"Well…" Lucien nodded to Caspar for greeting and said to him, "Can I register this in the association before I send it?" He handed the third letter to Caspar.

"Sure! Hold on… this is…" A big smile appeared on Caspar's face, "Is this the second and the third movement of Moonlight Sonata?" Caspar recognized the music style immediately.

"Yes." Lucien added another piece of paper there in the third letter and said to Caspar, "After the registration, I need to send the letter to Mr. Christopher as soon as possible."

The final piece of paper was a note from Lucien to Mr. Christopher:

"Please make sure that the rest of the sonata will be published on the seventh issue of Music Criticism on July 30th. Many thanks, sir."

"We'll take care of the registration immediately." Caspar tried his very best to please Lucien, "Mr. Evans, is it possible that we can invite you to hold a concert in Korsor?"

"Sorry, I got another appointment already, and I'm leaving tomorrow," answered Lucien.

Only Lucien himself knew what the appointment was—the Feast of Death.

Chapter 151: The Prelude to the Feast

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

On the main street of Korsor, Lucien, together with Joanna, Betty and Simon, walked slowly toward the city gate. In the sky, an eagle flew high above them with a parcel on its back and a large basket of fresh meat hanging in front of its chest.

"Mr. Evans, are you really going to leave Korsor today?" Betty looked quite sad. When she listened to the musicians of the association trying to play the two movements composed by Mr. Evans after the music had been registered, she was completely convinced that this handsome and elegant young man was her favorite musician, Lucien Evans, who she had been dating with in her dreams.

The great variety of complex piano playing skills, the unpredictably wonderful melody, the thrilling passion, as well as the high-spirited will were all major representatives of Mr. Lucien Evans' unique style. Moonlight Sonata was undoubtedly another outstanding and impressive masterpiece from Lucien Evans.

Earlier, when Lucien was wandering the streets in Korsor, he paid great attention to the possible secret messages left by the organizer of the gathering, and within Lucien's expectation, the gathering was delayed: due to Hunt's death, the gathering was postponed to three days later but still at the same place. However, Lucien still did not plan to stay in Korsor any longer, in order to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

So, he smiled to Betty and said, "Sorry, I still have some other important things to do. If you stick to your knight training, maybe we'll meet again in Aalto when you become a real knight. If that happens, I will compose a song and play it especially for you."

"Really?" Betty was very surprised that her idol actually promised her that. Full of motivation, Betty nodded with great determination, "I will become a real knight."

"Thank you, Mr. Evans, for encouraging Betty. That's very important to her." Joanna and Simon really appreciated Lucien's kindness.

"It's just a little gift." Lucien turned around, "And also because our journey is memorable. Well… I have to go now."

"Wait… Mr. Evans. You don't need guards anymore? It's already late afternoon now…" Betty still did not want to let him go.

Lucien titled his head slightly and smiled, "You really think I need bodyguards, Betty?"

"Humm… Then why did you hire us, may I ask?" asked Joanna curiously.

"It's nice having my guards to take care of all the trifles for me during the trip. But now, because of what happened to the baron, I got some emergent stuff here and need to hurry to deal with them. I'm way faster cutting corners by myself than sitting in a coach." Lucien's answer was blurry but also reasonable, which did not make his guards feel suspicious at all.

"I see…" Betty muttered, "Then you take care, Mr. Evans."

"I will." Lucien waved his hand, "You three, too. Hope we can see each other again."

Watching Lucien's figure gradually disappear under the afternoon sunshine, Betty, Joanna and Simon almost felt that the journey was like a dream.

After checking their purses again, which were full of Thales, they knew that the great experience was not a dream. What they should do now was to pay a noble to receive formal knight training.

…

The Musicians' Association, Korsor.

Standing beside the counter in the hall, Caspar stared at the place where Lucien had been writing his letter, "Christie, how about we build an iron and steel statue of Mr. Lucien Evans, you know… a statue like he was writing down his music here. And we tell other people that the young genius musician Lucien Evans once produced one of his famous piano sonatas here. I mean, right here!" Caspar pointed at the counter, "I bet lots of big nobles would like to visit the association because of the statue."

After Lucien refused his proposal for hosting a concert, Caspar was now working on some new ideas.

"Yes… I guess…" Christie murmured as if she was still in a dream. She actually did not pay any attention to Caspar's words.

Caspar touched his chin thoughtfully, frowning and talking to Christie randomly. Both of them were right now immersed in their own world related to the famous musician, Lucien Evans.

At this time, an employee of the association returned, "Mr. Caspar, I have led Mr. Wise to the villa to have a rest first. Any other orders?"

"Nothing, but just do not bother me." Caspar waved his hand impatiently, "What do you think of putting Mr. Evans' portrayal in the hall?"

…

IN the third week of July, there was a shining silver moon hanging high in the night sky, pouring its bright and clear light from above.

Bathed in the moonlight, Lucien swiftly cross the mountains and forests. Soon, he was already able to see the beautiful, mirror-like lake close to the castle.

The castle was still the same as what Lucien saw the last time. The pointy, tall and thin towers surrounding the main building looked like horrible demon paws in the night sky, stretching and scratching the sky. However, this time, there were already many in black hooded robes waiting outside the castle. Lucien took a quick glance and found that there were at least three or four hundred of them.

Among the crowd, there were a few people, some male and some female, who looked very special. Their robes were of different colors and there was no hood covering their faces, as if they were not afraid of being recognized at all. These people shaped a loose small circle with some other ones wearing hoods and were chatting casually together, while the rest of the invitees stayed away from them as if they were afraid of those who were not wearing a hood.

Lucien quickly thought to himself that those people should be real sorcerers instead of apprentices and their true appearances were changed by the first circle magic, Disguise Self. Because the spell would not work when someone was facing another person whose spiritual power or willpower was more than two levels higher than himself or herself, Lucien's guessing was that those people who were not wearing hoods should be middle-ranked mages.

After a quick counting, Lucien surprisingly found out that there were only twenty three real sorcerers in Djibouti, and he wondered if there were only twenty three across the whole territory. After all, this piece of land, which originally belonged to the great necromancer, Wilfred, consisted of two duchies and one independent county, and the area it covered was way broader than the Duchy of Orvarit.

Lucien slowly walked out from the shadow and headed toward the gate. Some of the black-robed people turned around and took a glance at him, but after that, no one took the initiative to talk to him. So, he stopped beside the four sorcerer apprentices and quietly listened to their conversation which was full of words such as "body", "eyeball", "hatred" and "revenant".

"H… Hey… I'm from the south mountain range of Djibouti. Where are you from?" A round-figured apprentice greeted Lucien. His black robe bulged from his obvious beer belly.

"I'm from Kazan. Nice to meet you. And you can call me by my pseudonym, Professor." Lucien answered politely.

Kazan was a small independent county close beside Dragon Tooth town.

"I see… Kazan. Welcome to Djibouti. Just call me Fatty." Apparently, Fatty had never heard of the name Professor before. "This are Garrupa, Bread and Wine."

Lucien took a glance at Fatty's belly, feeling a bit suspicious whether his big belly was real, "It's my first time joining a gathering like this. Never expected that there would be so many people here. Are there more coming?"

"Almost all of the sorcerers and apprentices from the nearby three nations are here, except those people who only work on their own." Bread, a stout apprentice answered in a low voice, "I heard that from the distinguished sorcerer who led us here."

"Distinguished sorcerer…" Lucien murmured.

"There they are." Fatty carefully pointed at the twenty three sorcerers gathering on the other side and introduced with a mixed feeling of respect, fear and admiration.

Even in today's Aalto, a sorcerer apprentice hardly received any recognition, not to mention respect within the circle of magic. Although there they were called as "sorcerer apprentice", there was a huge gap between an apprentice and a real sorcerer, and often the gap was insurmountable for many people, even though they spent their whole life working on it. Furthermore, for some lunatic ancient sorcerers, apprentices often stood for experimental materials.

In this gathering, there was only one sorcerer for each twenty apprentices.

At that time, all of a sudden, Fatty got scared and his voice trembled, "What… what's going on here?"

The sorcerers just secretly surrounded Lucien and the other four apprentices.

"Who're you?" The leading old man, who was almost as skinny as a mummy, asked Lucien harshly, "You'd better confess. None of us know you."

The questioning was totally out of Lucien's expectation. How did the sorcerers differentiate him from the other people?

However, soon Lucien realized that it was because of the organization form of the Feast of Death: After the viscount found the several sorcerers who he felt were trustworthy, these sorcerers produced their own lists for inviting the other sorcerers and the apprentices. Therefore, since there was nobody knowing Lucien here, he became rather suspicious in the eyes of the sorcerers.

Chapter 152: The Dangerous Felipe

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Everyone present remained quiet, staring at the stranger with great alertness, and some of them even started to check their surroundings, worrying that they might had been ambushed by the church.

In the cold stare of the sorcerers and apprentices, under the gaze of some bloodthirsty eyes, with the sound of Fatty's teeth rattling out of fear, Lucien calmly took out his invitation and explained, "I am a guest invited by Viscount Carendia".

Seeing that Lucien stayed rather calm, the mummy-like old man's face eased a little bit. Another apprentice took Lucien's invitation and unfolded it for him.

The symbol of a tall black hat on the invitation was a bit tilted with some sense of humor. The old man who took the leading role glanced at the other sorcerers around, "This invitation was not sent by me."

The other sorcerers looked at the invitation held by the apprentice and also denied.

The muscles of the old man's face pulled when he was speaking, "Although your invitation is not from somebody else, but we still can not make sure that it was sent by the viscount. To ensure the safety of everyone here, I think we should wait until Viscount Carendia and his steward, Nied, show up. You agree?"

"Sounds fair enough." Lucien remained polite.

"You can call me Cessy, by the way. I'm 4th circle sorcerer," said the old man. He did not want to offend this mysterious attendee imprudently before figuring out his true identity, just in case that he was even more powerful than him.

"Mr. Cessy. I understand your concern and I don't mind waiting here at all." Lucien nodded, "You can call me Professor."

"Good." The old man, a necromancer, asked, "Then, Mr. Professor, are you a sorcerer… or an apprentice?"

Through their conversation and Lucien's attitude, Cessy started to become a little bit convinced that Lucien was really a guest of the viscount.

"A sorcerer," Lucien answered shortly.

The apprentices whom Lucien was talking to were pretty surprised to know that Professor was actually a real sorcerer, since his attitude was way nicer than most of the other arrogant and cold sorcerers who were gathering together on their own on the other side.

"Hope we can exchange some ideas over the meeting." Cessy's attitude toward Lucien eased a little further.

"In fact, I'm not a necromancer," said Lucien honestly.

Although Lucien indeed had roughly read the Book of Necromancy, and had some ideas about the structure of human body, he knew that he could not rely on his own understanding and his previous knowledge of this branch of magic.

And by the way, according to the Book of Necromancy, regardless of practicing meditation or studying necromancer spells, long-time staying with rotten corpses was often required, and it was easy for the person practicing it to be infected with some terrible toxins or something filthy. Apart from making breakthroughs to move to higher circles in order to resist to the possible infection, only a few kinds of potions could be used to tackle the problem. So, with Astrology and Elements in his hand, Lucien right now did not want to take the risk to focus on necromantic spells but just copied the structures of a couple of the not-that-disgusting ones, intending to analyze them.

Cessy's mummy-like face looked surprised, "Then why are you here? The Feast of Death… is for necromancers."

The other attendees also found it strange.

Before Lucien answered Cessy's question, the heavy gate of the old castle slowly opened, and the steward of the castle, Nied, showed up, still dressing decently and behaving in an elegant manner.

"Mr. Professor's indeed a special guest invited by the lord," explained Nied seriously.

"Then we're assured now." Representing the other sorcerers and apprentices, Cessy responded.

Nied slightly nodded and continued, "Mr. Professor also came from the headquarter of the Congress of Magic, and he's a powerful sorcerer."

"The congress… powerful…" Often being dull and cold, although the steward's words were pretty surprising, the necromancers and apprentices were only whispering to each other, peeking at Lucien carefully.

"Why there's another sorcerer here from the headquarter of the Congress of Magic tonight?" Cessy immediately noticed the word Nied used—"also".

"Mr. Professor's attendance was out of expectation, and he's just dropping by." Although the steward's words were quite hard to believe, what Nied was saying was true, "And Mr. Professor's power is widely recognized. He ranks no. 359 on the Church's Cleansing List."

"What? Cleansing List?!" Even the gloomy necromancers could not stay calm anymore. Even though not all of them knew who were all the people on the list, everyone present was aware of the fact that anyone who was on the list, without exception, had the same power as a senior-rank and was capable of affecting or even destroying a whole nation.

With regards to tracking the powerful sorcerers, the Church had been enjoying quite a good reputation all throughout history.

The necromancers and apprentices started to be awed by Lucien, and some of the necromancers felt concerned that they just surrounded the powerful sorcerer in a rude manner. They were guessing that, as a sorcerer on the list, Professor should at least be a senior-rank mage.

Cessy paused a bit and took Nied's words, "Mr. Professor, please forgive us for being rude to you earlier. We have been yearning for the headquarter of the Congress of Magic."

Cessy believe that Professor and Felipe, the one who initiated the Feast of Death, didn't get along very well, and their conflict was very likely to involve the internal struggle between different factions of the congress. So, he mindfully mentioned the congress as a whole instead of taking a standpoint supporting either side.

"Don't worry about it. In fact, if you couldn't identify a stranger among the attendees, I'd be very disappointed." Seeing that all the people present started to respect him a lot since they misunderstood that he was a powerful, senior-rank sorcerer, Lucien instantly took the opportunity and started to pretend that he was really someone important by maintaining the big man's tone.

"Mr. Professor, my lord wants to meet you in the study first, and Mr. Felipe's there as well." said Nied. Then he turned to Cessy and the other sorcerers, "Soon there'll be waiters guiding you into the hall, Mr. Cessy."

Although Lucien really did not want to have a close talk with Mr. Felipe, he had no way to refuse the offer. So, he had no choice but to follow Nied through the terrifying darkness of the castle all the way to the study.

Watching Professor's figure gradually disappearing in the darkness, Fatty burst out an exclamation, "Wow… Cool! Cleansing List."

"I wish one day I'd be on the list, too," said Wine out of great admiration.

Somehow, being on the Church's Cleansing List, in many necromancers' and even apprentices' eyes, was a great goal to brag their achievement and power.

…

In the study, the viscount in red shirt and black coat and another man witnessed everything that happened on the lawn downstairs from the window.

"Not very aggressive… Mr. Professor." Seeing that Lucien was not aggravated by the necromancers, the viscount commented with a glass of wine in his hand, looking rather relaxed.

The man standing beside the viscount had black hair and pupils. His nose was straight and high and his lips were thin. He was definitely handsome, but his face looked rather pale, as if he was sick. Wearing a black shirt with gigot sleeves, the man was covered with a long, black coat, which was not common to see in inland countries. The man responded to the viscount's comment in a gloomy and serious tone, "The church's comment on Professor is 'extremely cunning and very dangerous', you cannot easily judge him based on his one single reaction."

"I know. The fact that the Will of Elements or Holm Royal Magic Academy sent Professor here obviously means that they're confident that Professor is capable enough of confronting you, Mr. Felipe." Viscount Carendia took an outsider's standpoint and said casually, "I suggest you be careful first before you want to take any action, or you'll be in great risk. It's not easy, for sure."

Felipe looked back at his entourage, and then sipped his red wine, "the Will of Elements is certainly not clear about my current power, but I also have no idea how powerful the mysterious Professor is. I wonder who's this Professor? Larry, Timothy or Ulysses? "

These names were of people he knew and were of the same level as him, but belonged to the Will of Elements or Holm Royal Magic Academy. However, none of them conformed to the identity information they had on Professor. So, he shook his head slightly and continued, "Professor… Professor… It seems he was pretty proud of his arcana level… So his magic level is possibly not much higher than that of his arcana… might even be the same."

Felipe stopped here, but two shivering clusters of pale flame appeared in his eyes.

Sipping his wine, the viscount changed the topic, "I heard that the musician, Lucien Evans, is in Djibouti right now. Ha… the princess must be very concerned about her sweet little lover traveling along this far, or she would not send Professor to Djibouti to secretly protect her toy boy. And your Feast of Death happens to be held during the same time. What a coincidence!"

"It's not a surprise, and I'm sure it's not a coincidence. Firstly, based on the relationship that Natasha has with that one, asking Professor to do her a favor is not difficult. Professor must have somehow directed Lucien Evans to take this way toward Djibouti, so he could take care of both his tasks at the same time. Otherwise, how would the great musician want to visit this remote and poor place? Kidding…"

…

Lucien had no idea which floor the study was on. The darkness of the castle devoured everything.

There were three people in the familiar study. Apart from the viscount, there was a pale-looking young man, and a tall and strong middle-aged man.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Professor. I'm Felipe." Felipe's smile was gloomy and sophisticated. His eyes had pale flames inside and stared straight at Lucien.

All of a sudden, Lucien was terrified by Felipe's aggressive aura. He felt cold and greatly threatened. The last time he had the same feeling was when Camil was looking at him after activating her Blessing.

Lucien quickly concluded that, even if Felipe was not of senior rank yet, he was definitely very close to that level. However, Lucien was not sure why Felipe would be this hostile toward him.

The only possible answer was that the Will of Elements or Holm Royal Magic Academy did not get along well with the faction that he represented in the congress.

At that point Lucien finally realized that the ring given by Natasha, the one he was wearing when he first met the viscount, did him a great favor, but and also dragged him into a very difficult situation.

Lucien tried his best to stay calm. After all, it was not the first time that he pretended to be someone important and powerful. He was also aware that the only possible reason that Felipe did not directly attack him was that he was also hesitant and felt uncertain about his power because of the rumors about Professor!

With his brain remaining cool and after catching this key point, Lucien smiled politely, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Felipe. I have long heard of your name."

Chapter 153: The Hand of Paleness

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien's attitude was not out of Felipe's expectation, so he put on an elegant smile, "It's my great pleasure that Professor actually heard my name before."

However, although he was saying that, in Felipe's mind, as a talent who had already published his first article on the influential journal Magic, he felt that of course Professor should have heard his name.

Then, Felipe changed his tone, "But it seems that you don't really value this gathering, Professor. We are all from the congress, and you're still wearing that ugly black hood? That doesn't match your status."

Lucien knew that now every word he said might put him at great risk, but remaining silent all the time would definitely make him more suspicious. So, he carefully kept his answer short and answered with a husky tone, "Honestly, I don't want you, Mr. Felipe, to stir any trouble for me when we get back to Allyn."

At first, when Lucien was trying to use the identity Professor to pretend that he was a member from the Will of Elements, Lucien did not expect to have such a big trouble, and even his crystal ball did not suggest anything specific. After all, it was totally unexpected that even within the congress there was such great conflict between different factions. Although Lucien's only intention―as well as his major goal―was to find out who was the liaison in Sturk, this Mr. Felipe would definitely give him a hard time, and Lucien was almost regretful that he decided to use the identity of Professor without a second thought.

Lucien knew that he was in a dilemma. It was impossible for him to just admit everything right now in front of this guy.

"Well… You're pretty straightforward, Professor," said Felipe. Then he pointed at the long couch on the other side of the study, "We still got some time before the gathering. I'd like to have a conversation with you… you know, to exchange some ideas."

Then Felipe turned to the viscount, "Do you mind?"

"Of course not. Go ahead." The viscount did not care. He raised his glass of wine a bit and nodded casually.

Although Lucien didn't want to talk to him at all, he forced himself to stay calm and sat down on the couch, "What do you want to talk about, Mr. Felipe?"

Inside Lucien's mind, he was praying that Felipe would not mention anything about the congress or the Kingdom of Holm. He knew nothing about them!

"No… No… No…" Lucien said to himself in his mind, and his heart was beating so fast that it almost jumped out of his throat.

The pale flame in Felipe's eyes disappeared and his dark pupils came back.With a gloomy smile on his face, Felipe pointed at the man standing close by, "This is my student, Cleveland, and he's also a second circle sorcerer studying necromantic magic after me."

Lucien simply nodded to the middle-aged man.

Then Felipe continued, "Besides that, Cleveland's also interested in Element magic. After Mr. Donald won the twenty-fifth ring from Holm Crown prize recently with his groundbreaking research analyzing new elements by introducing the knowledge of spectral analysis, Cleveland is planning to write an arcana essay on spectral analysis as well. However, he definitely needs some help there and that's why I started to gain some interest in the field of Element as well. If you don't mind, Mr. Professor, maybe we can exchange some ideas over this topic." When he was talking with great confidence, Felipe crossed his fingers and Lucien noticed that his left hand was missing the little finger.

Although Lucien could tell that Felipe must be very confident when talking about the Element school, he felt very lucky that Felipe did not go to the directions where he knew nothing about.

Feeling a bit more relaxed, Lucien quickly started to analyze Felipe's intention. Now that Felipe did not ask him anything about the congress and the Kingdom of Holm, Lucien was certain that Felipe was not doubting his identity right now. Instead, he was talking about arcana, and that meant this topic was more important than anything else.

However, what Lucien wanted to figure out was that why a necromancer wanted to talk about elements and arcana? What could this do for him?

Lucien was guessing that Felipe was probably trying to test his knowledge or his arcana level.

Based on Lucien's past experience in the small circle of magic in Aalto, it was not difficult for Lucien to link knowledge to power in this world, which was also true in his original world. He was not almost certain that Felipe was trying to test his arcana level to figure out how powerful he actually was and then, based on that, to decide whether he should directly attack him, since the best way to figure out one's arcana level was to talk about the cutting-edged knowledge in the person's professional field.

Thinking of that, Lucien really learned his lesson this time. He knew that he was becoming more and more careless from many times of being lucky and getting abundant rewards. Fortunately, Felipe was only talking about the fundamental principles of Element arcana, and Lucien, being the opposite of the most common cases, had more profound knowledge of the scientific facts, which was understood as arcana knowledge here, behind the magic phenomena. In other words, Lucien's arcana level should be higher than that of his magic power.

"Mr. Professor?" Seeing that Lucien remaining silent, Felipe pushed him in a threatening tone, and the pale flame appeared in Felipe's eyes again. He was waiting for the mysterious Professor to reveal his knowledge and power.

Lucien smiled, "I happen to have some understanding in spectral analysis. However, I prefer that we do not dig into this field too much, since there's nothing else more valuable than knowledge, right? I can't just say everything to you straightforwardly without getting any compensation."

Spectrum was a topic that was relatively familiar to Lucien since he had read a couple of related books in his spirit library, and he also to some degree understood the principle of the atomic knowledge involved. Furthermore, according to Lucien, the researches in the field of Element, which was actually Chemistry in his original world, still remained at the macro level. In other words, sorcerers here acknowledged a bunch of chemical phenomena but without knowing why, and that was the key point limiting them from finding more new elements.

Speaking about this, after Lucien became a real sorcerer, some of the books in his spirit library were unlocked, and the knowledge in those unlocked books was all relatively basic.

Lucien did not realize the change in his spirit library until he first tried to do his astrology meditation during his trip. This also confirmed Lucien's guess that the seals of the books should come from the suppression of the power of the world's origin. Lucien could only contend with and unlock the seals by strengthening his soul and spiritual power.

"Fair enough. Although, to be honest, as a sorcerer from the Hand of Paleness, I quite dislike people from the Will of Element. I think we can be straightforward with this, ha. I do respect others' research results and I won't steal them," said Felipe. Seeing that Professor still remained quite calm, Felipe had a bad feeling that Professor might really have an insight into this field, which meant he was a sorcerer of high arcana level. And, in most cases, one's magic level should still be lower than the person's magic level.

Leaning against the couch, Lucien started his speech, "The theoretical basis of spectral analysis is that the combustion of different elements produces different flame colors and lights. While the flame colors can be overlapped and covered by each other, the spectrum cannot. Through the analysis called spectrocolorimetry, the ranges and colors of bright spectral lines are independent and they do not affect each other. And that's why spectral analysis can be used to identify different elements and discover new elements."

During Lucien's short speech, he also used a couple of elements for example, whose principles worked basically the same with some elements in his original world.

Felipe listened to Lucien's explanation carefully and raised a few questions from time to time. When Lucien finished his words, Felipe applauded gently and commented, "Impressive explanation. Even clearer and easier to understand than Mr. Donald's arcana paper."

Although he was saying so, Felipe started to keep an even stricter vigilance over the man sitting across him on the couch.

Seizing the chance, Lucien continued, "In fact, spectral analysis is more on the application side. In order to find new elements, we don't need to go too far more than just mechanically doing experiments. However, what we need to think about is why the spectrum of each element is different? Why don't they overlap? Why there are bright and dark spectral lines? As far as I'm concerned, these are the directions that we shall pursue in order to deepen our arcana knowledge, and I believe that is Mr. Douglas' true intention of defining Arcana."

Felipe was very surprised with Professor's insight into the field, and even the viscount who was listening to their conversation casually on the other side of the study was touched by Professor's questions. When the arcanists in the Congress of Magic were still wild with joy with finding new elements, the man sitting on the couch was seeking for the nature of these findings.

"If we can explore more about the world itself…" Felipe murmured. He could not help but think of the shocking comment that master Douglas, the Emperor of Arcana, once addressed, and the young man sitting in front of him at that moment shocked him again.

"Professor's arcana level might be even higher than mine!" Felipe thought to himself.

…

It was almost the time for the Feast of Death.

All of a sudden, the huge castle started to move in the darkness of the night. The tall towers became its strong stone arms. When the arms pressed against the ground, the lower part of the castle was pulled out from the ground.

Keeping the balance, the castle secretly "walked" toward the mountains and gradually became invisible.

No wonder the location of the Feast of Death never changed…

Chapter 154: The Feast of Death

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Then there was a sophisticated smile on Felipe's pale face, "Professor, surely in the field of Element you really have an extraordinary insight and unique perspective. Someone like you should definitely enjoy great reputation and high status in the academic community. So, forgive my curiosity, I really wonder whether you're one of the people I know?"

Hearing Felipe's comment, Lucien knew that he got lucky again and barely passed Felipe's test this time. So Lucien laughed in a fake voice, "Maybe when I become a high-rank mage, and if we meet in Allyn again, I'll tell you, Felipe."

Facing Lucien's attitude of being confident and straightforward, Felipe was a bit pissed off. Lucien also sensed the change of Felipe's aura. Hearing many times that necromancers were even crazier than sorcerers from other schools, Lucien's heart was beating very fast, although no one could tell his great nervousness from the way he looked.

Even the viscount slowly put down his wine glass and became alert. Although he did not want to be involved in the conflict within the congress, Carendia of course would not want to see his castle being ruined.

At this very moment, Lucien calmly picked up the tea cup on the table and took a sip, "Felipe, if you have no other questions regarding my research field, I would like to exchange some ideas with you about some unique ancient necromantic spells."

As a guest that hadn't been invited by Felipe himself, the major host of the Feast of Death, Lucien felt that he should take his revenge and retaliate after being tested, and also, a question like this should be proper to distract Felipe for a moment.

Although Felipe felt challenged, exactly as Lucien expected, for a second he forgot about the fact that he was going to lose his temper. Apparently, this cunning and mysterious Professor wanted to see how powerful and profound Felipe was.

Felipe's eyes gradually narrowed.

Seizing the chance, the viscount interposed between them, "I think we're running out of time now, Mr. Felipe and Mr. Professor. The Feast of Death is about to start. What about exchanging more ideas afterwards?"

"Sure," Lucien responded instantly.

Felipe also felt relieved that his conversation with Professor was ended by the viscount. So he stood up and apologized, "Sorry, I forgot about the time."

"No worries." Carendia waved his hand casually, and then he said to his steward, "Nied, can you lead Mr. Professor to the hall first? I still need to borrow a couple of minutes from Mr. Felipe."

Waiting until Lucien and Nied left the study, the viscount said to him, "Mr. Felipe, maybe you do not care, but this castle was left by my grandfather, and I cherish it a lot. So, if you really want a fight, please pick somewhere else."

Felipe lowered his head and smiled, "Although I often feel out of control, I still know how to respect the owner of a place. My viscount, you can rest assured. The only possibility that I would choose to have a fight with Professor is either if I could kill him within thirty seconds, or if he stepped on my toes."

In this crazy necromancer's dictionary, the premise of "respect the owner of a place" was that the owner should be powerful enough to be respected. Felipe remained respectful to the viscount since the latter's power was no inferior his, even though Carendia was not a senior-rank vampire yet.

"That'll be great." The viscount raised his glass again, "And I'll inform Mr. Professor as well."

Then, Carendia left the study for the gathering, and Felipe and Cleveland slowly followed him.

"Master, why didn't you attack Professor directly to test him? Anyone could tell that he's afraid of you from his way of dressing." Although Cleveland, the middle-aged man, was twice Felipe's size, he respected his master a lot, "He'll definitely bring trouble to us later during the feast."

Felipe slowly shook his head and answered, "I'm glad that I tested him in a different way. I think his power has increased a lot since the time when he was first registered on the Church's Cleansing List."

Pausing his steps, Felipe took a glance at his student, Cleveland, and was about to tell his student something. After opening his mouth, Felipe changed his mind and said nothing but followed the viscount in silence.

…

Following the steward, Lucien felt that he was exhausted. Facing this crazy Felipe was a great test to Lucien's will and soul.

At the same time, Lucien also gained some information from their conversation. He could sort of figure it out that the faction which held hostility toward the Will of Element and Holm Royal Magic Academy seemed to be an organization called the Hand of Paleness. From its name, Lucien guessed that it was a necromancer group, and based on that, Lucien suspected that the intention of Felipe hosting this feast was to enroll more necromancers to expand the faction that he belonged to.

It was impossible for Lucien to directly ask Felipe who was the liaison in Sturk, since a middle-rank mage should be capable of just flying over Storm Strait. The last thing that Lucien could let Felipe know was that he was actually only a first circle sorcerer.

There were many thoughts flashing across Lucien's mind, but he remained silent all the way to the hall.

When Lucien stepped into the hall, he noticed the smell of death.

Although the hall was bright and grand, and the long tables were loaded with delicious cuisines and wine, Lucien had no appetite at all. While some of those gloomy necromancers and apprentices were holding glasses of wine and food dishes, others were eagerly exchanging brain tissues, eyeballs, skulls, rotten hearts and infant bodies for other materials and reagents that they needed or for money, all of that right beside the tables.

Despite the fact that Lucien was not afraid of a corpse and he was not completely unfamiliar with the organs, he still felt very nauseous. However, many of the necromancers and apprentices were still casually enjoying their drink and wine.

"No wonder the whole continent regards sorcerer as a symbol of evilness…" Lucien thought to himself, "It must be because of those necromancers, at least to a large degree."

"Good evening, Mr. Professor."

"Mr. Professor."

Seeing Lucien walking by, many apprentices lowered their heads and greeted him out of the admiration for his great power.

Lucien nodded to them and took over a glass of water from the waiter. As he was walking around the hall, Lucien was thinking how to deal with Felipe later.

"Mr. Professor…" someone greeted Lucien in a voice which sounded a bit familiar.

It was Fatty. Fatty and another couple of apprentices were squatting in a circle in a corner of the hall, exchanging some ideas.

"What's going on here?" Lucien asked casually with a bit of curiosity.

"Mr. Professor… We're studying the human body." The other apprentices hurriedly stood up and answered Lucien's question.

The fourth-circle necromancer, Cessy, was also there.

"Mr. Professor, the apprentices are not only studying the organs of human body, but also trying to identify the changes of organs and bones brought by different diseases using magic," explained Cessy.

"Interesting. Are they your students?" asked Lucien.

"No." Cessy shook his head, "I just led them here. Mr. Professor, is there any similar study in the congress?"

"…" Lucien did not know what to say. After a few seconds, he answered in an ambiguous way, "… at a higher level."

The other apprentices tried to get a bit closer to Professor, hoping that he could share more information from the congress.

"As what Professor just mentioned, the Congress of Magic is working on very in-depth study in human body, and the Hand of Paleness, which is the organization that I belong to, specializes in this area. And we've also developed many new spells based on our knowledge, such as Pneumonia Curse." Felipe's voice came from behind.

"Mr. Felipe." The necromancers and the apprentices greeted.

Felipe looked at Lucien with a sophisticated glance and then turned to the rest of them, "I have something to declare."

Stepping onto the stage in the front of the hall, Felipe cleared his throat a bit,

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Felipe from the Hand of Paleness, the Congress of Magic. We're gathering here tonight because of one thing," announced Felipe.

Chapter 155: Recruiting

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

As Felipe was talking on the stage, the necromancers and apprentices began to pay attention to him and started to whisper to each other.

Viscount Carendia also showed holding his glass of wine, and he stood behind Lucien, "Mr. Professor, I can probably guess your intention of coming to the Feast of Death, but let me remind you that, if you want a fight, finish it as soon as possible, or I'd have to ask you two to leave. Although I would like to see a fight between two top fifth circle sorcerers, the last thing I want to see is my castle being destroyed."

Lucien took a quick glance at the viscount. Inside his mind, he responded to the viscount's words in a sarcastic way, "You know my intention? Come on… Even I don't know why I'm here and what I'm doing right now!"

The whole thing was now totally out of Lucien's expectation, and now he was tasting the bitterness caused by his boldness.

"What if I'm only here to take a look around?" Lucien's face was covered by his hood, and he answered politely, "Sometimes, fighting is the most useless thing."

"Interesting." The viscount shortly commented and then turned to look at the people standing on the stage.

Besides Felipe, now there were another four necromancers who were the chosen representatives of the crowd: the old necromancer, Cessy; a plain-looking female necromancer, Tess; a young necromancer named Quentin; and and a horrible-looking necromancer named Sidney whose face and hands were covered with big scares sewed by threads. They were also the only four middle-rank sorcerers from the land which originally belonged to Wilfred, who inherited the tradition of the ancient magic empire. Two of them were of fourth circle, and two of them were of third circle.

"You don't want to get on the stage?" asked the viscount in a joking way.

Lucien rolled his eyes under his hood and answered ironically again in his mind, "Sure I'll get on the stage and find a perfect way to get myself killed… Why not?"

Of course, Lucien could not say something like that to the viscount. Therefore, pretending that he was profound and mysterious, Lucien said to Carendia, "Sometimes standing away from the stage can make you see more."

The viscount clinked his glass with that of Lucien and commented, "No wonder your pseudonym is Professor."

On the wood stage, Cessy kept his usual expressionless face when he asked, "Mr. Felipe, thank you for inviting us here and offering us a chance to gather together and exchange our knowledge and magic materials. The gathering is already a feast for us who were hiding all the time in the darkness like mice living in caves. I wonder what else do you want to discuss with us?"

Felipe's eyes were staring at Lucien. Seeing that Professor was not planning to disturb his speech for now, he turned to all the sorcerers and apprentices present and started to talk again in his deep but loud voice, "I'm sure that all of you have suffered and are still suffering lots of difficulties here, the land which once belonged to the greatest necromancer, Wilfred. You folks are worrying that one day the Church might come for you. You folks are worried every single day, even during your meditation, that one day you'd be killed by some random adventurers, knights, priests. And you folks are so disturbed that you cannot fall asleep at night…"

In the nations controlled by the church, every sorcerer and apprentice shared more or less similar experiences. After hearing the Felipe's words, they could not help but nod, even including Lucien.

"Wow… Mr. Professor, are you agreeing with Mr. Felipe?" Viscount Carendia was a bit surprised to see that Lucien was nodding as well.

"Of course. What he just said is true," said Lucien in a tolerant manner.

"You cannot tell your relatives and friends who you are," Felipe continued. "You have no one to share the outcome of your research and experiment. You have no one to share your happiness and sadness. And you know that you can never achieve what you want in your life, even though you deserve it!"

The crowd was oppressed by the silence. They all had their bitterness that they could only handle on their own because of their status.

"So, tell me, do you want to continue to live in this miserable life?" Felipe asked aloud.

An apprentice was touched, and he burst out a cry, "No! Not at all!"

And his answer called upon more responses. More and more of the necromancers and apprentices present started to cry out, "No!"

"We can't take it anymore!"

"We don't!"

The crowd in the hall became irritated and the people were shouting out of their long-repressed anger.

Lucien did not say anything but stared at Felipe quietly. He was waiting to see if there would be any useful information for him in Felipe's speech.

Until the crowd slowly calmed down, the four representatives exchanged a look between each other and then Cessy took the initiative, "We never wanted a life like this, Mr. Felipe. We're living this life because we've got no choice. Can we get rid of all that? Can the Continental Congress of Magic help us?"

Finally, a relatively gentle smile appeared on Felipe's pale face. He nodded and answered determinedly, "Yes. And I'm here to help you all."

There was a stir in the crowd again.

"In the a few countries where magic study is protected by the Continental Congress of Magic, we don't have to hide at all. We can feel totally safe when we meditate at home, conduct experiments in a lab without having to worry about the Church. Not only that, these kingdoms also allow sorcerers to become their city councilors, which is the equivalent of the status of a noble. And if you have enough power and prestige to become a member of a Royal Magic Academy, you'd be a councilor from the House of Lords…"

Felipe's words totally shocked the necromancers and apprentices. Although some of them did actually hear the name of the congress before, they never thought that the kingdoms that were protected by the congress could be such a paradise for them.

"Please let me finish, ladies and gentlemen." Felipe pressed his hand down in order to let the crowd quiet down, "More importantly, in the Continental Congress of Magic, as long as you're capable enough, you can learn different levels of meditation, get all kinds of magic materials and items, and even have the access to learn arcana and the most cutting-edge researches in your field. Ladies and gentlemen, do you want to join us?"

"Of course!" Some of the apprentices answered directly out of great excitement, while some felt that what Felipe just described was almost to good to be true.

Some of them started to feel suspicious. After all, nothing is truly free in this world.

"Mr. Felipe," Cessy coughed a bit and said to him, "I'm sure that many of us are willing to join the congress for sure. However, what I want you to be clear here is… what do you need us to do?"

Seeing that they were heading toward the right direction, Felipe nodded with satisfaction, "Since the church has blocked the path toward the headquarter of the Congress of Magic, it is not easy for us to lead all of you to break the blockade."

Then Felipe stopped himself and shifted to another topic, "Back in the days when the ancient magic empire still existed, the conflict among the eight major factions was already there. And it is the same with the Congress of Magic today as well. Facing the competition and conflict, the best solution for individuals to survive is unity."

Then Felipe cleared his throat and addressed the crowd in an even louder voice, "I'm a member of the Hand of Paleness, which is jointly established by the grand arcanist, Vicente Miranda, known as 'Thanatos', and the legendary archmage, Congus, known as Demigod-lich. The Hand of Paleness is an influential organization that is still fast growing for the sake of the unity of necromancers, and that's why it is also the most ideal choice for all of you to join."

Lucien was listening to Felipe's speech with interest. Now he felt what Felipe was conveying was almost like multi-level marketing.

Although many of them had no idea what did the title of grand arcanist stood for, they knew how powerful a legendary archmage should be. At this time, Tess took a step forward and asked, "If the Hand of Paleness is really like what you just described, I personally would like to join you without doubt. But what I want to ask you is what do we have to do after we join the organization."

Tess still remained relatively calm. She knew that there was always a price to pay for everything.

"Good question." Felipe nodded, "Let's tap about what benefit you can have after joining us first. First of all, you can get a magic item according to your current power level. Secondly, you'll have powerful and profound sorcerers to be your supervisors to introduce you to the contemporary magic system. Thirdly, we'll never take away your own research outcome and your own property. That is to say, what is yours will always be yours."

"However," Felipe paused a bit, "we do have one requirement for our members. When you receive a task from the organization, you cannot turn it down. If the task was completed, you'd be awarded, but if you fail, you'd be punished as well."

"More and more like multi-level marketing…" Lucien thought to himself. He was still waiting for the possible information from Felipe about the liaison in Sturk.

Alluring as Felipe's description was, the requirement woke the necromancers and apprentices up immediately.

For sure, there was nothing truly free in the world.

"What if someone turns down the task?" asked Cessy carefully.

"Two situations. For senior-rank mages, penalty or alternative task. Below that level, penalty, physical punishment, mental punishment, or death… depends on the given task," answered Felipe directly. "According to the latest finding of arcana, energy is conserved. You pay for what you get. Everyone should make their own choice. And due to the restrictions, we can only bring sorcerers to the headquarter of the Congress of Magic. For apprentices, as long as you sign the magic contract, I will leave you some books and materials to help you grow to become a sorcerer as soon as possible. Every year there will be a liaison bringing new sorcerers to the congress." Felipe further explained.

Due to his words, some of the senior apprentices present started to feel excited again since they had been struggling with their next-level breakthrough for a long time. Now they finally found a possible way out. Besides, some tasks from the organization might now be that dangerous, they thought.

After Felipe finished his speech, he stared at Lucien with his cold eyes, because that moment was the perfect time for Professor to ruin his recruiting.