The gate was fiercely pushed open, from which Lucien walked out.
And then everything went back to normal.
Spreading out his spiritual power, Lucien examined the surroundings very carefully.
This was a wooded area with small hills. Except for the several startled animals that were able to resist the cold, there was nothing else nearby.
Lucien finally could lower his guard, and he put the s.p.a.ce Jump scroll back into his magic pouch.
The enchanted seventh circle spell, Chaos Teleportation, could send the caster to an undesignated place. Lucien could have ended up showing up in White Maple Palace of Antiffler, in a cathedral, or in the middle of a random street.
But Lucien got lucky this time. Maybe it was because of the power of the underground palace, or maybe it was because of the special connection formed by Lucien turning himself into Beaulac, Lucien had been sent to the place very close to the villa where Beaulac was hidden.
Casting Invisibility on himself, Lucien rushed toward the direction of the villa.
Lucien decided to leave something for Beaulac.
With these many things happening, Lucien would not bear the risk for staying in Antiffler to improve Beaulac's blood power.
However, Lucien was such a man of his word that he did not want to break his promise. Beaulac, willingly or not, helped Lucien a lot, so Lucien should pay him back.
…
In the old manor of the Gorse family, oppressed by the silence, the n.o.bles all looked very gloomy. Some of them were being seized by the deep sorrow, as their beloved children had died in the compet.i.tion, in spite of the fact that the compet.i.tion was always claimed to be very safe by the Gorse family.
"… So this is what happened…" said Ulrich, the Gorse Duke, in deep grief, "A mysterious senior-rank sorcerer fooled us with his unknown transfiguration spell and went down into the underground palace. In the palace, he summoned the ancient demon and controlled Sir Metatron, launched slaughter, and took away our family's treasure, the Sun Staff. By the time when the rescue force managed to get in, Sir Metatron had sacrificed himself, thus Prince Beyer, Princess Sophia, and a few lucky young men were able to survive."
"I understand how you are feeling," continued Ulrich, "as our family also lost Arthen, Relph, and Sir Metatron. The Gorse family will try our best to meet your demands."
This was the "truth" which had been negotiated by the Duke and the Princess. They put all the blame on the mysterious sorcerer. And before the underground palace was broken in, they had decided to kill Relph to make sure the true version of the story would not be revealed.
The rest of the young n.o.bles who joined the compet.i.tion were all involved in the a.s.sa.s.sination of the Prince, and they would keep it as a secret within their families. Meanwhile, they had been put to sleep by Lucien, thus they had no idea what happened to Sir Metatron.
Count Porti, whose face resembled Duda, said in a stiff voice, "Demand? I've only got one demand - Find the d.a.m.ned sorcerer! I'll cut him into pieces!"
Duda was his most beloved son.
The rest of the representatives of the n.o.ble families agreed. They did not choose to turn into enemies against the Gorse family, since those families which managed to send their youngsters to the compet.i.tion all had close connections with the Gorse family.
There was no need to suddenly turn hostile because of such an unexpected tragedy. Also, the loss of the Gorse family was way heavier than theirs.
Therefore, the n.o.bles showed their understanding.
"You have my word," said Ulrich decisively, "and the Gorse family shall never give up as well. We must find this vicious sorcerer and burn him to ashes in the underground palace! Although currently, we still haven't figured out who he is because of the creepy transfiguration spell he used. We sent Count Nuremburk to find the grand cardinal, Sir Inman, and the grand cardinal has arrived here. Sir Inman will use divine power in the underground palace to find more clues about the sorcerer."
Count Mecklen nodded with a gloomy face. AlthoughCount Mecklen did not like his son much, Deniz was still his blood.
…
Ten minutes later, the grand cardinal, Inman, who looked middle-aged, walked into the underground palace accompanied by the n.o.bles.
However, the result was to their great disappointment.
"The sorcerer was very careful. The fight between the sorcerer and Sir Metatron caused a lot of damage here, and many clues have been erased," said Inman in a tone full of mercy.
Count Porti's breath became heavy and blue veins popped out on his hands, "Sir Inman, are there any other ways to identify the sorcerer? Are we just letting the young n.o.bles die for nothing? The d.a.m.ned sorcerer deserves the sentence and punishment from G.o.d!"
No one present could accept such a result.
Inman remained silent for a few seconds and then nodded, "I'll pray to G.o.d to receive the instruction."
Level nine divine spell, Pray!
Porti suddenly cheered up. "Thank you… Thank you so much, Sir Inman!"
Under the many n.o.bles' gaze, Inman and went down on his knees, holding the Saint Truth badge.
The n.o.bles also followed him.
A cl.u.s.ter of pure light enveloped Inman, and in the embrace of the light, Inman said in low voice,
"My almighty G.o.d, please reveal to me who the sorcerer in the underground palace is."
The emotionless voice came from an unknown direction above, "Sixth circle, from the Congress of Magic. He has way more powerful magic items than a senior rank sorcerer usually possesses."
Apparently, the information given was not enough for Inman to discover the ident.i.ty of the sorcerer. Any students of a legendary archmage could possess more powerful magic items than a senior-rank sorcerer.
But the voice just disappeared, and it never came back again.
After a while, Inman stood up and said to the n.o.bles, "He is a student of a legendary archmage. The archmage interfered with my power, so the information revealed is limited. Hopefully, it's helpful."
Hearing Inman's words, Ulrich ground his teeth in anger, "There are only a few hundred sixth-circle sorcerers in the Congress of Magic. One by one… I'll find you!"
…
In the White Maple Palace of Antiffler.
Sophia said to the majestic middle-aged man, "Father, do you know who he is?"
In the underground palace, Sophia saw how her father, Rudolf II, destroyed the clues left in the hall, and how he interfered with Inman's praying just now. Sophia thought that her father had the answer.
Rudolf II answered expressionlessly, "When he cast his transfiguration spell, his fate was closely connected with that of Beaulac. If I hadn't been there, I would not have told the difference. I interrupted Inman's praying just because I don't want him to know that I was down in the underground palace as well, to avoid more trouble…"
"I see…" sighed Sophia out of disappointment.
"He has changed the look of the magic items he was wearing, so we have to spend a lot of time on tracing them back based on their use," said Rudolf II. In fact, he did not really care who the sixth-circle sorcerer was.
Before Sophia responded, Rudolf II continued, "You did not bad this time. You'll have the t.i.tle - the d.u.c.h.ess of Alman - as your award."
"Re-really?" Sophia was very surprised. Although the manor of the d.u.c.h.ess of Alman was not very big, it contained rich mineral resources, ranking one of the top five most wealthy manors in the empire. It was definitely no inferior to Beyer's Steinburg.
Rudolf II slightly nodded, "You have my word. You and Beyer should work hard. Maybe… I'm not going to be sitting on the throne for too long."
"Yes, father." Sophia was very encouraged.
She remained in the high spirit until she went back to her own palace. The familiar arrangement of her room reminded her of the happy days that she spent with Deniz.
Again, she swore that she would find the d.a.m.ned sorcerer!
…
Beaulac slowly woke up in the bright light. Feeling extremely weak, he recalled the endless dream he went through. In his dream, Beaulac became a level two knight, and he won the t.i.tle of Count Tillis after beating Arthen.
Beaulac suddenly came back to reality after realizing that he was in his own bedroom. All the memories rushed back to him. He remembered that he was in the study summoning the demon, Greed, and he used his ten years to trade for knight power.
He felt thrilled, as he knew that these were not illusions but something that really happened. Finally, he could stand out for himself against Arthen, and now he could even join the underground palace compet.i.tion!
However, after Beaulac tried to move his arm, the big smile froze on his face. He was totally shocked to find that he was still a knight squire.
He thought he had signed the compact!
He thought it was not a dream…
When Beaulac was feeling rather depressed, he noticed something in his pocket. Hurriedly, he pulled it out. There were several pieces of paper and a tube of dark-red liquid. The dark red liquid slightly s.h.i.+mmered, and somehow it seemed to be able to attract one's soul.
Unfolding the pieces of paper, Beaulac saw a process diagram which was not very complex. Above the diagram, there were several lines,
"To gain the power of a level two knight and to keep the possibility of becoming a grand knight in the future, please follow the procedures:
First, find a sorcerer or a caster.
Two to nine, complete Embrace surgery following the eight procedures in the diagram. Let the vampire blood become part of your body.
Ten, enjoy the power. There is no side effect at all.
P.S. If you think this is too dangerous, there is still another way: First, find a senior-rank vampire, and two, let it bite you."
Below the diagram, a sketched demon's face was laughing hard.
d.a.m.ned it!
Beaulac realized what was going on. Blood flus.h.i.+ng to his face, he angrily tore the paper into pieces and fiercely threw them to the ground.
He was fooled!
"d.a.m.n you!" Beaulac swore, "If I follow your words, I'd be the biggest idiot ever!"
At this time, someone knocked at the door.
Beaulac reluctantly stood up, opened the door, and found that it was uncle Nuremburk.
Nuremburk slightly frowned when seeing how dispirited Beaulac was. When Beaulac started feeling anxious, Nuremburk finally started talking,
"Anyways, congratulations, Beaulac, you've become the new Count of Tillis."
"…?" Beaulac silently opened his mouth but could not make a sound, as if he was right now in a dream.
Nuremburk explained, "Something happened, and we've made sure that you were not involved. To put it in a nutsh.e.l.l, you've become the new Count."
Both Arthen and Relph died. Claire, because of her close connection with Beyer, was not a proper inheritor of the t.i.tle anymore.
This piece of news was too surprising for Beaulac to digest within a few seconds. After a while, he burst out a cry, "I AM the biggest idiot!"
He shut the door despite the fact that Nuremburk had not left yet. Throwing himself down on the ground, Beaulac hurriedly started collecting the paper pieces that he just threw away!
Beaulac wished that he could still find all the pieces!
…
The dark blue of the ocean connected to the lighter color of the sky, and Lucien was now flying through the clouds.
After several days of effort, Lucien had finally cracked the seal on the magic staff.
Right now, he was leaving his spiritual imprint in it,
"Sun Staff, level nine high-rank magic item. The owner of the staff is the king of all the stars. When the owner casts any astrology spells which are under the ninth circle, the power is improved by one circle.
"The mysterious magic power hiding in the staff enables the owner to cast the eighth circle spell, Maze, three times a day, the ninth circle spell, Thanos' Maze, two times a day, and Imprisonment once a day.
"Any mysterious enemies will be imprisoned — from: Thanos"
Figuring out how powerful the staff was, Lucien was very encouraged. The Kuo-toans' alter was the least challenging and dangerous part of the entire mission, and with the staff, everything would become much easier.
