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Chapter 176: In the Storm

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"I have no idea either," said Chely. "But Jacques, I'm sure my father's doing this for my own good. You know that I got no potential to become a knight, and that's the comment from my training coach. I'm not good at running a business as well… I tried to put my hands on my family's bank and I failed… My brother was quite pissed off."

"But you're so good at other things…" Jacques tried to encourage his love, "The first time I saw you, you were sitting on the patio, reading a book… I can never forget that beautiful picture in my whole life."

"Except for my passion for reading, I haven't achieved anything. I tried music, opera, painting, sculpture… but neither of them is my thing," said Chely depressingly, but then her tone got a bit more cheerful, "But you're different, my love. You're so versatile. Piano, painting, singing, swordsmanship… everything. You're like the glorious sun."

"You, Chely, only you is all I want. You don't have to learn this and that. You just marry me, and I promise you a lovely life." Jacques kissed Chely's hand.

"But you're not a real knight yet…" answered Chely sadly, "A noble can only marry another noble. And besides that, Jacques, I want to find my own value in my life as well. I want to develop my ability to be independent. I hope you understand, Jacques."

"I heard you…" answered Jacques in his low voice, "But… but how can you find your independence in a Holm's convent? And what if when I finally awaken my Blessing, you're already married to someone else? Wait… Is it correct that the true intention of the viscount sending to you Holm is to let you marry a noble there?!"

That totally made sense to Jacques, since this alliance could bring many benefits to the viscount and even to the Church, that could build a relationship with the conservatives across the strait.

"I don't know… I really have no idea…" murmured Chely, "My father… He never mentioned this."

"Can you wait for me another three months, Chely?" Jacques' voice was full of depression, "I know that your parents love you a lot, and you love them as well. But can you give me three years? If I'm still not able to awaken my Blessing in three years, I'm not good enough for you."

"I will… I will, Jacques." Chely was deeply moved, "For three years, I'll be waiting for you. And… and if those three years end, if you don't mind… I, I can be your secret lover."

Jacques embraced Chely in his arms, "Chely…"

When Annick was listening to their conversation with great interest, his ears got covered by Lucien.

"That's too much for you…" Lucien mouthed to Annick.

After a long, cheesy conversation, Chely leaned against Jacques's shoulder, "When we get a chance, can you play For Silvia for me?"

"Sure. I'll play anything that you like for you," answered Jacques.

Lucien felt a bit awkward, since he had the impression that For Silvia was quite ominous, based on what happened between Natasha and Silvia, although no more than twenty people knew about this.

"I have to go now. My father might be looking for me," said Chely.

Then, both of them went back upstairs.

After a while, Lucien uncovered Annick's ears.

"Mr. Evans, I'm not a kid anymore…" complained Annick.

"That was… Even for me, that was almost too much," answered Lucien seriously.

"But it wasn't even close to the romantic operas…" Annick slightly slanted his head.

"That's why I don't like romantic operas," said Lucien directly.

…

In the cabin, Lucien was just standing there, listening to the roaring thunders and the splashing sound of the huge waves flapping the ship protected by many divine power circles.

Although Lucien was quite used to the noise already, the storm that day was still quite intimidating.

Somehow, as a sorcerer specializing in Astrology, although his Host Star of Destiny and his ability of fortune telling was still not impressive yet, Lucien had some kind of bad hunch.

"Is the ship gonna be destroyed by the storm?" murmured Lucien to himself, as he could not help thinking of the worst case.

Lucien could not use Astrology right now, since the storm was too bad.

He hoped his hunch was incorrect as usual, but he still stayed quite alert.

As Lucien was thinking, all of a sudden, a terrible thunder arrived, and Lucien almost lost his balance together with the ship.

"Waves? Or…?"

Lucien had no idea.

Then another bitter slam arrived, shaking the whole ship.

"The ship's under attack!" Lucien immediately realized what was going on based on his fighting experience.

The whipping and lashing sounds kept going on and on, mixing with the loud bangs caused by bolts of lightning striking the divine power circles. All the apprentices, despite feeling quite sick, gathered in front of Lucien's cabin, including Oimos, who was usually quite calm.

At this time, they trusted a real sorcerer.

Lucien opened the door and asked the apprentices to calm down, "No matter who's doing this, they're not coming for us. Let the knights and pastors handle them. We'll just stay here and wait."

If even the grand knight could not stop them, Lucien and the apprentices had no chance either.

The apprentices calmed down a bit, influenced by Lucien's attitude.

Another spell bitterly struck the ship again. Many apprentices lost their balance and fell on the floor.

Something was cracking and squeaking outside.

Lucien's brows frowned. He wondered if the divine power circles were going to be broken.

Then, a great heat was sensed by his spiritual power. The heat was so powerful that even the thunder and lightning could not overwhelm it.

Lucien once witnessed the leader of a group of night watchers fighting, so he could roughly estimate the power — this heat should come from at least a level five divine spell, which meant that there was at least a cardinal on the ship!

Together with the heat, a sudden powerful blow joined the fight, and the power felt totally different from the natural storm. Lucien was pretty sure that it was from Viscount Wright, as the viscount's Blessing, Gale, was really well-known in Sturk.

Therefore, Lucien was a bit more relieved. A pastor and a grand knight should be able to handle that situation.

Although the whipping sound disappeared, Lucien and the apprentices heard the sound of fighting on the deck together with that of thunder, lightning and the waves.

Suddenly, a great wave attacked this side of the ship where Lucien and the apprentices were on, and one of the divine power circles was finally destroyed.

Then, Lucien and the apprentices saw water fiercely flooding into the cabin, mixing with white ocean foam.

Together with the water, creepy-looking creatures who had fish heads but human bodies also came into the cabin. Their bodies were covered with silver scales, and their seemingly thin and weak arms were holding aggressive, heavy tridents.

"Kuo-toans!" Lucien was very surprised.

Although these Kuo-toans were still against the Church, Lucien did not understand was why they were attacking the fleet right now.

All the apprentices' faces paled.

Even Lucien started feeling nervous.

Fight? What if the knights, pastors and sailors came down later and found them here?

Run away? But they were in the middle of the ocean right now!

"What should I do?!" Lucien asked himself in his mind.

Chapter 177: Wave Stone

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

On the other end of the aisle, the Kuo-toan murlocs were shouting and crying when they got in the cabin, and the water was still flooding in.

Lucien felt more difficulty to breathe when the air got very humid.

Some apprentices had already lost their footing. Now, they were sitting on the water-covered floor and crying, while others were shaking out of great fear. They were just like how Lucien felt when he first got into the sewers and faced the red-eyed mice. There was no way that they could stay calm.

There were so many plans flashing through Lucien's mind. However, no matter how much Lucien wanted to both protect himself and the other apprentices and hide from the pastors and knights on the ship, obviously, it was not likely to happen at all.

At the fork of the aisle, the Kuo-toans divided themselves into two groups: most of them followed three bigger murlocs and ran toward the main cargo cabin, while the rest of them, also following a leader, were aiming at Lucien and the apprentices.

As they were dragging their tridents and quickly coming to Lucien and the teenagers, Lucien got many thoughts in his mind:

"It looks like their target is the cargo?

"Maybe there's something that interests the Kuo-toans? That's why they attacked the ship?

"If that's their real purpose, most of the murlocs should be coming to this floor, or the captain's cabin or the viscount's…"

And then Lucien got more determined, "Then we still have hope!"

Lucien quickly turned around and ran into his own cabin. As he was running, Lucien bent his knees and jumped up high using the momentum, and his right fist fiercely punched through the wood ceiling.

"Bang!"

After the wooden planks fell on the floor, there was a big hole in the low ceiling.

"You all, climb up through the hole, and hide in the nearby sailor's cabin!" said Lucien to the startled apprentices.

Although his tone was serious, Lucien was not panicking.

Since Tom dared let them live here, Lucien was pretty confident that the people who lived on the floor above should be people that Tom trusted, or the noise the apprentices made could easily expose them.

If the Kuo-toans' purpose was not killing but robbing, hiding in the sailors' cabins should be a good choice, and they could also hide from the pastors and knights.

Lucien quickly took out his Alert and rushed out of the cabin to stop the murlocs to earn time for the apprentices.

"Annick, Oimos… You two take charge. No panic." In the last second, Lucien decisively commanded the apprentices without looking back.

He had to kill the Kuo-toans, or they would follow the apprentices to the above floor.

"Yes, Mr. Evans…" said the two apprentices together. Although Oimos was quite frightened, he tried his best to function properly, while Annick, who had been trained by Lucien for a while, was encouraged by Lucien's equanimity and started to think how they could get onto the floor above through the hole in the ceiling.

The two apprentices exchanged a look between each other and came up with the same strategy, "Using the hammocks… and Mage Hand. Also, spells improving agility and balance…"

Then Oimos and Annick hurriedly started to collect the hammocks, and Katrina, Sprint, Layria and Heidi were either helping them, or trying to comfort the other apprentices.

At this critical moment, the apprentices were united together under the leadership of Lucien.

Outside the cabin, when Lucien, who was holding his knight sword with his both hands, was almost right in front of the Kuo-toans, there were sudden green waves coming out of him.

The green waves quickly reached the Kuo-toans, and most of them slowed down their pace as soon as they were touched, lost their balance and fell asleep on the floor. Even the murloc leader was influenced: for a second, it felt very exhausted and sleepy.

However, the first circle spell, Sleep, was not powerful enough to get the big one to fall asleep as well, and, currently, it only worked on those ones who were not yet of a real knight's level.

The whole aisle suddenly quieted down quite a bit. There was only Lucien, the Kuo-toa leader and a bunch of mulocs who were sleeping on the floor.

When the murloc leader realized that the human being they were facing was actually a sorcerer instead of a knight although he was using a sword, it quickly cast its own magic, Water Ring.

As the murloc leader was regaining his consciousness when it was surrounded by rings of waves, Lucien sensed the great difficulty of breathing as if he was overwhelmed by water, since the air quickly got so moist that Lucien felt he was intaking water beads into his nose and lungs.

Lucien did not panic, however. He held his breath and then shot three flashing ice blades at the murloc.

Although the murloc leader was seemingly only about ordinary knight level, Lucien still activated his magic item, since he needed to finish this creature as soon as possible.

However, the power of Fire Weaver's Bracelet was too destructive for Lucien to use right now.

At the same time, Lucien dodged to the other side to avoid the trident thrown forward by the murloc.

As soon as Lucien got back on his feet, he activated the magic model in his soul.

The water in the air suddenly could not affect Lucien at all, since he was covered with a layer of an invisible barrier, which filtered the water out.

First circle magic, Element Endurance.

Although this magic did not work well when one was facing a direct elemental attack, it was quite useful when dealing with elementally imbalanced environments, such as this very floor on the ship, which was being controlled by Water Ring.

The cold air brought by Palmeira's Frost Blades froze the waves surrounding the murloc, which also trapped the murloc itself. It was severely hurt by the three blades.

However, although there was dark-blue blood coming out of its head, chest and arm, the wounds were healing in a visible speed.

The healing power of a Kuo-toan was no inferior to that of a troll, but it could not regrow its broken limbs like a troll.

At this time, a sharp light flashed on the murloc leader's neck, and then its head fell down on the floor half a second later.

It was Lucien's knight sword, Alert, and Lucien hacked it right at the wound cut by the frost blade.

As soon as it was affected by the spell, Sleep, the Kuo-toan already lost its control of this fight, especially when the sorcerer who the murloc was facing had better magic items than most of his peers.

Of course, this edge was more about the level of Lucien's magic items, instead of the completeness of his equipment. Lucien was still wearing ordinary shoes, which were always easily worn down because of his speed, and besides, he still had no magic robe neither staff, which were basic symbols of a sorcerer.

Lucien took several leaps forward and came behind the murlocs. When he was about to cast another spell, he sensed something from the main cargo cabin.

It felt like the strong waves in the ocean.

"There was no one in the main cargo cabin, so this feeling could not be from a fight. Maybe… maybe this is the thing that the Kuo-toans are looking for…" Lucien quickly thought to himself.

That feeling was strange but also familiar. Lucien felt that once he read something like this in one of the books.

"Wave… Stone…" Lucien murmured, "Wave Stone!"

Wave Stone was a kind of not rare but still precious magic material, which Lucien once encountered in the book named Common Magic Related Materials Illustration. It could be used in making magic items and weapons that were over level three to bring magic effects to them such as breathing in the water, water elemental damaging, and spells such as Storm and Ice Storm.

In addition, the best quality Wave Stone could be used to make really powerful items, and it could be used in many potions to improve the growth of many water creatures.

Lucien was guessing that, since the power he just sensed was great, there was either a great amount of Wave Stone on the ship or the stones were of top quality, which should be worth at least tens of thousands of Thales.

According to Lucien, as Wave Stone was a kind of magic material, quite possibly it was being shipped to Allyn, but he had no idea whether this was a secret shipping arranged by Granneuve, or it was actually allowed by the Church. And if it was neither way, the fleet was definitely in trouble for shipping such a great amount of magic material, and there would be greater risk facing Lucien, Tom and the apprentices as well, since the Church was for sure going to thoroughly check the ships.

Another thing Lucien was quite sure was that the people who were arriving here first should be Tom and his trusted sailors.

As he was thinking, Lucien did not stop casting. He murmured sophisticated and weird spell and then suddenly pushed his hands forward.

An invisible strong blow was summoned, and all the asleep murlocs together with the Kuo-toa leader's body were pushed by the blow back into the ocean again.

First circle magic, Force Wave.

Lucien had not built the magic model of Force Wave in his soul yet, hence he still needed to cast it.

At this time, all of the apprentices had already got onto the upper floor and hid in the nearby sailors' cabins.

After Lucien quickly cleaned up all the evidence of the fight and was about to get onto the upper floor as well, his heart suddenly sank for a second as he sensed the danger.

The bracelet that Lucien was wearing flashed a streak of red light and flames were summoned to protect Lucien.

Then a head-sized water ball hit the flames right away, and the water and fire disappeared at the same time.

At the fork of the aisle, a murloc whose scales were shining light red light was staring at Lucien with its cold eyes.

Unlike other murlocs holding tridents, this one was holding a colourful coral staff.

The thunder stopped for a moment, and Lucien heard many heavy footsteps on the deck of the ship.

Chapter 178: The Murloc Mage

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The corrosive water ball and the fire disappeared at the same time. A second later, Lucien subconsciously activated the magic model in his soul and fiercely shot two black magic missiles at the murloc with the coral staff before he dodged to the other side as quick as a shadow.

As soon as the two missiles got close to the murloc, suddenly, a transparent swirl appeared surrounding it, and the swirl directly absorbed the magic missiles.

Second circle spell, Power Resistance.

This was a spell that helped the caster resist a certain amount of attacking power. The murloc standing in front of Lucien was a mage.

Fast as Lucien was, the mage still raised its coral staff and located Lucien with it.

All of a sudden, Lucien could not help but laugh. The laughing was so bad that Lucien's whole body was trembling.

The Kuo-toan mage located him using spiritual power.

Lucien's spiritual power started fading and became weaker because of his crazy laughter. He could neither cast nor activate his magic items. His feet and arms started to feel very limp and his speed dropped significantly.

Lucien, although still laughing like crazy, was for sure very nervous. He knew that if he could not react properly, the murloc mage's attack in the next round could easily kill him.

Lucien clenched his left hand into a tight fist to feel more the coldness of the ring, Ice Revenger, in order to stay as sober as he could.

Taking a deep breath, he sent the feeling of chill of the ring to his soul and spiritual power to suppress his dangerous laughter.

As soon as Lucien felt that he could move, he quickly rolled on the ground to stay further away from the murloc.

Half a second later, a lightning ball hit the place where Lucien was previously laughing and it exploded, turning some of the apprentices' cabins into total ruins.

As small lightnings were left on the path of the lightning ball, Lucien was also affected. He felt the great pain mixing with numbness, and his hair was erected.

However, the pain brought by the lighting made Lucien recover from his laughter. He seized the chance and quickly activated the bracelet, throwing a terrifying fire ball right toward the murloc mage.

Lucien had to survive first. He could not think of how to deal with the fighting trace left by the fire ball right now.

Although the power of the fire ball was surely intimidating, the murloc mage remained very calm. Raising the coral staff again, the murloc replicated itself.

The duplicate looked identical to the murloc. Both of them had a coral staff, both of them had cold, silver eyes, and both of them were covered with scales that were shining bloody red light.

When the fire ball hit the murloc which Lucien originally targeted, the reflection of the murloc mage crashed like a mirror and quickly disappeared. However, the real murloc mage stayed totally safe beside it, under the protection of Power Resistance and a big water shield.

Lucien felt desperate for a second. He could not believe that his most powerful attack spell was just handled by the murloc mage this easily!

It was only a second circle spell, Mirror, which could produce several reflections of a caster to free the caster from a targeted attack. Before the reflections were destroyed, the real caster would not be hurt.

Sometimes in a fight, it was not all about the magic level, but about the proper usage.

Lucien had no choice. Being desperate at that moment would mean death. So, he started moving around fast again, when the murloc mage was still recovering from its last casting.

As Lucien was moving, he activated another magic model in his soul.

First circle spell, Cause Fear.

A shadow was summoned, and the shadow quickly jumped on the murloc.

Lucien was hoping that this spell could bring some negative impact on the murloc, so Lucien would have a better chance to cast, or, probably somehow back away.

However, although the shadow did hit the Kuo-toan mage, the murloc seemed to be immune to the spell. Its silver eyes were still cold and calm, as if he was watching others fighting.

Lucien saw a light flashing past the mage's silver eyes, and then he saw a very complicated, blue pattern, which was so mysterious and fascinating that Lucien could not move his eyes away.

Lucien's Host Star of Destiny, at that time, suddenly started shining brightly. It was telling and urging Lucien that danger was coming.

The power of Lucien's star connected to Ice Revenger on Lucien's left hand. Lucien felt a chill creep over him, and then, as soon as he regained some consciousness, he quickly activated the bracelet and used his Flame Shield.

Lucien was just now controlled by the murloc mage's second circle spell, Hypnosis Totem!

A huge water ball, at this time, dropped on Lucien and fully covered him. Lucien felt the great pressure from the water, and the flames around him were gradually dying out.

Another second circle spell, Drowning Bubble.

When Lucien was about to pass out inside the big water bubble, the flames he summoned just now finally evaporated most of the water and broke the spell. As the flame and water bubble disappeared together, Lucien hurriedly rolled on the floor again without a chance to take a full breath, since another lightning ball was thrown toward him again!

Lucien never felt this desperate. He also realized how lucky he had been to actually be able to beat the necromancer, Hunt.

In this situation, the choice of spells was so crucial right now that any wrong option could easily end one's life.

Lucien already noticed that it seemed that the murloc mage had cast a second circle spell on itself called Mechanized Mind, hence no spells that affected one's mental state would work.

The spell Mechanized Mind could turn creatures with emotion into mechanical things such as Steel Golems, and thus one could become immune to many spells that aimed at disturbing one's mental condition.

Lucien knew that the murloc mage was good at using defensive spells, so quite possibly, his many attack spells, if without careful planning, would turn into a total waste facing the creature.

Quickly, in his mind, Lucien was thinking of a possible strategy.

When the murloc was once again about to recover from the last casting, Lucien was planning on using the explosion of the fireball as a cover for him to jump right into the water in order to seize a slight chance to survive.

Besides, Lucien felt that the reinforcement knights would arrive soon.

"Wait."

Something came to Lucien all of a sudden.

"The principle of Mechanized Mind is equipping a creature with mechanical features. In this case, there is no hormone produced, and the creature's brain wave is turned into pure electromagnetic signal, and that is why one's can be immune to the many mental spells." Lucien quickly thought to himself, "It's said that the soul of the creature is not changed, which basically equals to the controller of an alchemical life."

Lucien sensed a slight amount of hope, hence he quickly gave up the plan on fleeing to seize a better chance to survive.

Turning himself into a shadow, Lucien launched his attack at the murloc mage again.

Invisible waves spread out of Lucien's soul, and strong magic waves were produced.

The first circle spell, Charm Person, not only worked on human beings, but also on humanoid creatures!

The murloc mage had a sarcastic smile on its face.

How was it possible that Charm Person could affect itself, thought the murloc.

However, all of a sudden, it felt that Lucien, the human being standing right in front of him, was the lord of the ocean that it worshiped.

And subconsciously, the murloc's slacked its spiritual power movement and stopped casting the second Drowning Bubble.

The murloc mage immediately realized this was not right.

Although the murloc mage's strong spiritual power did prevent it from being further affected by Lucien's spell, for a moment, due to the pricking feeling in its soul caused by this magic, the murloc lost his concentration for a moment.

This version of Charm Person spell was developed by Lucien on his own: it put more emphasis on the influence of the magic on an individual's soul, but lowered the power from the intervention of brain wave, thus working better with sorcerers!

The failure of casting Charm Person on the murloc mage also made Lucien suffer the power backfire, hence he felt dizzy for a second, but that could not prevent Lucien from activating his magic item.

A head-sized fire ball appeared in the space and flew right toward the murloc mage.

The murloc right now was only under the cover of Power Resistance and a water bubble. Seeing the fire ball coming toward it, the murloc mage looked helpless and frustrated.

It was too late for it to cast any spell or activate any item though.

Bang!

The fire ball exploded.

Part of the murloc mage was exploded into pieces of flesh, and some of the pieces were burned black.

However, the pieces of the murloc's limbs were still moving on the floor, striving to go back to the main body.

Of course, Lucien would not let the murloc come back again.

Grabbing Alert with his right hand, holding Asthenia Dagger in his left hand, Lucien jumped on the remaining major piece of the murloc.

Sharp light flashed. The murloc was beheaded.

At this time, a person came downstairs. He saw the dead murloc mage, and also Lucien.

"You killed it?!" Tom could not believe his own eyes.

Tom had a short fight with this murloc mage on the deck outside just now, and he knew how powerful this second circle mage was.

When Tom hurriedly rushed downstairs, he did it not only to protect Wave Stone, but also to help Lucien and the apprentices.

However, within one minute, the mage was already killed by Lucien.

Chapter 179: The Gain

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The broken pieces of wood were everywhere. The cabin was half ruined by fire and lightning. Obviously, there had been a bitter fight there.

Tom was very surprised seeing that. He wondered if Lucien had some sort of very powerful magic item, or even if Lucien was already a second circle sorcerer, which, according to what he knew, was almost impossible for sorcerers who never joined the Congress and studied arcana.

Then, when Tom quickly drew his thoughts back, he said to Lucien decisively, "Twenty seconds for you, handle the mess, check the kids. Leave the rest to me."

Two seconds later, Tom quickly turned around and ran toward the main cargo cabin, where there was noise of planks of wood being broken there. It seemed that the kuo-toans were now trying to withdrawal by directly breaking their way out of the ship.

Lucien nodded. He understood Tom's command.

As he was the one who caused the mess, he should be responsible for cleaning this place up. And within twenty seconds, he was supposed to get to the above floor and hide with the apprentices as well, to avoid being found by the incoming knights and squires.

And Tom would be handling the rest of the stuff.

The red light on the murloc mage's scales stained the scales and now they looked as red as blood. Lucien knew that this was a good ingredient for making armor or magic robes to increase the wearer's defensive ability level and his or her speed under water.

However, due to the limit of time, Lucien had no time for scaling it or collecting Murloc's Lymph from it.

Lucien quickly grabbed the coral staff and took away the small purse hidden underneath a big piece of scale of the murloc mage.

Then Lucien cast Force Wave and pushed the murloc's body out of the ship into the boundless ocean.

After that, Lucien ran back into his own cabin and calmly looked around this small space. Because of the bitter fight he had with the murloc, there was no trace of a person once living in here left. So he jumped up again, grabbed the edge of the broken ceiling with his hands, and climbed up onto the floor above.

Then Lucien started collecting some pieces of wood and iron plates to fix the floor.

Apprentice level spell, Repair.

As the dim light was shining, the gaps between the broken pieces were gradually disappearing. As a real sorcerer, Lucien was able to fix bigger gaps now. Twenty seconds were almost gone, however, the spell still needed more time.

At this time, a loud explosion came from outside of the cabin, which covered the noise made by Lucien's magic.

Together with the sudden silence coming a second later, a bunch of people came downstairs and rushed to check the main cargo cabin on the other side, without even taking a close look at the cabins where Lucien and the apprentices were living.

After all, compared to the main cargo cabin where all the Wave Stones were stored, this side of the cabin was like nothing to them.

On the floor above, the gaps were all fixed. Lucien was now ready to hide. He thought to himself that what just happened must mean a great loss to Granneuve. As he was thinking, Lucien saw the door of a sailor's cabin secretly opened a gap. There were several pairs of eyes behind the door.

"Mr. Evans, here!" Annick, Layria and Heidi said to him at the same time. Their voice was full of joy and relief.

Lucien quickly got into the small cabin and locked the door from inside.

"Good job you three, especially you, Annick." Lucien nodded to them.

Annick's face flushed a bit from Lucien's words.

"We brought your suitcase with us, too, Mr. Evans," said Heidi proudly. The young teenagers were waiting for more of Lucien's praise.

Lucien smiled, "That's very considerate of all of you. Right now we're still in danger, and all of us still have to be careful. Now I have to analyze this staff, so let me stay focused for a while."

Sitting down on the messy bed, Lucien started checking the coral staff from the murloc mage.

Having no idea whether the viscount and the pastors could beat the murlocs, and whether the ship was going to sink or not, Lucien had to seize every chance to make himself stronger. Maybe the staff would be the very thing that would save his life in the last second.

The three apprentices nodded seriously. They had this sense of responsibility that they were protecting their teacher right now.

Gradually, the sound of thunder and lightning slowly disappeared, and it seemed that the fight had come to an end.

Lucien opened his eyes.

It did not take Lucien long to analyze the staff, since he had already successfully analyzed several second circle spells. Now the staff belonged to him.

This coral staff was a level two high-rank magic item named Amboula. Its user could breathe under water and cast Lightning Ball and Acid Bubble, which were both second circle spells, three times a day. Besides, it helped its owner to concentrate on accumulating his or her spiritual power when a spell was cast, and also to locate his or her enemy, especially when one was casting metal control spells.

The staff was made of the coral growing near the altar of the Lord of Ocean, Amboula, and it was a common staff for Kuo-toans.

"One who is blessed by the Lord of Ocean has the power of water." Lucien murmured to himself when he finished analyzing the magic item. This was the message left by the maker of the staff.

Holding the staff in his hand, Lucien noticed that his spiritual power had become more concentrated. He was glad that he finally got a staff as a sorcerer.

And even if the ship sank, he would be able to breathe under the water.

At this time, a loud voice came from the deck,

"The murlocs are beaten. Knights and soldiers, don't let a single one of them escape. Pastors, repair the ship."

It was Viscount Wright's voice.

Although he was saying so to comfort the people on the ship, only he and the cardinals knew whether the murlocs were beaten or they just left by themselves after obtaining the stones.

The three apprentices released a long sigh.

Lucien was now in a pretty good mood as well. He opened the small grey purse that he got from the murloc mage.

As soon as the purse was opened, a great sense of oceanic power came out of it. Lucien saw six dark blue gems in there, and each of them was about the size of a finger tip. The six gems were all covered with ripples of light.

These were high-quality Wave Stones, ten times more valuable than common ones. They could not only be used as a main material for making medium-rank magic items but also to make high-rank ones. These stones were his own trophies. Lucien was quite delighted.

At this time, he noticed that there was a piece of note at the bottom of the purse.

"What's this…" Lucien murmured.

After telling the three apprentices to keep securing the space, Lucien secretly unfolded the note.

"Collect a large amount of Wave Stone and bring them to the tarnished ocean area. We need a great magic circle to open it."

Under this line of words, there was a simple map for directing one to get to the so-called "tarnished" area.

As this piece of note was already copied by Lucien's spirit library, he quickly destroyed the note.

Lucien never heard about anything related to a tarnished ocean area. And it seemed that even the murloc mage had no idea where it was.

According to the map, it looked like that this area was part of Storm Strait.

However, Lucien was not sure, since the note was written in the murlocs' own language, and Lucien could only understand part of it.

"Mr. Evans, the fight is over," Annick said to Lucien.

Lucien grabbed the staff and nodded, "Then we'll see what Tom wants us to do."

As soon as he closed the purse, Lucien noticed that the power of the Wave Stones disappeared at the same time.

He wondered whether the purse was a magic item as well, so Lucien secretly cast Identification to check it.

The purse turned out to be an apprentice level magic item called Kuo-toan's Pouch, which could conceal magic waves.

Lucien was a bit disappointed. He thought it was something better.

At this time, Tom's voice came, but he was not talking to Lucien and the apprentices.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Tom's voice was loud, purposefully loud.

"The cardinal asked us to check the cabins downstairs for fixing the divine power circles," someone answered in a slight arrogant tone.

The three apprentices' faces immediately turned pale, and they were all very nervous again.

Chapter 180: An Offer from Demon

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

When the apprentices thought everything was fine, another round of risk immediately arrived.

At this time, since the storm was almost gone, casting any spell could be very risky. Lucien and the apprentices were back in the dilemma again.

Lucien gently patted on his students' shoulders one by one to comfort them. Grabbing Amboula in his hand, Lucien listened to the conversation carefully while thinking of the possible solution fast in his mind.

"Pastor Cody, it's stinky down there." Tom was still talking loud purposefully, "There is no need for you, my lord, to do this. Please… Just enjoy the nice black tea in your own cabin and I can handle this for you, my lord."

"Well, I'm still in training… You know, according to Church Law, you can't call me lord right now yet." There was an imperceptible smile on Cody's face when he was saying this. He surely enjoyed Tom's flattery, "I appreciate your kindness, Tom, But you and your sailors can't really tell where the divine power circles are really damaged. I gotta do this myself, sorry."

Tom was the boatswain, a dark knight who served Viscount Wright. This was his identity known by the people on this ship. Although a dark knight could neither become a chief mate nor a captain, Cody still wanted to keep his basic respect toward the knight.

Hearing Cody's words, Tom did not know what to say.

"All right. You two, Lohman and Boer… You two go that way. Jacques and Summy, you two that way." Cody, a senior pastor in training, did enjoy giving commands a lot.

However, Tom knew that it would still take them some time before they found the room in the corner where Lucien and the apprentices were hiding.

Tom was sweating. He had horrible scenes flashing through his mind.

He could not let it happen. He could not let those horrible scenes really happen.

Tom was ready to take action. He was going to kill them all, and pretend that it was some murlocs hiding on the ship that killed them.

At this time, he felt someone gently touched his arm.

"…?!" Tom was beyond surprised when he saw Evans standing right beside him. Right now, Lucien was wearing a dirty sailor vest, and his face was covered with some paint marks just like the ones most sailors liked doing.

Lucien was looking down, with his head dropped.

Tom could not believe his eyes, feeling lucky that he did not burst Evans' name out.

"Down there… very bad," said Lucien in his pretended husky voice.

As he was saying, Lucien was secretly writing something down on Tom's arm.

Cody did not feel anything wrong here. In his eyes, it was just a sailor who was reporting to Tom.

And there were so many sailors that Cody did not know on this ship. After all, pastor and sailor were of two totally different levels. They were not even close.

Tom, while trying to stay as calm as he could, sensed a short single word written on his arm.

"Jacques…?" Tom thought to himself, but he did not really get Lucien's intention right away.

Lucien pulled Tom's arm a bit toward the cabin, and Tom immediately realized, "Let he go…?"

Tom asked Lucien in a very low voice. Lucien nodded seriously. He had this confidence that Tom would trust him. And Lucien's confidence was right.

"Lord Cody, the bottom floor is where the fight just happened, and also the most damaged section. How about sending some people down there first to fix the major cracks? My man just told me that it's pretty bad down there right now." There was a flattering smile on Tom's thin face.

"Umm…" Cody was a bit unsure. He did not really want to listen to a boatswain's suggestion.

"You know… Maybe some more pastors will go down there as well later. Your work can definitely impress them." Tom continued to persuade him.

And that was what Cody really cared. If Cody could get more attention from the higher-ranked pastors, he would certainly have a better chance to get promoted.

"I think you're right, Tom. Can you help assisting the other pastors in training and squires check the upper cabins?" Cody quickly made the decision.

"For sure, my lord." Tom hurriedly nodded before Cody changed his mind, and then he walked close to Jacques and said, "Mr. Jacques, maybe we can go to check the cabins down there."

Jacques was a good-looking, blond young man. His nose was straight and high, and his eyes were green.

Cody did not say anything about it. Honestly speaking, he did not like Jacques very much, since Jacques was quite popular but also arrogant in Cody's eyes. Of course, Cody did not want to leave Jacques a chance to impress the other pastors.

Asking Jacques and the other several pastors in training and squires who he disliked to check the sailors' cabins, Cody led his other people down to the bottom floor.

Although Jacques and the other people knew why they were left here, they still went downstairs and started checking carefully. After all, their own safety was connected to the security of the ship as well.

Purposefully, Tom led Jacques to the cabin at the very end of the corridor in the corner, together with Lucien.

As they were walking, Lucien secretly wrote down several words on Tom's hand again,

"Activate your power, cover me, when you see my clenched left fist."

Tom instantly understood Lucien this time, since they worked this way together before when they were trying to kill Brown. Lucien wanted to use Tom's Blood Power to cover the magic waves produced by his casting.

However, Tom felt very concerned about Lucien's plan. Since the magic waves would not be fully covered, and the storm was almost gone now, it would be quite possible for the cardinals on the ship to notice Lucien's magic power.

At this time, they came in front of this small cabin in the corner.

Seeing that the young, strange sailor politely opened the door for him, Jacques nodded with satisfaction and then stepped into the cabin.

As expected, there was no one in the cabin. Just when Jacques was about to check the wood boards close to the window, he heard a a gentle voice saying,

"Mr. Jacques, if you are still a nobody three years from now, how would you deal with your relationship with Miss Chely?"

Jacques fiercely turned around and stared at this young, bold sailor, feeling shocked, "What?!"

Jacques' right hand pressed on his sword.

"I said, you and Miss Chely." Lucien looked right into Jacques' eyes, "You don't need to know where I heard this, but tell me, are you really that confident that you can awaken your Blessing in three years?"

The sailor's eyes were as dark as a shadow, and as deep as a starry sky.

After several seconds, Jacques said to Lucien in a very angry but constrained voice, "Who are you?! It's none of your business!"

Jacques knew that he was not confident at all in awakening his Blessing. Although he did promise Chely, his love, Jacques was afraid that he might never be able to do it. After all, so many squires had failed and never managed to overcome this barrier in their whole lives.

"I guess… Not really my business." Lucien had a cunning smile on his face, "Miss Chely marrying someone else is also not my business. However, I have the power that can help you awaken your Blessing."

"What do you mean? Why you're talking to me like this?" asked Jacques out of anger and fury.

When he saw that Tom was standing in the front of the door, Jacques quickly realized that the boatswain was on this strange sailor's side.

"Because I want to help you." Lucien joked in a very calm way, "Because I am a good man."

"There's no free lunch," said Jacques straightforwardly.

"Smart. I only ask for one thing." Lucien's head slightly tilted, "I want you to pretend that you saw nothing down here later."

"You're… A sorcerer?" Jacques squinted at Lucien.

"And also a knight, Mr. Jacques. As you can see," Lucien reached his right hand out in front of Jacques and showed him his Blood Power, Moonlight, "I already awakened mine. If you cannot awaken your power in three years, you can come to me. If you're willing to help, I'll sign a magic pact with you. You can always find me with the pact, and I can never break the words that I promise in the pact."

"…" Jacques did not respond immediately. Subconsciously, Jacques put his upper teeth against his lower lip when he was thinking.

"We're not doing anything bad." Lucien kept pushing, "We just want to get to Holm safe. You're not betraying your faith as a knight, Mr. Jacques."

Jacques clenched both of his hands into two tight fists. His eyebrows frowned.

"Or say, you want to see Miss Chely marry someone else, be in another man's arms, and have that man's kids?"

There were a few blue veins on Jacques' forehead, and his whole body was shaking.

Jacques felt that, instead of a human being or a sorcerer, it was a demon that was standing in front of him right now, a demon from the pit of sin.

Chapter 181: A New Start (The End of Volume II)

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Jacques' heart was beating fast. He could hear his own breathes.

Ten seconds later, Jacques finally lowered his tight shoulders like a balloon losing its air.

"How… do you want me to do this?" said Jacques in a husky voice.

He felt that he was divided into two parts: one was controlled by his great desire for his love, and the other part was feeling extremely guilty.

"It's simple. You just need to sign a magic pact with me." Lucien's smile was still on his face, "Firstly, you promise that you'll never tell anyone else who we are. Secondly, you will not tell anyone on the ship that something is not right down here. Thirdly, you will also keep this as a secret after you go back to Sturk."

Jacques listened to Lucien's words, with his eyes looking down at the floor.

"In return, I promise to offer you the magic potion that can awaken your Blessing, or we sorcerers say, Blood Power, three years from now, if your own attempt fail. Even if you cannot find me in Holm in three years, the Congress of Magic will keep the words. Tom can represent the congress."

In order to make Jacques feel better, Lucien added, "And also, as long as our own lives are not threatened, we wouldn't hurt you and your friends on this ship."

"I hear you, and I'll do as you said." Jacques looked up and stared at Lucien's eyes, "You know my weakness."

As soon as he said this, he felt more relaxed.

"Congratulations, Mr. Jacques, for making the right choice. I can already see your bright future," said Lucien. Then, he took out a roll of parchment, a quill and a small bottle of magic ink from his pockets, and started to quickly write down the articles and draw mysterious patterns on it .

Lucien did not look at the parchment when he was writing, instead, he was staring at Jacques with his left hand half clenching into a fist, in case Jacques would suddenly change his mind.

Jacques did not really mind Lucien's cautiousness. He said to Lucien, and also to himself, "My future? That'll be a dark future, for sure. After all, I have betrayed my knight faith, and I don't think it possible for me to awaken my Blessing on my own. Everyone knows that the power activated by magic potion is limited, but I will do it anyway, for Chely."

"Good for you, Mr. Jacques. What a nice lover." Lucien smiled, "According to what I know, there is no universal rule as a knight's faith, and 'faith' itself is the most important part. With a certain faith, a person can remain concentrated and focused on his or her knight practice. If your faith is to protect Miss Chely and to guard your love, what you're doing is not breaking your belief."

Hearing that, Jacques was quite surprised, "Your understanding… is very different from what my teacher told me, but your theory makes sense to me."

In fact, Lucien heard this from Natasha. He tried to make his answer blurry, "Well… I know a few grand knights… And maybe new potions can come out in the following several years which can help knights to further improve their power, right?"

Then, Lucien signed his name on the pact.

Lucien's words obviously comforted Jacques. A smile appeared on Jacques face, "I heard that the Church owns a kind of potion which is only available to the top nobles. This potion can turn a person into a level two knight. I also heard that the grand duke, Violet, used this potion. Wait… Your name is Lucien Evans? Interesting, Chely's favourite musician's name is also Lucien Evans."

"I know that guy, too." Lucien answered casually, "Clearly, although we share the same name, we are very different."

"More than different. I'd say… the opposite." Jacques shrugged his shoulders. He never tried to draw the connection between the musician and the sorcerer who was right now standing in front of him, since, firstly, Lucien Evans was not an uncommon name, and secondly, a famous musician also being a sorcerer was something way beyond his imagination.

"I agree with you," said Lucien directly. He secretly turned around to see whether Tom was feeling suspicious about his name.

But clearly, Tom was still staring at Lucien's left hand, carefully waiting for his possible signal.

Lucien knew that if Granneuve had been here, with all the clues Granneuve had, he might be the only one who could tell the truth.

"Mr. Evans? Where shall I sign?" asked Jacques.

"Here." Lucien pointed at the corner of the pact.

After Jacques signed the pact, holding the pact in his hand, Lucien covered the parchment with his spiritual power.

Slight waves of magic power rose from it. Then, the power turned into light blue flame and burned the parchment into ashes.

As soon as the pact was gone, Lucien suddenly felt that there was something new in this soul, and Jacques also looked confused for a second – the magic pact had come into effect!

"If the pact is violated by either of us, the one who broke his promise would suffer from the fire burning his soul, and his soul would thus be destroyed." Lucien shook hands with Jacques, as if they were celebrating certain success, "As we're all set, I'll leave you alone to check the divine power circles, Mr. Jacques."

Jacques threw a meaningful look at Lucien, "Mr. Evans, I have to say that you're a real demon, a demon that is very good at tempting. When I was in my knight training, I never thought I would yield to a demon's offer."

Then he walked past Lucien to check the wood planks close to the window.

Lucien and Tom were just standing there, watching Jacques walking around.

"If Jacques still decides to break the pact somehow, what would you do? You know that some divine power spells can suppress the power of magic compact," said Tom.

Tom knew that the magic pact was not really unbreakable as it was often claimed to be. For example, if Lucien became a high rank sorcerer, his stronger soul would be able to manage the damage from the flame.

"The magic compact is only a form," answered Lucien in a very low voice. "The moment he decided to sign the pact with me, I knew that he would not easily break his words, because his heart chose to follow his desire. However, of course, there's still a risk, but I didn't really have a better choice."

"Interesting." Tom smiled and nodded, "The Congress will be providing the potion, after all, you protected many apprentices."

After a while, under Lucien and Tom's "supervision", Jacques checked the rest of the cabins on this side, and totally ignored the many apprentices hiding in some of the cabins.

An hour later after Jacques left this floor, nothing happened.

Lucien finally released a long sigh of relief.

…

The viscount's room.

A fancy porcelain cup made in Colette got fiercely thrown on the carpet. Instantly, it broke into many small pieces.

"Idiots! Useless idiots! The stones were robbed, and our people were almost found!" Viscount Wright shouted furiously.

In front of him stood Granneuve and Tom, with their heads very low.

The viscount stepped back and forth in his room, "Tell me, how these filthy murlocs knew that the stones were on our ship?! How do they know we're shipping Wave Stone? You two, Granneuve and Tom, it is your responsibility to get the answer!"

Although the viscount owned one tenth of the whole fortune of Sturk, this was still a great loss.

"Yes, my lord." Both Granneuve and Tom didn't dare to raise their heads.

Then the viscount's face turned cold and more gloomy, "Find a chance and kill the knight squire called Jacques. Let someone else do this… According to the pact, only the sorcerers and Tom are not allowed to do this."

"Yes." Granneuve bowed and nodded.

"Wait… Forget about it." The viscount fell back into his couch, looking rather exhausted, "I don't want to hurt Chely. You two get the stone thing done first."

…

A month later, although the weather was getting colder and colder, the fleet never again experienced any major setback after the murloc's attack.

Finally, the ships arrived at the harbour named Patray in Holm, across the Storm Strait.

On the second bottom floor, Lucien, Tom and the apprentices were feeling very, very excited. Experienced as Lucien, he was still not able to restrain the great joy and excitement in his heart.

Lucien regarded this day as the beginning of his real path of magic.

With regards to the note that he found in the murloc mage's pouch, Lucien had not put much thought into it. He could not allow himself to be too greedy, especially when he didn't have enough information.

"Evans, you and the apprentices hide in the crates. Stay calm when they are checking. Just hide in there and do not panic," said Tom as he was pointing at the several long, wooden crates.

Lucien nodded and took the lead to walk into a crate. When he lay down, a layer of wood board covered him.

On the wood board, Tom and his sailors put layers of goods on top of it and sealed the crate completely with another board with iron nails.

Lucien felt that he was being buried in a coffin.

In the darkness, after a long time, when Lucien was wondering whether he was forgotten, he heard that there were people prying the crate to check the goods inside.

Although he was very alert, following Tom's order, Lucien remained very calm and stayed still.

"No problem."

It was Jacques' voice.

The crate was sealed again. And Lucien felt the great bumpiness. After a while, Lucien's crate was placed on the wet and cold ground.

After a long time again, the crate was opened once more. The goods above him were removed, and so was the lower board.

The bright sunlight came in and made Lucien squint.

A young man wearing a white shirt, dark brown vest and black long jacket was standing in front of the crate. There was a big smile on this young man's face under his top hat.

"Welcome to Holm, my friend."

Lucien also grinned. He knew that a new beginning of his life had started.

Chapter 182: Lazar's Promise

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The Third Volume: City in the Sky

The bright sunlight, the slightly humid environment, a faint fishy smell in the air, old but elegant buildings, a busy city—those were Lucien's first impressions of the biggest costal city named Patray, in Holm.

A couple of coaches drove through the streets of Patray, in which sat Lucien, the apprentices and the sorcerer who picked them up, Lazar.

"How do you like Holm, Mr. Evans? Not bad, right?" Lazar still got a big smile on his face.

"Just call me Evans, Lazar. Well… the ladies are surely beautiful," answered Lucien in a relaxed and humorous way, "And the dressing style here is quite different. Some of the dresses that ladies are wearing are sophisticated, and some are simple-designed; some have bright colors, and some are well decorated. The only thing that disappoints me a bit is that the ladies are all dressing in a quite conservative way, haha."

"Ha, Evans…" Lazar clapped his hands, "I see… You do not appreciate the beauty of being conservative, but to me, this is another way of being sexy, which is more mysterious and can leave us with more space for imagination."

Lucien slightly nodded, "Another thing is that… I think people here, no matter ladies or gentlemen, all like wearing hats. Is it right?"

In Aalto, only some of the clergy and senior citizens liked wearing hats.

"Good point, Evans. Good observation is very important for a sorcerer. In Holm, wearing hat is a manner, and you have to adapt to it as well. Ladies like wearing capelines with long ribbons and tassels and crape bonnets for formal settings, and simple bonnets decorated with flowers or feathers for daily life. Common guys wear round-top caps or men's capelines, and gentlemen like us wear men's bonnets or top hats," answered Lazar. "Besides hats, ties, suits or double-breasted coats are also important pieces."

After getting a bit closer with Lazar, Lucien switched the topic naturally, "I wonder if there's any limit on sorcerers using magic?"

"Technically speaking, a sorcerer using magic to hurt people is just like an ordinary person using dagger or sword to hurt someone, hence we would be punished accordingly by law. However, because the male sorcerers here in Holm have noble titles, if the case is not very serious, they would only be fined… Look, Evans." Lazar pointed at a middle-aged man in a gray suit.

Lucien saw that the man was standing beside a fountain on the square, surrounded by many kids. Holding his black top hat in his hand, the middle-aged man kept showing the kids all kinds of stuff from his hat, such as flowers, bread, stones and even a white pigeon.

"Is he an apprentice?" asked Lucien.

"Yes." Lazar smiled and nodded, "Since the congress started sending apprentices to magic schools to let them receive formal training, we have more and more apprentices in this country. However, that also means that we have more apprentices who cannot become real sorcerers. Fortunately, these apprentices know how to read and are more knowledgable than common people, hence they can still make a good living. This guy, an apprentice, seems to like kids quite a lot."

Lucien had already got the information from Astar and Tom, so he was not very surprised. He asked casually, "Then what's the percentage? I mean… how many apprentices can actually become sorcerers?"

"Well… Comparatively speaking, the number has increased a lot compared to that of the ancient magic empire. In the ancient time, apprentices who did not have strong enough spiritual power could only rely their hope on precious magic potions or risky magic rituals. Therefore, among a thousand apprentices, maybe one could become a sorcerer, but now, due to the study of arcana, we have a lower requirement for one's spiritual power, and right now the number's around five out of a hundred." Lazar looked at Lucien with his signature smile, "You don't have to worry about it, Evans… I mean, since you're a sorcerer already, as long as you can focus on learning arcana, I'm sure you can make progress very soon. By the way, what school do you specialize in?" asked Lazar curiously.

"I'm better at Astrology and Element," answered Lucien honestly. "But I'm not sure what'll be my mastery yet."

"Ha, I happen to be a mage in the school of Element, and also a member of the Will of Elements. Did you ever hear the name of this group before?" asked Lazar.

"Mr. Astar mentioned it to me before. You want me in, Lazar?" Lucien smiled, saying in his mind that he actually knew way more about this group than just knowing its name, after all, he was even carrying the ring with himself right now.

"Come on, Evans! We're not the Hand of Paleness," said Lazar in a joking way. "The Hand of Paleness doesn't care about the quality of their members at all, which I understand to some degree, after all, what matters the most to them is body. If a member is not really qualified, his or her body can still be useful, right?"

Obviously, there was indeed great conflict between the Will of Elements and the Hand of Paleness.

"So, Lazar… I take you're also an arcanist, right?" asked Lucien carefully.

Lazar adjusted himself a bit to sit slightly more straight, and tried to make his smile look more casual, "The first circle element spell, Lazar's Burning Hand, which I improved at the beginning of this year, has been approved by Arcana Review Board, and I earned another two arcana credits from it. Together with the previous eight credits that I had, I'm a level one arcanist and a second circle sorcerer now, and that's why I'm a member of the Will of Elements."

Clearly, Lazar was very proud of his accomplishment.

"How old are you, Lazar? You look quite young." Although Lucien did not understand how hard it was for a junior-rank sorcerer to get arcana credit, he was still quite surprised with Lazar's sorcerer level.

Lazar reached for the glass of wine resting on the small wood table in the coach, "Just turned twenty-two. Two years older than you, Evans."

As Lucien often behaved in a quite mature way, most people thought that he was twenty something, hence Lucien also told other people that he was twenty to differ himself from the eighteen-year-old famous musician.

"You're indeed a genius, Lazar." Lucien nodded and praised him sincerely.

"I'm still far from being a genius, Evans." Lazar slightly waved his hand, "For example, Mr. Ulysses from the Will of Power, he is a real genius in the school of Element. He was a level two arcanist and a middle-rank mage sorcerer when he was twenty two, and a level four arcanist, fifth circle elemental mage when he was thirty three, and there is still Mr. Larry and Mr. Timothy in our group."

Lazar did not envy these geniuses, since these people's accomplishment was beyond a common person's jealousy.

"However, the person from the school of Element that I admire the most, except the grand arcanist, Hathaway, is Mrs. Meredith from Holm, who won Holm Crown prize when she was only twenty-three, and she was one of the very few geniuses whose arcana level was higher than their sorcerer level. After she had won this prize, Mrs. Meredith even became a level four arcanist when she was only a first circle elemental sorcerer! Unfortunately…"

Lazar released a sorry sigh.

Lucien secretly touched the ring named Mo in his pocket with a mixed feeling, "I heard about her story, too, and Mrs. Meredith is really admirable."

Lazar raised his glass to show his appreciation.

"Although we haven't been planning on inviting you to join our group, Evans," said Lazar, "as a promising young man who is already a real sorcerer in his early twenties, by studying ancient magic system you should be able to gain many groups' attention in the congress very soon."

"I'm flattered." Lucien nodded politely.

Lazard took it that Lucien did not really understand what did his words mean, so he added, "Being a member of our group can bring you many benefits: the instruction of the middle and senior rank mages, countless arcana books and journals, well-equipped labs, wealth, two secret rites for improving—one is owned by the congress, the Royal Magic Academy and the group called the Lord of Elements, the other is called the Creator, which is only available for sorcerers who study both Element and Alchemy. Anyway, representing Mrs. Meredith, as long as you can get a level in arcana by thirty, Evans, you're welcome to join us!"

Lucien's smile was still on his face, although he secretly thought that he himself, the person who was holding Mrs. Meredith's ring right now, should be the best representative of that talented lady between them both.

Besides, Lucien still remembered what Astar told him. When he was still a junior rank mage, it was better for him to stay away from all those groups' conflict and competition, and to focus on his own study first.

"I'm very interested in Astrology and Element," said Lucien sincerely still. "The Will of Elements is for sure my ideal group."

Lazar nodded in a satisfied way, "If your mastery is in Astrology, you can also consider Tower."

It seemed that the relationship between Tower and the Will of Elements was not bad.

Then, Lazar looked out a bit and asked, "Do you want to stay in Patray for a few more days, or do you want to head for Allyn directly?"

"I can't wait for going to Allyn anymore," answered Lucien in a second.

Lazar put down his glass and grinned. Then, he asked the coachman to drive them into a house with a garden, which looked nothing special.

However, as soon as the coach went through the gate, the surroundings suddenly became blurry, as if there was heavy fog everywhere.

When the coach got out of the fog, what Lucien saw totally surprised him:

Four pairs of railway tracks and an eight-car black train were right now in front of him.

The apprentices in the coaches following Lucien and Lazar were also more than surprised.

"Welcome aboard the magic steam train to Allyn," said Lazar.

It was delightful for Lazar to see Lucien and the apprentices' surprised faces.

Chapter 183: Consideration

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Spacious, light yellow cars, soft dark red seats, clean magic glass, and the two beautiful young girls wearing light blue dresses—this was Lucien's first impression of this magic train, and this first impression was pretty good.

"Welcome aboard Kloss. We'll be traveling past seven stations on our way today, and arrive in Allyn three hours later." The two beautiful grils from the crew bowed to Lucien politely, "If you need anything, sir, please press the button on the table."

As a guest, Lucien only smiled and nodded, letting Lazar arrange the rest of the stuff.

After taking out his pocket watch and giving it a quick glance, Lazar said to Lucien, "It's one in the afternoon right now, and we have plenty of time to arrive in Allyn before the people in the congress finish working today. Wait… I bet all of you haven't had lunch yet. No worries. This train is equipped with the best chefs from all over the continent, and all of your first trip to Allyn is paid by the congress. Of course, you gotta pay for your future trips, and it's one Thale per ticket."

"That's pricy…" Even Lucien felt a bit surprised, not to mention the apprentices. After all, a common person with middle-level earning could only make seven to eight Thales a year. This train was way more expensive than the flights that Lucien had taken in his own world.

Seeing their facial expression, Lazar grinned, "Actually, the idea of magic train was already put forward by some arcanists many years ago. They were inspired by the equipment used in mining industry. At that time, the train was fuelled by magic circles and alchemy lives, hence why the train was very expensive to run. Besides, most sorcerers above middle rank can fly. So you can see… The train was quite impractical."

"What about this one?" asked Lucien.

"Mr. Kloss later improved the train by combining magic and machine together, and started using steam as the major power for the train, which greatly reduced the cost." Lazar continued, "The train is way faster than a middle-rank sorcerer flying on his own, even faster than magic brooms, not to mention that a train can carry way more people at the same time. Therefore, the congress puts much emphasis on the planning of the railways, and now we have four routes. The one we're taking now is the first settled route, from Patray to Allyn."

As Lazar was introducing the details, he made Lucien and the apprentices order their food.

"Then why this train's still this expensive, Mr. Lazar?" asked Sprint curiously. Among all the apprentices, he was the most active one.

"Let's sit down first." Lazar and Lucien sat down on the soft seats on both sides of the table. "Because Kloss is a luxury train. That's why." After all of them sat down, Lazar continued, "For other trains, you are looking at around thirty Nars. I mean… it's still not cheap, but the cost of building new railways comes from income of the tickets and the funding of the congress. We don't trust those greedy bankers to do this."

After satisfying the apprentices' curiosity, Lazar grinned to Lucien, "I'm pretty sure that the price will drop someday, with the fast development of other transportation methods. Evans, you come to the congress in the best time, and you have to seize this moment, when all kinds of great ideas about magic are thriving. Work hard on arcana, and become a worthy sorcerer!"

Without doubt, Lazar was a very delightful and optimistic young man, or he would not be chosen to be the one greeting the newcomers.

"In fact, I already started learning basic arcana in Mr. Astar's place, and I have three apprentices studying after me." Lucien smiled and nodded, and then placed Amboula and Alert in the designated area beside his seat.

In the past more-than-one-month studying, both Annick and Layria had become real magic apprentices before they arrived in Holm, and Heidi was almost there as well.

"That's great." Lazar nodded.

Then with a loud steam whistle, the train started moving.

"Wow…" Sprint half stood up from his seat and stared at the outside of the window. Then so did Annick and Olmos.

The surprised and excited apprentices started discussing with each other.

Lucien reached forward for the water in front of him, without taking a glance at what was happening outside.

"You look pretty calm, Evans," said Lazar in a favorable way.

Of course Lucien could not tell Lazar that he had seen this countless times in his original world, so he found an excuse, "I think I'm more interested in the mechanics of this machine. Lazar, may I visit the operation room?"

Lazar laughed, "Evans, I totally understand your curiosity, but what you're interested in is confidential. If you really want to find out how it works, the only way you can do it is to use your arcana points to exchange the materials with the congress."

Surprisingly, as the train ran faster and faster, the noises produced by the train gradually disappeared. Lucien was guessing that it was because of the magic circles cast on the train.

Outside of the window, the bleak fields in November and the small villages along the railway were passing backwards very fast.

When Lucien was about to ask, two young girls came into the carriage with a dining pushcart, followed by several violin players.

In the wonderful music, the two girls put steaks, grilled fish, caviar and foie gras on their plates.

Lucien unfolded his napkin on his lap and then cut a piece of steak. The steak was very juicy and well-cooked.

Lucien nodded out of satisfaction, "Very professional."

"I know, right? I've been looking forward to the nice cuisine in the Kingdom of Syracuse for a long time. Unfortunately, I'm still not a middle-rank mage, and I cannot fly over Storm Strait to try the food there," said Lazar while cutting the fried foie gras in his plate. "I also appreciate Aalto's music a lot as well. You know, the young musician who you share the same name with, Lucien Evans… He has been gaining much popularity in a very short period of time."

Then Lucien started introducing the many cuisines in different countries to Lazar. When Lazar got very excited, he also told Lucien many things about the congress.

"Lazar, how can I obtain arcana credit?" asked Lucien, "I really want to start my arcana path."

Because Lucien knew that, in other people's eyes, he was only a beginner in arcana, he was planning on studying in the congress first for a while and then seizing a chance to compose and publish his own paper. However, from what Lazar told him, Lucien realized that having a certain level in arcana could bring him many benefits.

In addition, in the past one month, by using Brook Meditation, Lucien was ready to move forward to a higher sorcerer level, second circle.

"You know, Evans, there's an old saying, 'The more impatient a person is, the harder it is for the person to get to the destination'." Lazar wiped his mouth with the white napkin, "But I do understand, Evans, after all, gaining arcana credit is more than important to every sorcerer in the congress."

Lucien sat straight to listen carefully.

"Arcana Review Board is the organization taking charge of arcana credit awarding, belonging to the highest council in the congress, and it consists of fifty-two authorities from all of the schools. These sorcerers are at least level six arcanists."

"There are only fifty something level six arcanists?" Lucien felt quite surprised.

"Authorities, I said authorities." Lazar shook his head, "It depends on different fields. Some arcanists do have very impressive accomplishment and they… well, they live long enough to have a high level, but in the fields they specialize in, if there are sorcerers who are even more competitive than them, they still cannot be members of the board. However, for some sorcerers, although their arcana level is not that high, because they are experts in their own less popular or new fields, they can be regarded as authorities."

"I see. I also heard from Mr. Astar that if one's arcana research outcome is cited by someone else, the person can also get arcana credits?" asked Lucien.

After asking the attendants to take away the plates, Lazar answered, "That's right. One credit for one citation. However, whether it can bring you more credits also depends on how important your research outcome is, and Arcana Review Board is still responsible for the judgement."

"Then what about me coming up with a new spell or improving an existing magic?" Lucien needed to understand this as much as possible.

"You can only be awarded once for that, unless your creation or improvement inspired someone else and thus that person develops a new article based on that, and in that case, you can get extra credits. Otherwise, if someone wants to learn your magic, the person only needs to pay you arcana points. For example, so far my Lazar's Burning Hand has been learned by thirty sorcerers, and that's thirty arcana points."

"That seems to be a lot of work for the sorcerers of the board." Lucien gently grabbed his chin.

"Oh… That's really true. In fact, in most cases, since they are very busy, these sorcerers usually don't deal with reviewing most of the arcana and magic spells submitted, but let their students or other qualified arcanists working for different journals to make the judgement. Sometimes, there are mistakes and some sorcerers don't get their points immediately, but the deficiencies can always get fixed sooner of later. For you, Evans, the best way to get some arcana points is to submit some unique spells from the ancient magic system. If no one before you ever have submitted it, you can get the corresponding points."

"I see." Lucien slightly nodded, "The congress is encouraging the exchanging of knowledge among sorcerers."

Without doubt, all the sorcerers valued their own magic spells greatly. If there was no reward, no one would like to submit and publish one's own creation.

Then what about Lucien?

Should he submit his spells to get the points?

Chapter 184: Allyn

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Although most of the ancient ways of doing meditation had been proven innefective by arcana, many unique ancient magic spells were still popular among today's sorcerers. Every time a sorcerer explored an old relic, except magic items or materials, he or she would always look forward to finding unique spells or magic rites. After all, the only standard for judging whether a magic spell was good or bad was to see if it was really useful.

In this regard, ancient spells were definitely not inferior to those contemporary ones. The possible difference might be that the requirement for learning a certain spell today was way lower than that of the ancient time. For example, a seventh or eighth circle spell in the past should probably be a fourth or fifth circle spell today.

Moreover, unique ancient spells could inspire arcanists as well. Many arcana research outcomes came from the studies of the old spells. Therefore, the congress was always quite generous in this case.

However, in the book, Astrology and Elements, only spells of third circle and above could be counted as unique spells, and Lucien was not there yet. Therefore, it was hard for him to pick out several not very important ones for submission. Currently, Lucien was planning on submitting the several spells that he created or improved on his own.

Among all these spells, Lucien saw the greatest value in the first circle spell, Charm Person, which included two versions: one targeting mages and one for knights. Before the congress came up with the theory with regards to brain wave and hormone, Lucien would not give them to the congress. Lucien felt that he might become an explorer in a new field by further studying the two spells, and then he might even become an expert in the school of Illusion or Necromancy.

As for Professor's Oscillation Hand, Lucien could not touch it right now. Since if people knew that it was Lucien who first created his magic, it would not be difficult for them to realize that Lucien was the very Professor who caused all the messes in Aalto. Lucien did not want to submit anything with regards to discussing resonance before he got to a fifth circle sorcerer level.

In order to avoid the great impact on the school of Necromancy and on the belief of the Church, Lucien needed to keep carbamide synthesis to himself for now as well. As a beginner in this field, he could not take the risk to overthrow the two great powers. If he failed to be careful enough, those crazy necromancers and the Church would definitely try their very best to kill him.

Lucien heard about more than a dozen examples from Mr. Astar about arcanists using violence to solve academic disputes. After all, arcanists were still human beings, and they still had emotions and could still be impulsive.

That was why the congress had set quite a few small anti-magic circles into the walls of many discussion rooms.

From so many of the dangerous situations Lucien had been through, he came to the conclusion—a person should never overstretch himself.

"Then what about Bat Screaming…" Lucien thought to himself, thrumming the table unconsciously.

Lazar decided to leave Lucien alone for a bit. He understood how hard it could be for a sorcerer to yield to the demands of the congress.

Here came the steam whistle again, loud and sharp. The train gradually slowed down and finally stopped in front of the last station.

Somehow the station looked more creepy and gloomy than other ones.

A few people wearing black ancient magic robes came aboard. Some of them were caring big suitcases.

"Oh… Those necrophilia… I'd be willing to pay more if the train could skip Heidler." Lazar complained in a low voice. He seemed to be a bit nervous as well when he was complaining.

"Heidler…?" Lucien looked out confusedly, and surprisingly saw a space crack in the dust-haze.

The power of Sun's Corona enabled Lucien to see the crack connecting this world and the World of Souls!

Lucien only found five or six space cracks like this when he was traveling across the continent. To his surprise, there was one more in Holm. No wonder there were so many necromancers here.

Lazar got a bit closer to Lucien and said in a low voice, "Soon after the congress had been established, these necrophilia noticed the strong power of death in Heidler, thus they moved the headquarter of the Hand of Paleness to this city. If you travel to Heidler… Well, I mean if… you'd see more undead creatures than living men. Some of the new undead species could even help the farmers and blacksmiths."

"Wow… That's something." Lucien got a bit excited.

"…" Lazar did not know what to say.

When the necromancers got closer, both Lucien and Lazar got very surprised.

The man walking in the front was no one else but Felipe.

As usual, Felipe pocketed his hands in his black coat, and he still looked quite sick. When he was about to turn in the corner, he casually looked at the carriage where Lazar and Lucien were in.

Lazar hurriedly stood up, "Good afternoon, Mr. Felipe."

Although the congress had abandoned many bad traditions existing in the time of ancient magic empire, for example, apprentices' personal bondage to sorcerers, the tradition for respecting a really powerful sorcerer remained. Although Lazar was from the Will of Elements, facing Felipe, a sorcerer whose both magic and arcana level were way higher than his own, Lazar still had to show his respect.

Felipe, however, did not care. He nodded casually and then walked into the next door carriage.

"Mr. Lazar, who is this man? He looks quite… powerful," asked Heidi. She was sitting on a soft chair behind Lucien.

It was such a relief for Lucien to see that Felipe did not act any differently. So Lucien also looked at Lazar like these curious apprentices.

"Mr. Felipe, a necromancer from the Hand of Paleness," said Lazar, and the smile on his face had disappeared, "He's a genius, a level four arcanist and a fifth circle necromancer."

"I know him! I heard this name before! I think he's the one who forced his way through the blockade line of the Church!" said Sprint excitedly as if Felipe was his idol, "Mr. Felipe is on the Cleansing List, as a middle-ranked sorcerer! Cool!"

All the apprentices in this carriage were now looking at the carriage next door out of great excitement, although they could see nothing. However, they had never been this close to a famous person.

"Well… Actually we have someone like Mr. Felipe in our group, the Will of Elements, as well. We call him 'Professor', and he is also on the list… only one place lower than Mr. Felipe." Lazar was trying to keep a good profile of the Will of Elements.

Hearing Lazar's words, Lucien wondered how the Will of Elements could make sure that Professor was really their member.

So Lucien asked, "I've heard his name a few times, but is he from the Will of Elements?"

"That's for sure. Mr. Felipe doesn't seem to get along well with Mr. Professor. A while ago, our director Mr. Gaston found that Mr. Felipe was secretly investigating the sorcerers in our group. Mr. Gaston got pissed off and almost killed Felipe. This is probably the biggest news recently in the congress," answered Lazar.

Then Lazar took a glance at the next door carriage and even lowered his voice more, "Many arcanists who knew Mr. Felipe said that, after Mr. Felipe came back from his mission, he changed quite a bit. They said that he became calmer and less arrogant, and it seems like he's doing some secretly experiments right now."

Lucien nodded and started analyzing. According to Lazar's words, Lucien guessed that, although Felipe had told people that Professor was from the Will of Elements, he told no one else anything about carbamide synthesis, otherwise, the experiment from Professor would become the biggest news recently.

On the other hand, Lucien was quite sure that Felipe was trying to synthesize the ingredients for life himself.

Another apprentice, Catrina, seemed to be more interested in the mysterious Professor,

"Mr. Lazar, do you know Professor's real name?"

"I don't know," answered Lazar. "The grand arcanist, Hathaway, said that Mr. Professor was from the congress, but she did not mention specifically who was this mysterious Professor."

Lucien suddenly felt very embarrassed. When the directors of the Will of Elements found out that there was no such person called Professor in their group, they would definitely go to seek for the help of the higher level in the congress, which turned out to be Hathaway. Quite possibly, Hathaway had already found out who this Professor was based on the dates and the places he showed up, and Hathaway also cared for Natasha a lot.

However, for some kind of reasons, Hathaway did not expose the mysterious Professor.

At this time, Annick looked out of the window, and his mouth opened with surprise: "We're… We're flying!"

Lucien just noticed that the railway tracks were now off the ground, floating in mid-air and extending upwards, while the train was still on the tracks.

The forest, the fields, the manors and the city below grew smaller and smaller like ants.

"Anti-gravitation field. There is an anti-gravitation field on the tracks close to Allyn." Seeing Lucien turned around, Lazar answered him before Lucien asked the question, "You can only see something like this here around Allyn, or the congress would definitely go bankrupt."

The apprentices flocked to the window and watched the train speeding through the blue sky. A black spot in front of the train was getting bigger and bigger, and it turned out to be a huge city floating in the middle of the sky!

The city was built on a huge peak truncated from a mountain, with the tip floating downwards. On the very broad cross section which served as the land of this city, there were gardens, woods, streets, countless ordinary buildings, and many different kinds of magic pinnacles. The whole city was about half the size of Aalto.

This was the headquarter of the Congress of Magic, the Sky City, Allyn!

"That's magnificent…"

"Wow…"

Seeing that the apprentices almost dropped their jaws out of the stunning view, Lazar smiled and said, "You folks will have plenty of opportunities to appreciate the city, and before that, the congress has an assessment for you, so then the congress can assign you to the appropriate schools in accordance with your arcana level and interest."

"Assessment? Why you never mentioned this earlier?" exclaimed Heidi and many other apprentices. Hurriedly, they sat back on their seats and opened their books to prepare.

Both Sprint and Katrina remained quite calm. Katrina said to Heidi, "You've been studying arcana for more than a month. Why are you panicking like this?"

"I'm not ready… not ready…" murmured Heidi while reading one of the books nervously.

The train slowed down and stopped at the platform locating on the fringe of Allyn.

At this time, the two beautiful girls wearing light blue uniform dresses came into the carriage, and each was holding a hard-cover notebook. They said to Lucien and Lazar respectfully, "Dear guests, please leave your valuable suggestions here to help improving our service."

Right now the magic steam train was still on its pilot run.

Lucien took over the notebook and the quill, and quickly wrote down two words. Then he passed the notebook to Lazar.

Lazar looked at the comment left by Lucien confusedly.

On the notebook, it was written, "Five stars!"

Chapter 185: Apprentice Assessment Department

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The coaches drove smoothly across the streets, and then slowly stopped in front of the huge tower in the center of the sky city.

It was not easy for the apprentices to realize how magnificent the tower was when they were looking at it from afar, however, when they came close to it, Heidi, Layria and the other apprentices' hearts were full of wonder, as they had to stretch their necks to look up to barely see the spire of the tall tower.

Unlike the mysterious and gloomy towers in the ancient magic empire time, the tower's outer layer was made of some kind of silver-gray material that sparkled with metallic gleam. The thrilling beauty of this building was something beyond the apprentices' words.

This was one of Lucien's favorite styles, hence he had a pretty good first impression of the congress.

Seeing that both Lucien and the apprentices were all so surprised, Lazar felt very satisfied. After Felipe and the other sorcerers walked through the gate, Lazar clapped his hands gently and smiled. "The name of the tower is also Allyn, the same as the name of this city, and Allyn is the ultimate dream of most sorcerers. All right, let's go. As it's already four fifteen right now, we need to talk to the staff in the congress by six. After six, there are only security people here."

"Mr. Lazar, can we come back tomorrow? We are so tired that we need to rest," asked many of the apprentices because they were afraid to take the arcana test, and even Annick was a bit hesitant.

Lazar led Lucien and the apprentices to the gray stone steps in front of the tower, "As you just arrived today, I'm sure all of you are tired, but you need to tell this to the congress staff responsible for testing you on your own, and they will arrange another time for the assessment. What I have to remind you all is that, without going through the exam, you can't get the two badges—one for magic and the other for arcana, and that can make many things quite troublesome. The earlier you start the study of arcana and magic, the sooner you can be a true wizard or witch."

Lazar was not telling the apprentices to take the test when they were tired, but to make the best use of their time.

Soon they walked in front of the gate of the congress tower. The silver-colored gate was engraved with many mysterious patterns.

When they were just about to walk in, two big black eyes suddenly appeared on the gate, blinking in a cute way, "On behalf of all the arcanists and sorcerers, I welcome you all to Allyn."

The voice was delightful. The gate was greeting them.

"Come on, Prospell, you never welcomed me like this," joked Lazar.

"Because only now I've sensed the smell of youth," answered Prospell cheerfully.

Turning around to the stunned apprentices, Lazar introduced, "Prospell is a very powerful alchemy life born together with the congress tower. It was Douglas and several other grand arcanists who brought Prospell into life and it took them quite a long time to collect the special incomplete souls required. You can see lots of alchemy lives in the headquarter of the congress of magic. In this respect, nowhere can compete with the congress."

Since Lucien first talked to an alchemy life in Viscount Carendia's castle, he found great interest in building an alchemy life, so he could not help asking, "Lazar, when we can learn about alchemy life?"

"First you gotta have an arcana tree about soul in the school of Necromancy, and, at the same time, you have to learn at least basic alchemy knowledge. Then, when you finish learning all of those things and then become a senior-rank mage, you can start making an alchemy life," said Lazar casually.

"Sir, if you're interested in making an alchemy life, please make a lady. I got fed up with all of these male alchemy lives living in the towers in this area long time ago!"

Somehow, this alchemy life looked quite a bit obscene in Lucien and the apprentices' eyes.

Seeing that Lucien did not really respond, Prospell laughed in a bit embarrassed way, "I'm just joking, haha… Apprentice Assessment Department is in zone three, first floor; Sorcerer Administrative Department, zone four, first floor; zone five, Task Zone, for accepting and releasing tasks; Conversion Department, zone six, first floor, for exchanging your money, materials, items or information for arcana points, or vice versa. Common Arcana and Magic Library is in zone one, and Magic Exchange Office, in zone two."

Lucien listened carefully to Prospell to follow the information.

"If you want to do any meditation or experiment, you can go to the second to the ninth floor, where we have meditation rooms, all kinds of labs, constraint rooms, energy rooms, magic gardens and so on. Of course, you gotta pay money or arcana points to use them. On the tenth floor, there are the headquarters of the two major journals, Arcana and Magic."

"Then what about the other journals?" asked Lucien.

"The headquarters of the rest of the journals are either somewhere else in Allyn, or other countries, hosted by the many divisions of the congress," explained Prospell.

"Thank you for explaining, and please go ahead." Lucien nodded politely, treating the alchemy life like a real person.

"The offices of the several boards and the exclusive lounges for the board members are on the eleventh to the fifteenth floor; qualified arcana and magic research groups can apply for the use of the rooms on the sixteenth to the twentieth floor for free; on the twenty-first to the twenty-fifth floor, we have the best labs designed for different fields of research; high-level Arcana and Magic Library, high-level constraint rooms and material warehouses are on the twenty-sixth to the thirtieth floor; the thirty-first floor to the thirty-fifth floor are reserved for the members of the highest council, but I heard that, recently, they're considering to separate the thirty-first and the thirty-second floor to be the academy for training junior-rank mages…" Prospell continued.

Obviously, Prospell was a very talkative alchemy life, and the lots of information totally confused the apprentices.

"Anyway… come in here now," said Prospell, and then he started singing:

"Don't touch around, cuz that's my muscle.

"Don't touch the wall, cuz that itches me.

"Don't vandalize anything, cuz organs are always vulnerable."

…

Accompanied by this strange song, when Lucien, Lazar and the apprentices walked into the silver hall, the first thing that appeared in front of them was a one-meter-diameter round disc, engraved with complicated magic circles. Around the disc, there was a yellowish green cover, extending from the first to the second floor.

Around the hall, there were signs labeling six different zones.

"The elevators are over there," introduced Lazar. "How about we go to the Apprentice Assessment Department in zone three first, and then the Sorcerer Administrative Department in zone four?"

"No problem." Lucien did not mind at all.

…

There were rows and rows of different rooms in zone three. A lanky, old man dressing in old school style was there.

The old man's name was Simeon. He said seriously to the apprentices, "All of you register first, and then you will receive arcana assessment. Based on the results, you all will be assigned to different schools."

"Mr. Simeon, all of us are very tired right now since we just arrived in Holm this afternoon, and then we spent another three hours on the train again." Katrina was not being shy. Regarding herself as one of the leaders of the apprentices, she felt that she was responsible for making this request.

Facing the reasonable request, although he was usually pretty stubborn, Simeon still nodded, "Then register first, and then do the assessment tomorrow morning at nine. All of you can stay in zone three to rest for the night, but since you don't have both badges, keep in mind that you should not leave zone three."

"We won't. Thank you, Mr. Simeon," said many of the apprentices.

When the apprentices all finished doing their registration, Simeon noticed Lucien. "You're not one of them?" asked Simeon a bit confused.

"Mr. Simeon, I'm a sorcerer." Lucien smiled.

Simeon looked quite surprised, then he took a quick glance at Lucien from head to foot, "You're not even twenty… You seem to be very gifted with your spiritual power. If you want to study Astrology or Light-darkness, or if you're interested in studying mathematics, you might want to join us, Tower."

Lazar looked at Simeon and quickly cut in, "We talked about this before, and Mr. Evans said that he wanted to focus on studying arcana first before making any decision."

"Interesting. Not many young people are thinking like this nowadays anymore." Simeon smiled, "Tower is relatively neutral compared to most of the groups in the congress, and we usually just follow the direction of the congress, suitable for sorcerers who do not want to get involved in all those conflicts. All right, all right… I'll stop, or Lazar's gonna cry in front of me now."

There were two badges on Simeon's robe: one was black inlaid with two stars, and the other was silver with two black circles on it, looking rather cold and mysterious. According to Lazar's introduction, Lucien could tell that the former was the badge for a level two arcanist, and the latter was for a second circle sorcerer.

Noticing that Heidi, Layria and many other apprentices were busy with reviewing what they had learned, Sprint frowned a bit. "It's just useless making efforts at the last moment."

Hearing what Sprint just said, Heidi hurriedly came to Lucien, "Mr. Evans, do you have any better suggestion then?"

"Having a good rest is the most important thing." Lucien nodded, "I agree with Sprint. Maybe just roughly leaf through the books a bit."

Both Annick and Layria nodded behind Heidi, they looked at Lucien, "Will you come here tomorrow, Mr. Evans? When we're taking the test?"

"I will." Lucien smiled, "I would like to know whether I'm a good teacher."

Seeing the apprentices were encouraged by his words, Lucien felt some softness in his heart. Then, he turned around and said to Lazar, "What about going to the Sorcerer Administrative Department now? By the way, if I want to make exchanges in Common Arcana and Magic Library or in Magic Exchange Office, what shall I use? Arcana points only or I can also use Thales?"

"Either." Lazar grinned, "But Evans, you gotta activate your arcana badge before going there, or you can only have some free basic arcana and magic books given by the congress. When you reach a certain knowledge level, you can take arcana assessment in the Sorcerer Administrative Department. If you can pass the test, you can get a basic arcana point to activate your arcana badge."

Lucien frowned a bit and asked, "If I want to get this done sooner, can I just submit a new spell?"