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Chapter 241: Making Effort

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Inside room no. 14, on the thirteenth floor of Allyn Magic Tower.

Florencia was wearing a light blue dress today, which style was close to that of Tria or Aalto. In this dress, she looked even hotter and more charming, in a slighty more mature way.

Right now, Florencia was sitting opposite Lucien, with her left hand supporting her head, and her long blond hair gently falling over her shoulders, listening carefully to Lucien, who was explaining his purpose in coming. Then, her green eyes looked at Lucien when he finished his words, and she put on a smile.

"Evans, do you think this proposal can get approved within the Affairs Committee? You know… a proposal that can increase the cost and cut down their profit…"

Her attitude remained ambiguous with this question.

Lucien did not know her well, so he tried to be careful with his answer, "Possibly, I think. Firstly, the cost can be shared and spread out on the prices of the final products, and secondly, I'm sure that many members in the committee understand Astrology. They can see the possible future of our next generations with their own eyes if we do nothing right now. Thirdly, it's also a great chance for us to show our friendly manner to elves and druids, which is beneficial to the development of the Congress."

"What an eloquence…" Florencia made a bit fun of Lucien, then she got more serious, "But any increase in price will definitely affect the sales volume, which is directly related to how much money can actually go into many sorcerers' pockets. As a sorcerer, Evans, you know that we always need more money… for materials, for experiments, for magic rites… I'm afraid that not many sorcerers really care about the long-term future as much as you do, especially when it comes to their own interest."

After a short pause, Florencia continued, "I admit that Astrology might help a bit, but there are so many spells that can be used for sorcerers to protect themselves, or they can just go to other dimensions for good. Not everyone can see long-term interest, and what they can see is just the a few meters right in front of their feet. With no doubt, you're very talented, Evans, however, you're still too naive. Even if the committee decides to be on your side, many sorcerers would find their own ways around it anyway, not to mention the fact that pissing off their big supporters is the last thing those committee members want to do."

For a moment, Lucien did not know what to say.

Florencia reorganized the documents in front of her again, and said, "Evans, your idea of using Elemental Swirl to deal with pollution is great, but my question is, again, did you ever consider its cost? Enchanting your ring, Element, with the spell, cost us a lot, and it can only be cast few times in a day. Even if the hydroelectricity magic tower in the alchemical factory could provide enough power for simplifying the spell to fourth or third circle, and even if the recycled pure elements could be reused, the cost is still there. Thus, the price, just like what I mentioned before, is still the biggest problem."

Lucien had no idea how to refute Florencia. After a while, he looked at Florencia sincerely, "Ms. Florencia, the cost is not that much."

"I know, but for many wealthy people, they would rather waste their money than invest the money in the future." Florencia nodded, "As this proposal is related to our cooperation with elves and druids, I will bring your proposal to the committee meeting, but I don't want you to have too much hope with it."

Her implication was clear. The reason why Florencia was having this conversation with Lucien was that Lucien was a young, talented sorcerer from the Will of Elements, and the reason why she was willing to bring proposal to other committee members was the cooperation relationship between the Congress and the elves and druids.

Promising as Lucien was, at this stage, Florencia was not going to spend too much time or effort on supporting this young second-circle sorcerer and level four arcanist.

"I really appreciate it, Ms. Florencia." Lucien knew that he was not some kind of big potato, thus he was aware that the outcome of this conversation was already not bad.

"Then, as a gentleman," Florencia smiled, "are you gonna invite me to dinner tonight?"

"Ah..? Yeah… I mean… of course." Lucien nodded. In fact, Lucien was about to visit Raventi later to see if members of High Tower could do anything for this issue, after all, High Tower had quite a good relationship with the Will of Elements, however, Lucien knew that he should obey Florencia's will right now.

"Ha…" Seeing Lucien's facial expression, Florencia grinned, with her hands covering the lower part of her face, "Don't be nervous, Evans. I was just joking. My husband, Oliver, will be back tonight from the other dimension, and we'll be having a nice dinner together."

Florencia simply liked making jokes of young and single males, but that was it, as she did not really mean anything.

…

Hearing from Lucien that Florencia was going to put forward the proposal, both Iristine and Arcelion were a bit relieved. At the same time, they also sent a message back to Stroop forest in order to gain more support.

Then, they came to the Royal Magic Tower of Holm with Lucien, to visit Raventi.

Raventi, who was wearing a gray magic robe, embroidered with mysterious symbols of elements, said to Lucien, "Evans, for you, I'll try to talk to the members, but honestly speaking, I don't understand why you care this much about it. Alchemical factories indeed do damage to the environment, but there's no difference between this and farmers cutting down forests to grow crops. We can make the factories stay away from cities as far as possible, so human beings would not be affected that much."

Although Raventi valued Lucien way more than Florencia did, and he knew Lucien's talent well ever since Lucien first put forward the periodic table of elements, unfortunately, Raventi knew nothing about being environmentally friendly.

Lucien tried to explain the consequences to Raventi, and in the end, he concluded, "Mr. Raventi, I admit that there is nothing to really worry about for archmages and senior-rank sorcerers like you, but please think about our apprentices and human society as a whole. What would they be able to do when the environment got really damaged?"

"Well… I need to talk to the astrologists from High Tower right now. If they say that the pollution could actually turn out to be that bad in the future, I'm on your side then, Evans." Raventi listened to Lucien, and realized the significance of this issue to some degree. However, this was the furthest Raventi could go at this stage, after all, he was a senior-rank sorcerer, and he understood the world very differently from those elves and druids.

Raventi was the vice president of the Will of Elements, and he could possibly be on their side. Lucien was encouraged, and so were Iristine and Arcelion.

Lucien, Iristine and Arcelion waited for Raventi for a long time, after he left the meeting room and used Fernando's Electromagnetic Message to talk to his old friends from High Tower.

When Raventi came back, he looked quite serious, "According to the several senior-rank astrologists, they could see greenish yellow gas spreading everywhere in the air, human beings and animals dying, forests withering, waters turning black and smelly. Although what they could see was vague and it was only one possibility of future, we should still try our best to avoid it. I'll persuade the several members that I know relatively well in the committee to support you, Evans."

Lucien knew that he got lucky here, as what those astrologists saw was definitely the worst scenario.

When they were about to leave the magic tower, Iristine said to Lucien sincerely, "Mr. Evans, thank you so much for what you've done for nature. Your persistence really impressed us, and you're a real gentleman."

"Well, this is also for myself. There's no way that I'm just gonna let those horrible things happen, and especially when I'm part of it, the person who first found those alchemical elements," Lucien responded. Right now, Lucien was planning on doing his meditation practice this evening, after all, upgrading was always his priority.

At this time, Patrick, the prince of Holm, walked down the stairs, followed by Arthur Doyle, who was like the prince's personal servant.

Wondering why the prince came to the Royal Magic Tower of Holm so often, Lucien took off his hat and bowed slightly, "Good evening, Your Highness."

After all, he was Natasha's uncle.

Noticing that it was Lucien, a kind smile appeared on Patrick's wizened face, "It's you, Evans. You're making great progress in both of your arcana and magic levels. Congratulations. Why are you here today?"

Lucien was about to visit Arthur tomorrow, but as he met the prince and Arthur here, Lucien directly invited the prince to a spare meeting room and told him what he was trying to do.

"So you want me to introduce the law that all alchemical factories must equip themselves with cleansing magic circles?" frowning slightly, Patrick asked. After several coughs, the prince continued, "I cannot control you sorcerers, and a proposal like this has no chance of passing the noble parliament. Those nobles won't agree on a decision that's gonna sacrifice their interest for something that they don't even care. As for Arthur's factory, don't worry, Evans. You don't have to give up your next year's profit for this. Arthur'll take care of this."

Lucien had just suggested that, regarding the factory that he was involved in, he was willing to give up his next year's profit to place cleansing magic circles in it.

"Yes, Mr. Evans. I got this. The only detail is that placing the magic circles will drag down the following several years' profit, especially since we're in agricultural industry, and the price of those grains can never be really high… Just want you to know this…" Although Arthur did not want to agree on this at all, the prince had already made the decision.

Disappointed as Lucien was, he still said with determination, "I'm not desperate for money right now, but I still hope that Holm Mineral and Harvest can last long and the profit can be consistent. The last thing I want to see is that the company will just shut down in several years because of all kinds of reasons. Besides that, I hope the alchemical products can be available for all farmers, so the price cannot be high. If they still don't have money, we can provide them with interest-free loans and so on."

This would definitely make farmers become less loyal to the Church.

It looked like Arthur started to think seriously. Lucien continued, "Your Highness, is there really no other ways around to introduce the law?"

Patrick slightly shook his head, "In most nobles' eyes, I'm a prince who's always sick, and they do not respect me as much. But actually I have another suggestion—we can turn this into an encouraging thing by offering subsidy to the factories that set up cleansing magic circles in the first place when they are built, and this subsidy can come from the annual profit of my share in Holm Mining Association."

Hearing that, Lucien was totally speechless. He could imagine how big the loss would be for Patrick. Honestly speaking, Lucien felt it suspicious that Patrick, as a prince, was always this nice to him. After all, even though he knew that Lucien was the famous musician and also that Lucien was his niece's good friend, Lucien still could not understand why Patrick was willing to go this far to help him. He was going to be the future king of Holm!

However, on the other side, Lucien had to admit that this was a great idea, and only a sophisticated, cunning brain could come up with something like this. Lucien could suggest this to Florencia, as well as punishment for those factories which accepted the subsidy but refused to follow the regulation.

After making the decision, Lucien looked at Patrick from behind, who was still coughing when he left the meeting room with lots of questions in his mind. Lucien wondered why the prince was willing to support this proposal at such a big cost… Was it because he could foresee the possible horrible future as well?

…

Early Monday morning, Lucien, Iristine and Arcelion arrived at the main hall of the Affairs Committee on the twelfth floor. According to Florencia, she was going to put forward Lucien's proposal over today's regular meeting, and they would vote to make the decision.

As soon as they arrived here, the golem came to them, "Mr. Evans, Ms. Florencia wants you to give a speech later as a special invitee of this meeting, together with our two elven guests."

Chapter 242: Lucien, the Friend of Nature

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Vermillion

"Huh?" Lucien was surprised by the arrangement. He did not prepare for a speech and he doubted the content would be effective.

Lucien had planned to prepare a speech and convince the members of the committee, however, as Florencia did not mention anything related to the speech, Lucien thought he did not need to do anything. He got lazy and just forgot about it.

Iristine and Arcelion looked excited, as they kept saying, "Make sure you explain the balance of nature theory completely. The theory is what we druids believe and you need to convince those sorcerers of it!"

Due to the excitement, the two elves did not feel the pressure, and their words made Lucien's head ache. He needed to give a concise but strong speech as long principles would not be effective.

"What should I say? I can't construct any convincible content in such a short period of time!" Lucien thought.

Lucien decided to help deal with the pollution because he knew that it was good for the environment he lived in and it was just a reasonable action. He could not convince the members with an emotional speech as he just could not relate to the situation. It was impossible for him to cry for the pollution.

"Well, let me check if anything helps in the spirit library."

Led by the Adaminite Golem, Lucien, Iristine, and Arcelion arrived at the side door of the Affairs Committee. They sat down on the soft long couch and waited to be summoned.

*Tick Tick*

On the opposite end of the hallway, there was a clock making monotone mechanical noises. Iristine got nervous after the excitement cooled down and she stared at Lucien. "Mr. Evans, what should I say?" It was nothing like the Tree Ritual hosted by her in the royal palace, as she couldn't just complete the mission by following the procedure. Also, this time, she had to face the evil sorcerers instead of her elf friends.

"Why did you get excited so early?" Lucien thought, speechless for a while.

He looked at Iristine with a gentle expression on his face. "Talk about the consequences of failing to deal with the pollutions and the possible revenge from nature. It's what you're good at, isn't it?"

"So, the consequences of the pollution and the revenge of nature…" Iristine kept repeating those words while she tried to calm down. Arcelion was not nervous like Iristine, as he had hosted many important events in the royal palace and communicated with the guests as a representative of the royal chamber. Unlike his sister, he had a lot more experience in giving speeches.

*Chi*

The side door opened when Iristine was still trying to construct her speech. A girl with the badge of a level four arcanist and fifth-circle sorcerer stepped out of the room. The girl was about 20 years old and she looked energetic, but everyone knew she was older than that.

"Honored guests, who'll be the first to give the speech?" She spoke in a crisp tone with a low voice, it seemed like she did not want to disturb the committee members inside.

Arcelion looked at his sister and stood up. "I'll be the first one, miss." He knew that Iristine was not prepared yet.

"You can just call me Rachel, Your Highness." The young girl nodded slightly and smiled.

Lucien heard the name and raised his head unconsciously. It was an average-looking girl with flaxen hair and a pair of flaxen eyes. The girl gave Lucien an energetic and positive feeling, making him feel that they had met before.

Rachel was a genius in Astrology, Force, and Illusion, and was a member of Tower, just like Larry, Timothy, and Ulysses. She was about 28 or 29 years old, and although her progression was similar to Felipe's in the past, the necromancer was much faster now.

Rachel noticed Lucien's sight and responded with a smile. She then led Arcelion into the hall and closed the side door.

About five minutes later, Rachel opened the door and Arcelion stepped out of the hall.

"Brother, how was your speech?" Iristine was concerned.

Arcelion shook his head with a serious expression on the face. "They listened to my speech but they sent me out before saying anything."

The atmosphere became heavy. The committee members had a discussion before asking Rachel to invite Iristine inside.

Iristine arranged her simple green druid long robe. It was designed for climbing, and she was trying to make herself look calm and trustable.

Again, five minutes later, Iristine came back with a depressed look on her pretty face. It looked like she was about to cry, and she looked at Arcelion. "The first thing I said was 'talk about the consequences of the pollution and the revenge of nature'. It was the same as what Mr. Lucien just told me…"

"You repeated that sentence too many times… What happened after?" Arcelion tried to distract his sister.

Iristine bit her lips and continued, "Miss Florencia calmed me down with a smile and I finally said what I wanted to say. They did not say anything, but I heard people arguing when leaving the hall. It seems like someone didn't like the idea.

Lucien tried to comfort the two elves while reading the information from the spirit library, "You've tried your best…"

"I wonder what the result will be…" Iristine looked at the closed side door, a bit worried. "If we fail, our relationship with the Congress of Magic will get worse… However, Mr. Evans, you'll always be our friend no matter what happens."

Time flew in the silent environment. The side door finally opened again after a while. Rachel smiled at Lucien and spoke in a passionate tone, "Evans, your turn."

Lucien was wearing a white shirt with a black tuxedo and a pair of gold-wired glasses on his eyes. It was a formal outfit. He nodded and smiled after hearing Rachel's words. He arranged the collar and the cuff before following her into the door.

Behind the side door lay a narrow and quiet pathway. There was a polite smile on Rachel's face, but she did not say anything while leading the way.

Lucien turned at a corner after about ten steps inside and saw the committee members that were sitting around a large table.

Some of them were wearing magic robes and the others were wearing different types of formal attire. There were several empty chairs and there were fewer people here than Lucien expected.

The members of the Affairs Committee, excluding people like Florencia, had many things to take care of outside the committee, just like what happened to Rogerio some years ago. That was the reason why there were usually only half of the members in Allyn, however, there were only nineteen committee members there today.

For the rule to be passed, only two-thirds of the committee members needed to agree with it.

Rachel took Lucien to a seat opposite to all the committee members, and he saw the gentle smile on Florencia's face. She raised her right hand and slightly waved it to ask Lucien not to get nervous.

Lucien cleared his throat and opened his mouth slowly, "Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I think most of the committee members here have their own bloodline inheritors, relatives, and friends, right? The air they breathe, the water they drink, and the resources they acquire from the sea, the forests, and the mountains, are the reason why they're still alive."

Lucien's started his speech in a different way and it helped the committee members to forces. Rogerio was looking at him with a strange expression on his face. No one knew what he was thinking.

"If we fasten the development by destroying nature, your beloved ones will…" Lucien described the worst situation possible, as the prophecy told by the astrologists.

Lucien tried his best not to laugh and concluded with a blank expression on his face, "Without a doubt, we need to get what we want when developing, however, during the process we can't destroy what our inheritors' lives will depend on. I think our development must be sustainable, and we need to develop the magic and collect resources, but we can't destroy the environment that will help our inheritors survive. The development will never stop if nature is not damaged to a point where it can't recover by itself anymore."

Lucien copied the idea from a book related to politics…

"Sustainable development. Good concept. Evans, you can leave now. We'll tell you the result after the vote," Florencia said with a warm smile on her face.

Lucien bowed slightly and followed Rachel out of the meeting hall.

"When will I become the one who can stay in the hall and discuss the things related to the Congress of Magic? I don't want to just wait outside and listen to the result."

A small flame appeared in Lucien's mind.

…

Outside the meeting hall.

"Mr. Evans, how was your speech?" Iristine questioned curiously and nervously.

Lucien repeated what he said in front of the members and spoke in a gentle tone, "I don't know if my speech is good enough to convince the members, and we will have to wait for the result.

Lucien, Iristine, and Arcelion waited on the long couch quietly outside the door. The noise made by the clock was making them nervous.

It felt like time was slower than usual in the heavy atmosphere. Half an hour later, the side door slowly opened when Arcelion was about to stand up and leave. Florencia stepped out of the hall, wearing a purple-tiered skirt with a six-star arcana badge and an eighth-circle magic badge on her chest.

"Prince Arcelion, Princess Iristine, and Evans. The result is out. There were ten votes against the proposal and seven votes supporting the proposal in the first round, so the proposal was rejected. However, we discussed how we should modify the proposal and in the second round, there were sixteen votes supporting the new proposal and three votes against. The new proposal was passed. The rule is not as strict as you thought. There'll be a mild punishment for the alchemy factory that violates the pollution disposal rule. To encourage them to follow the rule, we decided to provide them with subsidies and benefits in the recycling of the separated elements."

Florencia looked at the two elves with a serious expression on the face. The reason why they passed this new proposal was to improve the Congress' alliance with the elves and druids. The sorcerers knew that if the Congress was defeated, they would not live a happy life in the future. The sorcerers that were hiding on the other side of the Storm Strait and survived in the dangerous Dark Mountain Range were perfect examples.

Arcelion and Iristine were tortured by the hope and loss of hope multiple times. They were satisfied with the result, at least, as that was a clear rule that came with benefits. They put their right index fingers on their foreheads. It was how the elves showed their respect.

"We can see the sincerity of the Congress of Magic. We hope that the rule will be stricter as the number of alchemy factories increases and the sorcerers change their thoughts about the environment. Also, we'll report the situation to the elders and the royal palace immediately."

Florencia watched the two elves walk into the hall and start sending messages. She smiled at Lucien and said, "What, Lucien? Disappointed?"

"Well, my goal is somewhat fulfilled." Lucien was indeed slightly disappointed.

Florencia put her hands on her back and stared at Lucien with a pair of green eyes.

"You're not strong enough and your words are not taken seriously by the committee. If you can make most of the sorcerers respect you and have the power that will make anyone fear, everything you say will be passed. Young man, that's what makes a mature man attractive, and you still have a long way to go.

"My husband, Oliver, is a man like that. Although he's a playboy, I still love him deep in my heart. Young man, I hope you can become a man like that in the future, and there'll be a girl that loves you deep in her heart." Florencia waved her hand and turned to the meeting hall to host the next discussion.

Lucien clicked his tongue as the side door closed.

"Grand Arcanist, huh? There's definitely a long way to go."

Iristine and Arcelion returned as he thought about it.

"Mr. Evans, thank you for what you did for us. Although the result was not what we expected, it was still a success. Your help was the reason why we succeeded. It's hard to find a sorcerer that has the foresight and loves nature like you. I'll apply for the title, the Friend of Nature, for you after I get back to the royal palace. It's the symbol of friendship for elves," Arcelion opened his mouth first.

Iristine smiled and said, "Mr. Evans, don't worry, I'm sure the rule can be improved. We know how much you did for us. I'm glad that I have a friend like you. I want to give you the Bless of Elf."

She took out a piece of leaf that looked normal but it was infused with the energy of nature.

Lucien did not decline the offer, as it was the main material for an important potion.

The potion was called Flight and it was the best supportive potion that could help him advance to the middle-rank. The material requirement was a leaf that dropped from an elven tree and the leaf must be blessed by an elf, and that was why the material was so rare. Using the potion when advancing, he would be able to create a spell model for the flying spell in his body, and his spirit power would be 50% higher than a normal 3rd circle sorcerer.

It was something he did not expect.

"Thank you." Lucien grabbed the leaf and realized that there was another blessing on his body, from the wraith girl named Marry. The blessing had been with him for a long time but nothing happened. He decided to find some magic books related to the souls, wraiths, curses, and blessings after advancing to the third circle.

"I shall write down the piano song named as Storm and gift it to Natasha as a birthday gift after I get back today. I need to focus on improving my sorcery skills and try to advance to the third circle within half a year. My words won't be taken seriously if I'm weak." Lucien thought quietly.

Chapter 243: Flying

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The spacious living room was right now filled with a cheerful melody. Annick, Layria, Sprint and all the apprentices who studied there were dancing with the music, trying to picture how those nobles danced in those fancy parties. At the same time, the apprentices were also peeking at Mr. Evans.

Mr. Evans' upper body was very relaxed, and his fingers moved fast and flexibly. His profile was charming, as he was very dedicated to his playing, with a big smile on the corner of his lips. The whole scene looked like an elegant picture.

Finishing his playing, Lucien stood up from the piano chair and said to all the apprentices, "Ladies and gentlemen, happy new year."

"Mr. Evans, happy new year!" the apprentices said together happily.

Their voices were quite different—some were low, some were hoarse, and some were clear. Among those teenagers, some were experiencing their voice-changing period, which made Lucien a bit emotional. After all, another year was gone, and all of his students were growing and changing.

"Today's the first day of 818." Lucien picked up his glass from the table, "I wish every one of you can make further progress in your study this year!"

The apprentices also lifted their glasses, "Wish you become middle-rank sorcerer this year, Mr. Evans!"

During the new year period, all of Lucien's friends went back to their own hometowns to see their families, so he invited all the apprentices from across the strait to his place to get together.

In the past year, because of Lucien's teaching, Annick, Layria, Heidi, Sprint and Katrina had all moved to senior apprentice class, and Chely also had become an apprentice.

The dinner was pleasant, and after it the apprentices started saying good night to each other and heading toward the guest rooms. Because they were too excited for the whole night, they were feeling quite tired now.

Chely was the last one who left the hall. When she was walking upstairs, she turned around and said to Lucien a bit shyly, "Mr. Evans… I just want to say… When you were playing piano, you really looked like the talented musician from Aalto, who wrote For Silvia, which always reminds me of Jacques. I'm sure that he's still striving for our future, and I feel really encouraged. Thank you, Mr. Evans… Thank you for your playing."

"That's very romantic." Lucien smiled and nodded.

After the servants came in, Lucien went back to his study upstairs. Sitting in his armchair, he turned on the desk light and opened the letter lying on the desk.

The letter was sent from Aalto half a year ago, but just arrived today:

"… My Blood Burning Syndrome is gone now, and my power is becoming more and more stable. I miss my sword. I miss the blue sky. I miss those fights. I miss that wonderful music.

"… You must have arrived in Allyn. I wonder if the City in the Sky still looks the same…

"Is food in Holm monotonous like what I told you? In my mind, Holm food is the worst. Every time when I thought of the fact that you have to eat grilled fish and fries everyday, I felt that it was bad and funny at the same time…

"When I was young, my mom always told me stories about arcana and magic, and that is a fabulous world full of mysteries. I hope that you can forget all the pain and suffering you had from before and really enjoy exploring this whole new world. And I'm confident that you, my friend, can become a middle-rank sorcerer in a few years…

"By the way Lucien, did you ever meet my uncle Patrick? I wonder how he's doing right now. He never mentioned about his health condition in his letters, which makes me feel quite worried…

"Your friend, John, has awakened his Blessing and become a knight. What slightly surprises me is that his Blessing is Elimination. Fortunately, he does not serve the Church, and thus he will not join the Night Watch, or it would be another horrible joke from destiny, like what happened to Silvia and me. However, even so, I believe that you will never yield to destiny, my friend, and you will beat down the so called destiny and stamp on it! For me and Silvia… It was a mistake, but I don't want to complain and I won't. Because this was Silvia's and my own mistake, and we should be responsible for it.

"Anyways, let's talk about some pleasant things. Your uncle, Joel, still enjoys playing on the streets a lot, and your aunt, Alisa, just lost her job working in Textile Association because no one dared let a knight's mom wash clothes for them. Right now, Alisa is majorly managing John's manor and also yours.

"As for Iven, he's learning how to read and write now, and he's also receiving knight training after Lord Venn. Elena has left her job in the Musicians' Association to focus on her violin playing. Mr. Victor and Felicia have come back from their trip and they really like your Moonlight Sonata. Right now, Felicia is preparing her own concert, and I'm really happy for her.

"Mr. Rhine never showed up again after the music festival. I'm not sure what happened in Aalto at that time…

"Lucien, please don't forget what I told you before—life is more than just magic. We have music, cuisines, fights, friends, and also romance. I know that you're a gentleman, Lucien, and I know that you're still waiting for your dream girl. Be brave when you find her! Chase her! Conquer her! Don't be shy! If you need more strategies, feel free to write to me and ask!

"In the end, happy birthday, my friend.

"Natasha,

"June, 30th, 817"

Lucien was smiling when he was reading the letter. The words in the letter were for sure not fancy, but it comforted Lucien a lot, as if he was sitting right in front of an old friend, and he felt very peaceful. Although they had not seen each other for a long time, Lucien still felt close to Natasha.

But seriously, Lucien thought to himself, still with the smile on his face, that if he was really going to ask for Natasha's suggestions to chase a girl, he would definitely lose the chance because their communication would take a whole year…

Feeling peaceful and refreshed after reading the letter, Lucien stood up from his chair and came to his meditation room.

After closing the door and sitting on a special chair, Lucien took out a flask of green potion from his storage pouch. The green potion looked clean and tasty.

This was the potion called Flying, and it was made of the fallen leaf of and elven tree and other precious ingredients, which cost Lucien more than seventy arcana points. Together with all the money that he spent on doing experiments and making magic potions, Lucien only had sixty-one arcana points now. He had to say that learning magic basically meant burning money.

Feeling rather peaceful, Lucien slowly pulled the potion into his mouth. The potions tasted cool and sweet, way better than many other potions that Lucien took before.

Lucien suddenly felt that his soul was very light, and he easily entered his meditation environment. This time, his meditation world was clear like crystal, like the limpid water of a still lake.

The potion was slowly absorbed by Lucien's soul, and his spiritual power rocketed. Then, a complicated magic model appeared—it was the spell, Flying.

The model was constructed with distorted lines and curved cambers. A sorcerer who had zero understanding in arcana or who was not good at mathematics needed to manually draw a real magic model based on this half-transparent model from the potion, which required high level of spiritual power. However, Lucien, as an arcanist, did not have to worry about this. He had previously calculated and analyzed the model, and thus he could use his spiritual power more wisely by referring to the power of his Host Star of Destiny and the elemental particles around him to build the model of the spell.

Once Lucien could analyze third-circle spells using his own arcana knowledge and become a middle-rank sorcerer, which meant that his knowledge had a solid mathematical basis, he could choose his own study interest in arcana.

Lucien right now was surrounded by those complicated mathematical symbols and formula, and he stayed focused and paid all his attention to finishing the construction of the model.

As soon as the model became complete, dazzling light suddenly burst out of the model, and it started to absorb spiritual power like crazy. Lucien's soul was enveloped in it as well.

Lucien's spiritual power was enough for nurturing the model, so he calmly prevented the extra spiritual power from the magic potion from approaching him, while at the same time let the dazzling light change his soul.

Feeling slightly itchy and numb, Lucien's soul was almost substantialized because of the power, and it looked more clear and pure. All the magic models that he constructed in his soul before had shrank to small crystal size and were now rotating around a bigger magic model, Flying, as if they were worshiping it.

It was the symbol of a successful upgrade to the third circle!

However, Lucien did not stop, but continued to construct magic models for Elemental Order and Lucien's Great Fire Ball. The latter was an attack spell based on the study of nitroglycerin, and it was as powerful as the fourth circle magic, Chain Explosion, improved by Timothy. The only shortcoming of Lucien's Great Fire Ball was that it was not stable enough, and sometimes a fire ball might explode before it arrived at its destination, and thus extra shaping spells were needed to assist the casting.

After a long time, the window of the meditation room suddenly opened, through which Lucien flew out of the window and soared into the air.

The starry sky above Allyn right now looked close enough to touch, and the night wind refreshed Lucien. When he looked down at the city below him, his chest was filled with the pleasure of freedom.

This was how flying felt like!

Chapter 244: Simple Task

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In ancient magic system, Flying belonged to the school of Astrology, but in the contemporary magic system, it belonged to both the schools of Force and Astrology, because the principle of the spell was using the gravity of stars to counteract the one from the ground.

Lucien closed his eyes and enjoyed the night wind when he was flying free in the sky, and he felt that he was totally released from all the constraints. The only thing was that his flying was pretty slow, and he also needed to pay attention to the stars to calculate his directions and flying angle. In order to save some trouble, Lucien knew that he needed an auxiliary magic circle helping him with the calculation, and before he learned Flying (Advanced), sixth circle, he could never fly as fast as a magic steam train, but maybe he could use hydromechanics or aerodynamics to improve it a bit.

When Lucien was still indulging in the wonderful experience of his first-time flying, he heard a low male voice, "Sir, you've violated Allyn's Controlling Regulation, the eighteenth article—flying is prohibited in Allyn unless special permission is given from the congress. So… penalty or imprisonment?"

Lucien suddenly opened his eyes at a loss and he saw the young sorcerer in front of him who was wearing a black magic robe and a flame badge, which revealed his identity as a battle sorcerer. The young, black-haired sorcerer looked rather serious, and from the badges in front of his chest, Lucien knew that he was a forth circle sorcerer and he worked for Punishment Department of the Congress.

However, the young sorcerer was also wearing a white-feather badge, which meant that he had got the special permission for flying, but Lucien did not.

Lucien realized that he was so excited that he forgot the fact that flying was prohibited in Allyn. He rubbed his forehead a bit embarrassedly and asked, "How… How much is the penalty?"

Before the young sorcerer answered, Lucien thought of the fact that right now he only had sixty-one points left, so he hurriedly changed his question, "I mean… How long will I be kept in prison?"

Seeing that Lucien was being quite cooperative, the young sorcerer looked less serious now, "We're in the rural area of Allyn right now, so, fortunately, the punishment is not as severe as what you'd get if you flew above the city center, and also, this is your first time, sir, so the penalty is thirty points, and if you'd rather go to the jail, you'll be kept there for one month."

"A month?! All right… I choose the penalty." Although Lucien did not want to lose the money at all, he did not want to stay in prison for a whole month either. Lucien decided to regard this as a special upgrade "celebration" for himself, in order to make himself feel better.

"All right…" the young sorcerer signed a ticket and gave it to Lucien, "Just bring this to Punishment Department and pay for it." Then he grinned a bit when he saw the beautiful ring on Lucien's right hand, "Mr. Evans, congratulations, you're a middle-rank mage now. You're another sorcerer who became a third circle mage before the age of twenty-two. I believe that your momentum will still last before you move on toward the senior ranks."

In fact, this body was not even twenty, but if talking about Lucien's real age, the age that he had had before he came over to this world, it was twenty-five.

Lucien put on a polite smile and said, "Thank you. You're the first one who said congratulations to me. Can I know your name?"

The young battle sorcerer responded humorously, "Of course. I'm not afraid of your revenge, Mr. Evans. I'm Jurisian, from both Punishment Department and Battle Sorcerer Department. My colleague saw you from Allyn's Eye and found that you were a level four arcanist, so I'm here to handle you, sir."

"Wait… You're Jurisian? The talented arcanist in the school of Electromagnetics?" Lucien was quite surprised. Lazar, Rock and Lucien's other friends kept infusing lots of information into his brain about the young geniuses in the congress, so Lucien recognized the name immediately.

Jurisian, a level four arcanist, was once very close to winning Silver Moon Medal because of the finding of photoelectric sensing, but at the same time, he was very enthusiastic toward fighting and duelling, so he applied to Punishment Department and Battle Sorcerer Department on his own.

Jurisian smiled and said, "I'm not gonna call myself a genius right in front of you, Mr. Evans. In most young sorcerers' mind, we've only got two geniuses. One is Mr. Felipe, who has won Holm Crown prize once and Immortal Throne prize twice, and the other genius is you, Mr. Evans. I have to say that you two redefined the word 'genius', because now no one dares call himself or herself a genius if they haven't won the highest honour in their fields. So, Rachel, Arthur, Samantha, Larry and many other sorcerers, including me, are just like common people."

For sure, Jurisian was very smart with his words. He showed his respect to Lucien in an indirect way.

After chatting a bit, Jurisian activated Allyn Magic Circle and disappeared in the air, leaving Lucien staring at the ticket in his hand alone.

Lucien was glad that he could have a sixty-point subsidy every month from now on, and his living and experiment cost could basically be covered. However, his budget was definitely tighter than before. Thinking of that, Lucien started to feel a bit regretful with his idea of setting up cleansing magic circles for the factory, or he would earn way more than what he was making right now.

Putting the ticket in his pocket, Lucien started to descend slowly for landing. At the same time, he looked at the darkness in the west. He wished that he could find a chance to go back to Aalto to see all his friends there.

When Lucien was about to land on the windowsill of his villa, a window beside him opened. It was Layria and Heidi.

The two young girls woke up and could not fall asleep again from their great nostalgia, so they opened the window to look at the starry sky.

"Mr. Evans?" They were surprised.

"You two cannot fall asleep?" Lucien smiled, "What about having another set of arcana exercise?"

The two young girls suddenly sensed great danger and took a step backward together, "No, thanks, Mr. Evans. We're fine here. We just want to… close the window. Happy new year and wish you become a middle-rank mage this year!"

Then they closed the window right in front of Lucien.

Two seconds later, the window opened again. The two girls were right now staring at Lucien who was floating in the air, and they looked shocked,

"Mr. Evans, have you upgraded already? Did we just sleep in for the whole year?!"

…

In the past two weeks, Lucien constructed another third circle magic, Maskelyne's Star, in his soul. After making sure that his new power was already stable, Lucien was now heading for Allyn Magic Tower to upgrade his magic badge.

So far, Lucien had constructed twenty-seven first-circle, seventeen second-circle, and three third-circle spells in his soul, and that was twenty percent more than the amount that a new third-circle sorcerer could have on average. Furthermore, the best thing was that all of Lucien's third-circle spells, except Flying, were all his exclusive spells!

In Sorcerer Administrative Department, Eric's surprised look was nothing new to Lucien anymore. He reached out his hand and said, "Congratulations, Evans, you're really a genius. Even though you used the magic potion, you still have a very solid mathematical foundation. In most cases, soon some senior-rank sorcerers or archmages will want you to become their student."

"Thank you, Mr. Eric." Lucien shook hands with Eric and handed his magic badge to him, "Except for Element and Astrology, I'm still very new in other fields."

Eric took a look at Lucien's magic badge and reminded him, "Now you can choose a permanent magic buff on it. What do you want?"

"Can I choose other stuff other than a magic buff?" Having the ring, Element, Lucien did not really need a middle-rank magic buff on his badge, so he asked for alternatives directly.

It was not the first time that Eric encountered this question, so he asked cut and dry, "What do you want? It cannot outvalue a middle-rank magic buff."

"I want a sculpt spell, Mr. Eric, to increase the effective length of a spell." Lucien needed it for Lucien's Great Fireball. Although he had to spend twice the amount of spiritual power to cast both the spell and the sculpt spell, that could stabilize the effects of his own fireball.

The congress had been developing various kinds of enhancing spells, including silent casting, quick casting, enhanced casting, all kinds of sculpt spells and so on. Arcanists or sorcerers needed to meet level requirement to get those spells by exchanging, and they were not cheap for sure. The sculpt spell that Lucien was asking for was the cheapest.

"It's about the same value." Eric nodded, "But still, you might need to pay an extra ten to fifty points."

"No problem." Although Lucien said so, his heart was bleeding. He just paid for his penalty, and right now he only had thirty-one points. And this thirty-one points was from what was left after he sold his Grimsteel Dagger from before. If he still needed more money later, Lucien needed to sell his Asthenia Dagger then.

Eric put Lucien's badge together with a piece of note in the magic cage and then pulled the bell. Silver light burst out and the items in the cage disappeared.

Ten minutes later, the bell started ringing. The badge was sent back, together with a thick roll of parchment.

Eric handed the badge to Lucien and frowned a bit, "Evans, you just paid thirty points for the sculpt spell, and you've also got a mandatory task."

Lucien was a middle-rank mage now. Receiving one mandatory task from the congress was just normal, and it happened to be the beginning of the new year.

However, Lucien was still a bit surprised that he just got his task so soon. He took over the badge and the parchment roll written with the sculpt spell, and started to sense the task information contained in the magic badge.

"Demon Cleansing (Simple): In Mount Kapas, Holm, a third-circle sorcerer tried to summon low-rank demons but failed. The sorcerer died from this and the demons occupied his castle. You need to eliminate the demons together with other sorcerers who were also given the task. Reward: fifty arcana points."

Chapter 245: Mr. Evans

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien put on his upgraded magic badge, and although the magic steam train had recently introduced a new route from Allyn to Kapas, he didn't board it to get his task done, but instead hired a coach and headed for the magic tower of the Will of Elements.

The task was given to Lucien in way that he considered suspicious, because it arrived right after Lucien upgraded. He wanted to have some senior-rank arcanists from his own group check it first to make sure everything was fine there.

In an office of the magic tower of the Will of Elements, Gaston listened to Lucien's description of the task quietly with his fingers crossed. His dark yellow eyes looked a bit suspicious and Gaston said seriously, "This doesn't look like a dangerous task. With your ring, even if you cannot fulfill the task, protecting yourself and escaping should not be a problem. But for your safety, I still need to ask Florencia… maybe she knows something else."

Letting Lucien wait for him in the office, Gaston walked into another room and talked to Florencia via Fernando's Electromagnetic Message.

Lucien took the chance and started to think carefully whether he had some potential enemies in the Congress who might want him dead. The issue about Life Force Theory was gone now, and it was Felipe who drew most of the attention, and with regards to placing the cleansing magic circles, Lucien did not think that someone would want to kill him because of that, especially because in the end it was just an option for those factories.

Lucien wondered whether he could draw the conclusion that no one was trying to use the task to kill him.

After a while, Gaston came back.

Gaston elegantly sat down first and then he said to Lucien, smiling, "I've talked to Florencia. She said that it was an emergency thing, and it should be safe. But because we value you very much, Evans, and you've become a middle-rank sorcerer within a year, I can lend you a magic item."

Gaston took out a nice monocle with a fine silver chain and handed it to Lucien, "This monocle has been enchanted with Fernando's Electromagnetic Message permanently. If anything goes wrong, contact me immediately. This is my exclusive frequency and code…"

As he was saying, he wrote down all the information for Lucien on a piece of paper.

Obviously, Lord of Storm, when inventing that spell, had already taken confidentiality into consideration.

Lucien left his spiritual power mark in the monocle following Gaston's instructions, and then put it on. The gold-rimmed glasses he was wearing before were put into his right pocket, and there was a pocket watch on the left one.

When Lucien picked up his top hat and was about to leave, Gaston stood up and smiled, "Evans, congratulations for upgrading to the third circle, which is a very important threshold for many sorcerers. The fact that you've made it means that you've surpassed seventy percent of the sorcerers, and from now on, the Will of Elements will be giving you forty arcana points every month as your subsidy."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Gaston." Hearing that, Lucien sincerely grinned.

…

Near the entrance of Mount Kapas, Fraser town.

The town was very remote. One needed to first take a six-hour train from Allyn to Kapas' city center, then spend half a day riding a long-distance coach to get to a town named Tenning, and then bump along the mountain road for another two hours to get there. Of course, sorcerers who could fly did not have to worry about it.

There were lots of trees and wild animals in the mountains. Most residents here in the small town worked as hunters or lumbermen. Several sorcerer castles here controlled part of the mineral veins, and because some sorcerers, many magic apprentices, and also miners lived there, this remote town was actually quite lively instead of being very isolated as one would image. Many adventures and mercenaries even came here to seek for precious gems, ores, plants or secret fortune.

The most popular tavern in Fraser was called Gold Cup. Many adventures and mercenaries were there right now, drinking and chatting. They were used to carousing every night before they entered the mountains, as they had no idea that whether they would still get a chance to see the next day's sunrise once they went in there.

In the strong smell of alcohol, some adventures were chatting in low voice, "Have you heard that the third-circle sorcerer in Bertren Castle was killed by the demons summoned by himself?" A dwarf with long blond beard asked the guy who he just met in this tavern.

The guy, who was of middle age and got a scary scar on his face, nodded seriously, "The two apprentices who managed to escape said that castle was like hell. People were burnt to death, corroded by strong acid, torn into pieces by sharp claws, hacked in half… There was blood and guts everywhere."

As the man was saying, he carefully pointed at the two apprentices who were beyond drunk in the corner of the tavern. One was male and one was female. Although they were drunk, they still looked very terrified, as if they were stuck in the nightmare.

"You wanna go there to see if we can find something there?" asked the greedy dwarf, "Maybe get around those demons and get some treasures there. That guy was a middle-rank sorcerer, so think about how wealthy he could be!"

Another middle-aged woman looked at the dwarf contemptuously, "Are you out of your mind? Those demons killed a third-circle sorcerer! Do you just want to die that bad?"

"I agree. And the Congress definitely has sent some sorcerers here to handle this. Don't tell me you want to take those treasures from those crazy people… Your power from the magic potion is nothing in front of them…" said the scar-faced man.

At this time, the tavern's door opened, and there came in a young battle sorcerer wearing a black magic robe. He first looked around at the people in the tavern with his blue, threatening eyes. Feeling his oppressive aura, no one in the tavern dared look at him directly. Then, he walked to the two apprentices in the corner who were still drinking although they were already beyond drunk.

The battle sorcerer grabbed their wood cups and threw them onto the ground, and the golden liquor was everywhere. The two apprentices slowly looked up at the sorcerer, confusedly.

"I'm Charlie. I'm here to solve the problem in Castle Bertren. You two answer my questions carefully," said the young man seriously. His years of experience in fighting gave him this kind of oppressive manner.

The two apprentices looked a bit more sober now, and they started trembling. The female apprentice with burgundy-colored hair responded in trembling voice, "Mr. Charlie… I'm Susan and this is Scott. We were Mr. Bertren's apprentices… At that night, Mr. Bertren tried to summon… those things… in his chamber…."

At this time, a black, short-haired lady came into the tavern. She was wearing an elegant, purple magic robe, and her brownish-yellow eyes were cold and sharp. After looking around, she directly walked to Charlie and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Sandra, middle rank. I'm also with the task."

"I'm Charlie, middle rank." Charlie nodded. Neither Charlie nor Sandra wanted to reveal their specific level right in front of so many people, and both of them were wearing their badges underneath their robes.

The golden-bearded dwarf turned around and took a quick glance at them, then murmured to the middle-aged woman and the scar-faced man, "Of course, the Congress has sent people here already… Look at them… They're at least of fourth circle. Just one of them could just destroy the whole castle… even the whole town."

Those adventures rarely saw real sorcerers, not to mention middle-ranked ones, so they were curious and regarded those sorcerers with fear and reverence.

"I told you…" The scar-faced man looked a bit intimidated.

Charlie and Sandra, on the other side, were listening to the apprentices carefully, and they did not care how those adventurers were commenting on them at all, because they were just too powerful and confident to be bothered by things like that.

This kind of attitude impressed the adventurers even more.

"I heard that we have one more sorcerer for this task?" After listening to the apprentices, Sandra asked Charlie.

"That's right." Charlie nodded, "He's not here yet. Let's wait for him a bit longer. We can be safer with one more person's power, and I think he should be middle-rank, shouldn't he?"

"For sure," answered Sandra simply.

"Are they waiting for someone?" The middle-aged woman looked at the tavern door.

"Come on… They don't have to…" the dwarf murmured, "They're of at least fourth circle!"

"It's always good to be cautious." When the scar-faced man was saying this, the tavern door was opened again.

Subconsciously, all the people in the tavern turned around and looked at the person who just came in.

It was a young, good-looking man, who was wearing a black, double-breasted coat, a black top hat and a fine monocle, which made him look gentle and elegant.

Those adventurers in the tavern all wondered why a young noble would come there.

Charlie and Sandra looked at him cautiously, as they were not sure whether he was the sorcerer that they were waiting for. After all, the man just looked too young to be a middle-rank.

At this time, both Charlie and Sandra noticed the purple-gem ring on the young man's right hand. The ring was very unique and gorgeous.

They recognized the young man immediately.

The man was the youngest winner of Holm Crown prize, an honorary member of Holm Royal Magic Academy, the genius who managed to upgrade to middle rank within a year!

Watching the young man walking to them elegantly with a smile on his face, both Charlie and Sandra suddenly stood up together and greeted him respectfully, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Evans."

Their attitude surprised everyone present.

Chapter 246: Castle Bertren

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In the tavern, Gold Cup.

Lucien pulled a chair for himself and sat down, then he nodded to them, smiling, and said, "Nice to meet you two as well. How do you want me to call you?" As he was asking, Lucien showed them his Holm Crown prize ring purposefully but in a casual way to make them understand who was the leader of this group, so he could possibly be in safer place later in the castle.

"Charlie, battle sorcerer, middle rank."

"Middle rank, Sandra."

Both Charlie and Sandra briefly introduced themselves in a respectful way to Lucien. Although they were confident in their own power, they knew that Lucien once killed a senior-rank sorcerer with Felipe before, thus they understood the power difference between the young man in front of them and themselves.

Moreover, according the tradition of the Congress, when two sorcerers were of the same rank, the one with higher arcana level would be more respected. As a level-four arcanist, and the winner of Holm Crown prize, Lucien of course was of a higher status than most middle-rank sorcerers.

However, despite the fact that Charlie and Sandra had naturally regarded Lucien as their team leader, experienced in combatting as they were, they were still waiting to see if Lucien could prove that he was capable of being a leader, or they simply would not follow and listen to him blindly.

Lucien nodded, and then he turned around and started talking to the apprentices, "I'm Lucien Evans, and I need a guide to the castle. Who volunteers?"

Before the apprentices answered, Lucien said to Charlie and Sandra, "Tell me the detailed information about the castle when we're on the way. We cannot waste too much time here, or more demons would be summoned by the magic circle in the summoning room."

Charlie and Sandra slightly nodded. They liked Lucien's decisive style.

The two apprentices, who were still beyond scared, obviously did not like Lucien's plan at all, "M… Mr. Evans… We can tell you everything… You don't really need a guide…"

Susan's face was pale, and her teeth were striking against each other. She could not stop thinking of the blood, the guts, the chunks of limbs and the fire… They were driving her nuts.

Scott could not even speak a single word.

Lucien shook his head and said to them in a gentle way, "You two should know that there's no magic under the ninth circle which could completely read your memory, and that means very possibly we will be missing some important information, including the layout of the castle. So we do need a guide to help us, and please trust that we're capable of protecting you."

Lucien used some hypnosis skills when he was talking.

His gentle voice comforted the apprentices, and Susan started to wonder whether Lucien was a senior-rank sorcerer based on the other two sorcerers' respectful attitude toward him, and maybe in the future, he could offer her some help in the Congress. Living in a remote town, neither Susan nor Scott knew that Lucien was the youngest winner of Holm Crown prize, and although she did not expect to become Lucien's student, as an apprentice who lost her sorcerer teacher, she needed that help.

Taking the courage, Susan nodded, "Mr. Evans… I can be your guide, but… but please… please make sure that I'll be safe."

As she was speaking, Susan took a quick glance at Scott, who was still trembling slightly in the corner. Susan had a bit of joy in her mind as she finally surpassed Scott this time. Scott was more talented in the study of arcana, and his spiritual power was more abundant, but his biggest problem was his timidity. Susan had been feeling envious of Scott for more than a year, and right now she was proud of herself.

"Very well. Your courage has impressed me." Lucien nodded, "And courage is very important to a successful sorcerer. This is not a time of peace, and we always need to fight."

Then, Lucien stood up and took out his pocket watch, "Right now it's five in the afternoon. Hopefully, we can finish the task before it gets dark. If we can't make it on time, we should probably leave the castle, as some of the demons would get way stronger at night."

"Yes, Mr. Evans." Charlie and Sandra also stood up.

After they left the tavern, those adventurers finally felt at ease and started to talk to each other excitedly.

"Is the young man actually a senior-rank sorcerer?" exclaimed the dwarf. "Why those two middle-rank sorcerers were being so respectful to him? But he's just too young!"

Most adventures had never seen a real senior-rank sorcerer. Most senior-rank sorcerers either were important nobles or lived in Allyn, or were exploring in the Dark Mountain Range and other dimensions. Even if those adventurers could run into one in Rentato, they would not recognize them as such.

The scar-faced man laughed, "Come on… Maybe he just look young, and maybe he's a few hundred years old… Older than your great-great-great-grandma, ha!"

…

In the cold wind, Lucien, Charlie and Sandra were flying toward the castle called Bertren. Looking from above, the forest below was covered with a thick layer of snow, sprinkled with a few green spots from those evergreen pine trees.

"That's about it." Sandra, who was carrying Susan flying using a spell called Coil, just told Lucien all the information they had got.

Seeing Susan being pinched with cold, Sandra cast Element Endurance on Susan. Element Endurance was an ancient magic, although it did not work well for defending against magic attacks, it was rather useful in extreme cold or hot environments. Spells from the school of Thermodynamics such as Coldness Endurance and Heat Endurance could make one feel being exposed to nice spring weather even in an extreme environment ranging from minus ten to sixty to seventy degrees.

Lucien adjusted his monocle a bit and said, "Susan and Scott were in panic at that time, and they only noticed a few kinds of low-rank demons. So we shall never lower our guard. I'm a third-circle sorcerer, specializing in Element and Astrology, and I've got some good magic items. What about you two?"

"Fourth-circle battle sorcerer, specializing in Element, Force Field, Thermodynamics and Transformation. And I have some decent magic items as well," answered Charlie, staring at the castle located next to the mountain not too far from them.

Sandra also noticed the castle in the front, and she answered briefly, "Fourth-circle, Electromagnetics, Light-darkness, Force Field and Summoning."

"Great. You can handle the summoning magic circles later." Lucien nodded. A layer of golden-white flame covered his long coat and soon formed an all-round shield like an eggshell.

Knowing that they were close to the destination now, Lucien directly activated Powerful Fire Shield enchanted within his ring, Element. The shield could last for ten minutes before it was broken.

Charlie and Sandra also cast their own most powerful defensive spells.

Charlie's magic robe started to shine with moving light consisted of countless transparent magic symbols. This was an exclusive magic created by the congress called Douglas's Absorbing Wall, from combining Minor Globe of Invulnerability and Protection from Energy.

Sandra's skin and clothes quickly turned stone-gray like a statue. Five colourful magic light balls were now surrounding Susan's head and her own. They were fourth-circle magic Stoneskin and Palmeira's Power Magic Spheres.

Lucien also cast Mechanized Mind on himself to make sure that he was absolutely cool-headed.

Castle Bertren was a black castle built around a main center pinnacle. The sky started to get a little bit dusky, and the castle looked like a terrifying monster waiting for its prey.

The gate of the castle opened wide, and the strong smell of blood from inside of the castle was overwhelming. The gate was just like the huge mouth of a monster.

Chapter 247: The Apprentice Hall

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Seeing the wide-open gate, Lucien, Charlie and Sandra were a bit relieved, because that meant the magic circle of the castle itself had not been activated. Either the core of the castle had been damaged when the summoning failed, or the low-rank demons just had no idea how to control the magic circle.

Either way was a piece of good news for them, as a sorcerer castle with an activated protective magic circle could be one or two levels even more powerful then the owner himself. This castle, designed and constructed by a third-circle sorcerer, could have the power of a fourth or fifth-circle sorcerer, and if the castle's magic circle had been activated, that would cost Lucien, Charlie and Sandra quite a long time to break into it.

However, cautious as Lucien was, he did not directly rush in there, but he stopped in the air, staring at the castle from above.

His left eye covered by the piece of monocle started to use infrared lights to check the whole place through the darkness in the open gate. Lucien could see clusters of red light in there—coming straight from hell, those demons that were raised with flame and sulphur had way more amount of infrared coming out of their bodies, and that couldn't even be hiddden by the castle's thick walls.

Charlie and Sandra also used their own spells to scan the whole castle. After their brief discussion, Lucien had a rough map in his mind of the layout of the castle and those demons' activity range in there. After combing Susan's description, they quickly worked out a plan. Lucien said to Charlie and Susan in a calm way, "We have to destroy the magic circles in the summoning room first to prevent more demons from coming out, and then we sweep away the rest of them down there. So… I'd say that… entering the castle through the gate and getting to the second floor is the best route."

"Agreed." The other two sorcerers nodded.

At this time, lightnings started to gather in Sandra's hand and a long electric spear took shape. She directly threw it toward a magic energy well in the garden and the spear perfectly hit the target. Something in the magic energy well slightly caused a small explosion, but the noise was not too loud. The well, together with more wells in different places of the castle, gathered power that they absorbed from sun and tide to provide to the defensive magic circles of the castle.

They needed to blow up more wells to prevent the circles from being activated after entering the castle.

The black well was now covered with countless magic symbols, as if it was resisting the power from the electric spear.

When Sandra was about to summon another electric spear, she saw Lucien reaching out his right hand and a head-sized fireball showed up above his palm. She instantly felt the contained power in the fireball.

Lucien pushed his right hand forward, and the fireball directly flew toward the energy well. As soon as the fire ball hit it, the whole energy well just exploded, from which rose a small mushroom cloud and dense smoke.

When the smoke dispersed, Sandra saw that the whole well was gone. She opened her mouth a bit but could not say anything. She did know that the school of Element had the most powerful explosive spells, however, what Mr. Evans just cast was simply too impressive, almost like the fifth-circle spell, Great Flame Explosion.

She wondered if it was the Will of Elements or Mr. Evans' exclusive magic, as both Sandra and Charlie knew clearly that Lucien did not use any magic items for that because they were right beside him, a third-circle sorcerer.

After seeing that, they trusted in Lucien's magic power for sure.

"Before the demons gather because of the noise, we shall get in there right now," said Lucien at a fast speed.

Lucien's Great Fireball, a third-circle level spell, was a attack magic combining the power of explosion, which was the major one, and a burning power. In addition, the magic buff from Lucien's ring, Element, increased the spell power by another thirty to forty percent, and the spell looked almost like a fifth-circle one.

Lucien would have been able to cast the spell more than twenty times consecutively, however, since he also needed to use the sculpt spell for assistance, the number reduced to seven to eight times. Fortunately, the ring, Element, boosted Lucien's spiritual power recovery speed to aproximately that of a fifth-circle sorcerer. Unless he kept casting spells without any interval, he did not need to worry about the fact that he might run out of his spiritual power in a battle that lasted less than thirty minutes.

The ring, Element, was definitely a fabulous magic item, especially for Lucien's level.

Lucien, Charlie, Sandra and Susan landed in the castle's garden in front of the iron gate. They cast Speed and Endurance on her to make sure that she was able to follow them.

As soon as they landed, they formed a standard battle formation. Charlie and Sandra were in the front, and Lucien was at their back. Susan was right in front of Lucien, behind Sandra.

There were spots of blood on the ground of the garden. They could hear the evil roaring from the castle. Obviously, the demons had noticed their arrival.

Passing through the garden at a fast speed, Charlie directly blasted the iron gate away with a fireball, and they rushed into the castle.

In the main hall, incomplete human bodies were everywhere, and on their ripped faces, the great fear was still there. Limbs, guts and blood covered the floor, and the smell of blood was so strong that they almost threw up.

Making sure they were heading toward the right direction, they started running to the stairs, stepping on those guts and chucks of human bodies.

The whole place was filled with light smoke. When Susan saw the black staircase, she was a bit encouraged. However, as soon as they were about to approach the staircase, some kind of buzzing sound came into their ears. From the corridors around the hall, teams of huge hornets were coming for them, and each of the hornets was twice the size of a human being.

Besides being huge, each of those hornets actually had a female human face with white pupils on its head. The female faces looked dreadful, as if they were in great pain. On the top, there were short tentacles, and the chin part was distorted into an arthropod mouthpart. At the bottom of those hornets' body, there was a shining black sting.

Seeing the female faces, Susan started screaming, as if she were in a nightmare, whereas the three middle-rank sorcerers remained very calm.

They were demons called Tiger Hornets. Lucien, Charlie and Sandra knew for sure that they were just of low-rank because they had no yellow, orange or red strips on their bodies.

A powerful streak of lightning showed up out of nowhere and struck one of the demon hornets which was trying to grab Susan, when a bit of its black, toxic secretion was already produced at the tip of the sting.

The demon hornet directly fell onto the ground like a big piece of carbon coke. The lightning on its body extended onto other nearby hornets and paralyzed them. The affected hornets were right now twitching on the floor, while those hornets which were relatively far from them were throwing fire clusters toward them like crazy.

At this time, cold wind was summoned and snowflakes started to fly in the hall. Soon, fist-sized hailstones took shape in the cold wind and fiercely smashed many hornets.

Ice Storm, a fourth-circle spell, from Charlie.

Most demons were immune to common flame and toxin, but they were more vulnerable to acid, ice and snow. Experienced as Charlie and Sandra were, they knew what to do.

Lucien also cast Maskelyne's Acid Arrow. Lots of light green arrows fiercely penetrated the demon hornets.

After this whole round of casting, the more than twenty demon hornets were all killed.

Two years ago, Lucien never expected that one day he would have such power. For a second, the scene reminded Lucien of how scared he was when he was sent down into the sewers at that time, and later when he needed to kill Baron Laurent.

The bodies of the hornets soon disappeared, which meant that they were not entities but projections. Lucien was a bit disappointed as he intended to collect some materials from them, and he also felt a bit suspicious.

However, he could not put too much thought on it right now, as they still needed to move forward and maintain the formation.

Soon, they came to the second floor. They were now in a spacious hall, which was filled with lots of bookshelves and desks with paper and quills on them.

Some desks were on the floor, and those books on the floor were drenched with blood. Some desks in the corner remained standing there as usual, as if nothing ever happened. An apprentice was killed on his own seat, and the demons cut him right open. His guts were still hanging there.

"This is the Apprentice Hall. We used to study here," Susan said briefly with her trembling voice. "The summoning room is at the end of the corridor after the hall."

Although Lucien wanted to copy all the books here, he understood that this was certainly not the right time. The four of them carefully walked between the bookshelves to get to the corridor.

In order to show their respect, they did not want to directly destroy all the books.

When Lucien walked past a bookshelf, he noticed that there was a mirror on the wall beside. In the mirror, he saw himself walking in the end, following Charlie and Sandra, and Susan was in the middle.

As Lucien turned his head to analyze the mirror, his reflection also made the same movement. His reflection was also wearing a monocle on the left eye.

When Lucien was about to look away, he suddenly saw his own reflection in the mirror start to smile in a creepy way. The eyeballs of the young sorcerer in the mirror started to swell, and greenish-gray pimples started to cover his face!

Chapter 248: Distortion

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The greenish-gray pimples soon covered the whole face of the young man in the mirror. His eyeballs were protruding, and his nose started to get rotten. Chunks of gray flesh were falling, and white bones and two black eye sockets were revealed.

Lucien was shocked. Seeing what was happening with the familiar face in the mirror, Lucien felt goosebumps rise from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. Although the spell Mechanized Mind did help, Lucien still got frozen there, and he could not think clearly.

At this time, the rotten face in the mirror put on a smile like an ugly clown.

Everything in front of Lucien's eyes went black and his heart stopped beating for about three seconds. Three seconds later, Lucien got his heartbeat back, and it was beating so fast, so bad, as if it was going to jump out of his chest.

Lucien's head started to buzz like crazy. Every single vein in his body was bulging, and all his blood rushed to his brain. He found that what he could see all turned into blood red now, and everything looked very blurry and weird.

Lucien felt that his life force was escaping from his body.

Fortunately, thanks to Lucien's strong will and the spell he had cast on himself, in the last second, he stopped himself from just running away like ordinary people, but instead covered himself with a layer of light, in which many magic symbols were appearing and disappearing as if they were alive.

A second later, the rotten Lucien in the mirror took a step forward and directly came out of the mirror. Its red tong reached out from its mouth and turned black. Shooting out, the tongue directly went through Lucien's Powerful Fire Shield like it did not even exist.

Lucien sensed the smell of death.

Thanks to the newly cast spell, the black, illusory tongue was stopped by the magic-symbol light shield. As soon as the tongue touched the shield, it was burned, and black smoke rose.

The forth-level divine spell, Death Ward!

After Lucien made it to middle-rank, the second layer of Sun's Corona's seal had been unlocked. So he could cast three more divine spells in a day: Burning Radiance, third circle; Death Ward, fourth circle; and Flame Strike, fifth circle, but among them, Death Ward was the very conqueror of any death-related power.

At this time, Charlie and Sandra noticed Lucien's weird behaviour—staring at the mirror like he was possessed, Lucien's body was protected by some divine power. However, when they looked in the mirror, there was nothing in it, not even any reflection!

Sandra pointed her purple magic staff at the mirror, and instantly very strong light burst out of the mirror, but the light somehow could not go beyond a radius of ten meters. Beyond the ten-meter radius, the darkness was still thick.

Burning Sun was the fourth-circle spell in the school of Light-darkness, and it was only used for resisting demons or the undead from other dimensions. The power just did not feel as holy as the divine spells.

In the pure brightness, a few pieces of black smoke leaked out of the mirror, and when they united together, a horrible monster showed up.

The hood it was wearing did not hide its face. The demon had scarlet eyes, and its skull was covered with only a very thin layer of rotten skin. Its two rows of teeth were directly revealed because it did not have lips. However, this appearance did not look real at the same time, as it kept changing all the time, just like some kind of illusion.

The demon was tall, and it was wearing a really fancy black robe, embroidered with mysterious patterns, and they all looked evil.

The demon, surrounded by black smoke, blocked the light from Burning Sun behind it, and it started laughing. At the same time, gray shadows showed up around Charlie and Sandra.

Although the magic-symbol shield around Charlie worked, however, the gray shadows were just too many, and the shield started to get dim.

At this time, Charlie flew directly towards the bookshelf, or more specific, he dropped onto the bookshelf on the other side of the hall, as if gravity was messed up.

It was the fourth-circle spell in Force Field, Virtual Gravity!

Close beside the mirror, the five magic power spheres above Sandra's and Susan's head were now spinning very fast, and every single gray shadow which tried to jump on them got absorbed by the magic spheres. The magic balls, at the same time, started to get bigger, as Sandra pointed her magic staff at the demon, the spheres fiercely flew toward it.

Two magic spheres directly hit the black smoke around the demon, and the smoke started to be driven away.

Seizing the chance, the strong light from the magic, Burning Sun, reached the demon, and the demon burst out a dreadful scream.

Charlie raised up his right hand wearing the white glove. Instantly, a huge illusory palm showed up beside the demon and directly grabbed it.

Douglas's Huge Palm, a fourth-circle Force Field spell, and it was said that the spell was an improved version of an ancient one.

The ring on Lucien's right hand, Element, was helping him recover. Lucien felt that he could move now, but he did not. Standing there, Lucien took out a crystal ball from his storage pouch.

The crystal ball first dimmed like there was a night sky in it, and then stars showed up in the night sky, moment when the crystal ball burst out pure light.

Floating in the air, the crystal ball stopped twenty centimetres above Lucien's head. Twelve spots of light surrounding Lucien formed the same pattern with the formation of stars in the crystal ball. The stars were spinning around the ball, and together they formed a small astrology system.

This was a nightmare demon, and Lucien knew that common attack spells would not work on it. So, he directly cast Maskelyne's Star, which was a multi-aspected astrology spell combining illusion detection, enemy's luck alteration, supernatural power absorption and a star sphere attack. On Astrology and Magic Elements, there was a corresponding ninth-circle spell called Maskelyne's Star Map.

As soon as Maskelyne's Star was fully constructed, beams of star light shot out from the crystal ball and directly cast light on the demon. It was for identifying whether the demon was just a projection!

In the star light, the demon was still there.

Charlie pointed his black magic staff at the demon and cast Magic Resistance Reduction on it. Then the demon looked a bit faint.

Capturing the moment, both Sandra and Lucien launched their attacks at the same time, one in the front and one behind. They worked together perfectly well!

A shining big net caught the monster, and it started to become tighter and tighter. Black smoke came out of the demon in the net like it was bleeding!

One of Lucien's star spheres shot the demon right in its center. Like a piece of glass, the demon was torn apart silently in the extremely bright light.

When Susan, who was beyond scared watching them fighting, was just about to give a sigh of relief. The parts of the demon body started to distort, along with the floor, the walls, the light, and even the huge Force Field palm!

Actually, the whole space was distorted!

And then everything broke down!

Like a broken mirror, the space was falling apart, and smoke started leaking out from the cracks in front of them.

Although the smoke was not thick, Lucien realized that he had lost his spiritual power sensing and his intuition. He started to get slow, and he could only see about twenty centimetres in front of him. At the same time, the smoke was affecting how his brain hormone and brain wave worked.

Were it not for Mechanized Mind, Lucien would already have become an idiot there at the same moment, or maybe completely broken down.

Fifth-circle spell, Mind Mist!

Lucien realized that the demon might be of level five, however, the sorcerer had never read much about this kind of demon before!

Although the star spheres spinning above his head lit up the place quite a bit, he still could not see through the mist.

In the terrifying silence, Lucien cast another defensive spell inside his Powerful Fire Shield, which was all he could do right now. He could not see where Charlie, Sandra and Susan were in the mist, and he could not even feel them being around!

When his spiritual power had recovered a bit, Lucien cast a second-circle spell, Dissipate Smoke. This was a spell that was designed for driving away magic smoke.

Lucien had no idea whether this would work, but he really thought it wouldn't. However, the mist did start to disappear, and he could see more clearly now.

Charlie and Sandra also cast the spell, and they saw each other around.

"The mist might be the demon's last struggle…" Sandra tried to grab Susan who was already freaked out, but her tone showed that she was not sure.

"That's impossible! There's no way that the horrible demon would just die like that!" said Susan, whose face looked beyond pale. At this time, using all of her strength, she got rid of Sandra's hand and ran toward the corner of the hall.

When Charlie was about to catch her with his Force Field hand, Susan ran into the copper statue in the corner and then she grabbed the statue's ear.

Susan twisted the ear, and a secret door opened in the wall.

Susan did tell them that there was a secret chamber in the hall, which was built by Bertren. Several apprentices found it, and that was their secret.

The sorcerers were not surprised by the existence of the chamber. However, their eyes opened wide when they saw that there was a young teenager boy in the chamber!

The teenager boy was squatting down on the ground, with his hands covering his head. He slowly looked up, and his eyes were filled with fear.

They found another survivor!

Chapter 249: An Ancient Rite

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"What's your name?" asked Sandra, who was trying to put on a nice smile on her face and soften her voice. However, the boy still got very scared. Screaming and shaking his head, the teenager boy used his hands and feet to drag himself toward the corner farther inside the chamber.

Lucien did not rush them to get to the summoning room, because the fact that the demon just disappeared like that was too weird. Now they found a survivor here, and they should get more information from him.

Exchanging a look with Sandra, Lucien slightly lifted his chin toward Susan, "Use a magic potion to calm her down. Let Susan talk to him."

Sandra nodded. Experienced as she was, Sandra always carried some magic potions with her around. Although she preferred to directly cast hypnosis on the boy to ask him questions, which was more of her style, she was also concerned that casting any spells on him right now might lead to some unwanted consequences, so Sandra took out a light blue tube and made Susan drink it using Mage Hand.

Lucien adjusted his monocle and activated the spell enchanted on it, Fernando's Electromagnetic Message. Although three of them had enough power to kill a level five demon, he had no idea whether this battle was just a start or not.

Lucien did not hide it from Charlie and Sandra. When the surface of the monocle was covered with magic ripples, Lucien directly called Gaston's name.

"Mr. Gaston, this is Evans."

Currently, this fifth-circle spell could only turn sound vibration into electromagnetic wave.

There was no response from the other side. Lucien raised his voice, "Mr. Gaston? Hello?!"

Still nothing came back.

Lucien started to get a bit concerned. He looked at the wall on the other side of the bookshelf, where there was a window. Outside the window, he could see light fog coming in. Everything looked mysterious, as if they were in a nightmarish maze.

"This is similar to Mind Mist, but not exactly the same. The mist can block and absorb electromagnetic wave… I've never seen something like this…" Lucien really wished that he could have read more books in the libraries!

Watching Lucien calling Gaston's name a bit anxiously, Charlie put on a bitter smile, "We're probably in trouble now. The simple task is actually not simple."

When Lucien first received the task, he indeed felt quite suspicious, and he was actually not very surprised with the fact that things were getting complicated. If someone really wanted to give him a hard time, he had no idea how the person managed to fool both Ms. Florencia and Mr. Gaston.

Although lots of thoughts had flashed through Lucien's mind, he stopped himself from sinking into the thoughts. It was not the right time! And dangers might come to them at any moment!

"We need to figure out what is going on here first, then we decide whether we should move on or go back." Lucien looked at Charlie and said.

At this time, Susan started to calm down a bit because of the magic potion she took a minute before.

Adjusting his black battle sorcerer hat, Charlie nodded calmly, "I also checked this place before we came in, and I saw only three kinds of low-rank demons, just as what you have told us, Mr. Evans. So the question is… Where did the demon hide itself, and how?"

"You guys don't know what the demon was?" Lucien asked.

Both Sandra and Charlie shook their heads seriously.

That was not good news. If neither Sandra nor Charlie had any idea what the demon was, it meant that this kind of demon was not registered in either the Encyclopedia of Demons or Handbook of Monsters. Without enough intelligence, it was hard for them to make right decisions. For example, the reason why they did not use Invisibility here was because demons and dragons could easily see through it!

"Maybe in most cases only senior-rank sorcerers would deal with it…" Sandra murmured in low voice. Seeing that Susan was almost ready, she pointed at the teenager boy in the chamber and asked Susan, "Do you know him?"

Susan was first a bit confused. When she turned around, she exclaimed, "Oh my! Bill, you're still alive?!"

Hearing her voice, the teenager boy slowly lifted his head, "S… Susan?"

"It's me, Susan. We've come back for you, Bill." Susan put on a comforting smile, "Bill, calm down… Don't be afraid."

"Who is he?" asked Sandra in a low voice beside Susan.

Trying to get closer to Bill, Susan said to them, "He's the youngest student of Mr. Bertren. His spiritual power was very abundant, but he was not doing that great in arcana, so some other apprentices often made fun of him. Scott and me often tutored him, and we were relatively close to each other."

"Ask him what happened in the castle later." Lucien tried to follow Susan to approach Bill.

However, as soon as Bill saw Lucien moving, he lost his mind again. His whole body was trembling, and his eyes opened really wide, "Stay away from me!! Stay away!!"

Lucien nodded and slowly stepped backwards with Charlie. Sandra grabbed Susan's hand to show that she was a friend of Susan.

Although Bill's body was still trembling, he was a little less frightened now.

"Bill, tell me. What did you see in the castle?" Susan squatted down in front of him.

Sandra squatted down as well, and, at the same time, she secretly cast a second-circle spell, Distinguish Lie, around Bill. Because the spell did not work directly on Bill's body or mind, the spell was safe to him.

All of a sudden, Bill reached out his hands and grabbed Susan's arm. Susan got scared as well and she felt on the ground.

Bill said to her, panic-stricken, "All died! All died! Andy, Debra, Stevens… they all died! At first… they almost had killed all the demons, almost! But… but there was one… They couldn't kill it. By no means they could kill it… And they all died… I ran… and I hid here… Susan, get me out of here! I'm so terrified!"

Andy, Debra and Stevens were all first-circle sorcerers in the castle.

The dim light around them from the spell Distinguish Lie did not change, which meant that Bill was not lying.

Susan tried her best to withhold her fear, and started to ask Bill about the details.

Looking at what was going on in the chamber, Lucien and Charlie were on the other side. At this time, Lucien noticed a piece of half-burned parchment written in ancient magic empire characters.

"V(erased)'s special summoning rite:

"You need a rune written in your own blood, a brazier, and Pain Fable…"

The rest of the parchment was burned.

Lucien felt the rite was quite funny, as he had never seen any rites requiring a fable book. He collected the following several pages of the parchment from the floor and started to read the few lines that were left there:

"When everything's prepared, read the seventh story, chapter ten, in Pain Fable. Read it over and over again, and transcribe the fable onto the parchment written with the blood rune."

…

"Open the Encyclopedia of Demons, rip off the pages containing the information of the demons that you want summon, then throw the pages into the brazier."

…

"Chant the spell. Keep chanting. When the flame is as tall as you, you'll see your gift."

Charlie also read it, and he commented, frowning, "It looks like a stupid trick. Many of the steps are just nonsense… I mean, what kind of rite would require a fable book? That's ridiculous… The fact that it is found in the apprentice hall shows that it was just a joke. Only idiots would probably try."

"Have you ever read Pain Fable?" Lucien was a bit hesitant, "Ridiculous as it is, the fact that Bertren died when he tried to summon demons here makes me feel nervous about any weird rites that are related to demon summoning."

Charlie paused for a second and then answered, "No, I have never, but someone told me about it before. Those fables were folktales originating from the border between Holm and Brianne in ancient magic empire, and those fables are not cheerful at all. The book is called Pain Fable because those fables teach people lessons by making people feel sad, depressed, resentful and angry. I don't read stuff that makes me feel bad. By the way, Mr. Evans, don't you think the style of the parchment is of the ancient magic empire style? Something before the War of Dawn…"

"It is." Lucien took a glance at the bookshelves around, "I wonder if we can find Pain Fable here…"

At this time, Susan finished asking questions. As soon as Sandra got the basic information, she cast Charm Person on Bill for further verification.

"So, according to Bill, the summoning room lost control first, and low-rank demons invaded the castle and killed most people here. At this time, Susan and Scott managed to escape. Then later, when the several level one sorcerers that assisted Mr. Bertren got the control of the castle core back and managed to kill most of the low-rank demons there. However, things went wrong when they arrived at the summoning room. They met the demon there and were killed." Based on all the clues, Sandra made this conclusion. She walked to Lucien and Charlie and said, "So, it is almost certain that the demon resurrects every time at the summoning circle when it is killed. We need to destroy the summoning circle to really kill the demon!"

As soon as Sandra finished her words, the floor and walls started to ripple as if they were liquid. Many half-transparent, pale arms fiercely reached out.